6o 
either by loans, grants-in-aid or bounties on the out-put for a period 
Such advertisements should be published in Tamil and Chinese 
and disseminated as widely as possible in Singapore and Penang. 
5. I enclose a copy of a report from Mr. Hale to whom I re- 
ferred your letter under reply. 
I have, etc., 
D. G. CAMPBELL, 
Acting British Residents Selangor . 
The Resident-General, F.M.S. 
Land Office, 
I 1352/1903- Kuala Lumpur, 23rd November, rpog. 
Encouragement of Agriculture among Natives. 
Sir — 
1 have the honour to acknowledge your letter 6244/03, dated 
12th November, 1903, forwarding a letter from the Superintendent, 
Experimental Plantations. I may say in the first instance that 
consider Mr. Arden’s proposition one of great importance and 
bidding fair to very materially advance the prolonged prosperity of 
the country ; it must be evident to the most casual observer that the 
encouragement of agriculture is the very best possible way to 
further the interests of the State, improve the well-being of the 
people, and in fact the most reasonable investment for surplus 
balances of revenue. 
2. I think Mr. Arden has certainly hit upon one of the greatest 
factors which has kept back planting in the States, namely, the 
difficulty in finding a convenient market for produce without it 
passing through the hands of middlemen, and consequently leaving 
but a very small amount of profit to be shared between the grower 
and the manufacturer. It is quite certain if it was known that two 
baskets full of guavas carried to the door of a jam factory in Kuala 
Lumpur could there and then be sold for ready money, and that 
purchases would continue under a Government guarantee, the cul- 
tivation of guavas would be at once taken up by Malays. I know 
what an impetus was given to the planting of coconuts when the 
oil mills were first started at Kuala Selangor. 
3. It cannot for a moment be expected that private enterprise 
would invest capital in ventures appearing to have such a problema- 
tical chance of success as the starting of factories in a country that 
is not at the time producing enough raw material to keep the 
machinery at work, and which would have to depend for supplies in 
order to make a commercial success on produce which has not yet 
been planted ; only a Government willing to risk money in the in- 
terests of the remote future could do this, and that Government 
must not flinch at facing for some years expenditure without 
revenue. 
