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Chief Planting Products.— C6keee.— I n spite of the fact 
that most of the large coffee estates are now thickly planted through 
with Para Rubber, which will undoubtedly kill the former product 
in course of time, the export of coffee from Selangor alone in 1902 
amounted to 48,906 piculs, against 37,664 piculs for the previous 
year, an increase of no less than 1 1,242 piculs, or about 30%. This 
result can only be due to the fact that a large acreage has just 
come into full bearing, and your Committee consider that the re- 
turns for 1902 will probably constitute a record for the F. M. S. f 
and further that in two years’ time the export will not amount to 
much more than half its present proportions. During the season 
under review the extensions in coffee alone have been practically 
nil, but in some cases it is being planted as a catch crop with Para 
Rubber at varying distances through the fields, and of course, if 
this system appeals to investors, it may be that there will be a 
continuous, if lessening, supply for same time to come. The out- 
look, however, is by no means encouraging, and although well 
opened estates on rich alluvial land can, even at present prices, be 
worked at a profit, still the counter attractions and prospects of 
Para Rubber, Rambong, and Coconuts, will probably divert atten- 
tion from coffee. 
COCONUTS. — A return is attached showing that the export of 
copra from Selangor in 1902 amounted to 1 5,146 piculs, towards 
which practically nothing has been contributed by European-owned 
plantations, which are only now coming into bearing. Splendid 
growth is reported on all sides and it seems probable that by the 
time the trees are 5 years old, heavy pickings will be commencing. 
From an estate in the Jugra district, 4 years and 4 months old at the 
end of rg02, thousands of nuts are already coming in, and there are 
many individual trees carrying over loo each. Given freedom 
from the beetle pest, there can be no doubt that such fine results 
must very soon attract capital to the country, especially ' as the 
coconut planter, his estate once opened, can usually be assured of 
sufficient labour for his requirements; Chinese and Malays, neither 
of whom are much use on coffee and rubber estates, being generally 
available when Tamil coolies are hard to get. 
Para Rubber. — The attached statistics (incomplete though they 
are at present) serve to some extent to show how important an 
industry is growing up in our midst. It is a significant fact that 
from Ceylon comes the most pronounced inclination to invest in 
this product. Ceylon planters and capitalists, with the decline of 
coffee, have had little cause to congratulate themselves on their 
connection with the Malay Peninsula, yet it is undoubtedly owing 
chiefly to the visits to, and personal inspection c*f, our rubber 
estates, by some of their foremost men, that they are willing and 
anxious, if they can get an opportunity, to put more money in. 
Such support, in your Committee’s opinion, is of infinitely greater 
value to the country and to the enterprise, than would be the influx 
of capital where expert knowledge on the part of its investors, was 
absent. As far as it is possible to judge at present, the Malay 
Peninsula appears to possess every factor necessary to the success- 
“T 
