Settlements did me the honour in 1904 of despatching me on a com- 
mission of inquiry to the neighbouring Dutch Dependency, Java. 
The result of my investigations there was the discovery that close 
at hand we had an amazingly densely populated country, with over 
32.000. 000 inhabitants, and an annual increase in their number of 
600.000. I found the Dutch authorities most disposed to eye with 
favour the idea of their people coming to the Federated Malay 
States, and recruiting agents there gave me letters, which I still 
hold, guaranteeing to supply me with practically as many coolies 
as I could possibly want. Now there are several thousands of these 
Javanese who have been imported, more especially on sugar estates, 
doing well, and giving every possible satisfaction to their employers. 
The drawback of this labour to the ‘'free” labour planter, as all, 
or almost all, rubber planters are, is that the Dutch Government 
insists upon indentures, believing that what the Liberal party desig- 
nates “slavery,” is the best method of securing protection for their 
people when in a foreign country. Now, we like all our coolies 
to be free to go and come as they choose, subject to the discharge 
of their financial obligations, and to a month’s notice of their 
intention to leave us and go elsewhere, ft is apparent, therefore, 
that the objection to the importation of Javanese is purely technical, 
and does not in any way affect the contention that in this quarter 
Hes our insurance against a labour famine, I may add that there 
are in the Federated Malay States large numbers of agricultural 
Chinese who are employed 0 many estates for road construction, 
earth shifting, etc. It is my v t union that the failure of the average 
planter to appreciate the Chinaman as an estate coolie is due 
largely to the fact that we cannot speak his language, and therefore 
cannot get the best results out of him. When serving under inden- 
tures as a mining coolie, paid in proportion to the amount of tin 
or gold, or whatever it may be, that he brings in, this objection at 
once disappears, and the Chinaman is indeed hard to beat. 
With all these considerations before me, I state deliberately that 
1 know of no country dependent for its supply in any degree upon 
imported labour so favourably situated as the Malay Peninsula, and 
I cannot foresee the possibility of a scarcity of agricultural labour, 
even in the very remote future, with Java willing to help us and 
boasting a population far in excess of her needs. Given too, that 
Sumatra is rapidly opened up entirely by Javanese, there would still 
be Jots of labour to spare for us. 
There are two further considerations which must not be over- 
looked. The first of these is the existence of a very strong etiquette 
amongst the planters regarding the employment of each other’s coo- 
lies, and this causes them to go to the trouble of themselves import- 
ing all their requirements. The other factor is the cordial and liberal 
assistance and sympathy of a rich Government, It would take too 
long to state here all that the Government have done, are doing, 
and will do, to help in the development of the country, but espe- 
cially in connection with the labour question, the liberality and 
sympathy of the official attitude has been beyond all praise. 
