6. The experiment would be beneficial in more ways than one. It would bring 
agriculturists and padi planters to the country, make land now uncultivated valuably 
property, and keep enormous sums of money in the State which are now paid away 
annually for the purchase of rice. 
7- The previous schemes for introducing agriculturists have failed simply from 
being on too small a scale. To insure success in this, it would be necessary to plant 
thousands of acres, and the miles of fine land round Teluk Anson would be most 
suitable for the experiment, and the crops would have to be stored against high prices. 
If sufficient land were planted (and it is available) the State might not only become 
independent of foreign markets but might also become one of the rice supplying 
countries of the world, and derive a large revenue from padi, instead of paying away 
large sums of money for rice, and being dependent on other and uncertain markets for 
the staple food of its people. 
8. In my opinion, after the Government had established the immigrant planters 
in the country, and when they saw what profits could be made by the industry, there 
would no longer be any need for Government to plant themselves, as these people 
would apply for sufficient land to grow padi enough to meet any local demand. 
1 have, &c., 
OLIVER MARKS, 
Superintendent Government Plantations. 
Xu — 
No- If. Land Department, 
Taipingj 20 th February , 1892. 
To the Secretary to Government, 
Taiping. 
Sir, — In accordance with the instructions of the British Resident, I have the 
honour to forward the following report on the question of encouraging padi culti- 
vation in the Native States. 
2. Since the year 1881, when I relieved Mr. Denison as Collector and Magistrate, 
Krian, I have had special opportunities of studying the question, and during the time 
I was in charge of that district the land revenue, derived almost entirely from padi 
cultivation, rose from 116,256 in 1881 to $23,889 in 1884, since which year it has 
declined until 1890, when it fell to $8,757. Last year it rose again to $22,307. 
3. The steady yearly increase which culminated in the record of $23,889 in 1884 
was due to the influx of padi planters. The ordinary method for these new settlers 
to acquire land was as follows. 
4. A number of the more well-to-do settlers had a good deal more land than 
they could cultivate themselves : they had, therefore, to find men to rent their land, and 
for this purpose introduced new. settlers to whom they gave advances until the crop 
was harvested, when the tenants repaid their advances and rent in padi, calculated at 
a very low rate. The usual rent for padi land was a kuncha (160 gantangs) per 
orlong — i.e ., 120 gantangs per acre, delivered at the landlord's house. So large was 
the yield in good years that, after repaying the advances and rent, in a year or two 
the tenant had saved sufficient padi to keep himself and his family for a year, and also 
to acquire a plot of new land for himself. Four dollars was the cost of a 5-acre block— 
1. e., $1 for the agreement for a lease and $3 for the rent, which had to be paid in 
advance. In a couple of years, if he was industrious, he would himself be able to let 
some of his land to other new-comers. 
5. In 1885 the crop partly failed, and also the rapid development of the padi 
industry in Krian stimulated the District Officers in other districts, principally Lower * 
Perak, Larut and Kuala Kangsar, to open up their districts in the same way. The 
consequence was that not only was land granted rent free for three years, but in some 
cases advances of rice were given to new settlers, the result being that many of the 
new settlers introduced into Krian by their predecessors to cultivate their surplus land 
were induced to emigrate to these other districts and begin opening new land on their 
own account, before they had served the apprenticeship as tenants and become 
familiar with the seasons and methods of cultivation in this country. Last year, a 
cycle of fat years having apparently begun in 1889, the peculiarly favourable position 
of Krian with regard to the market again asserted itself, and prosperity has again been 
restored. 
