24 
TRANSLATION 
Of Draft Order in Council for the Guidance of the Agricultural 
Population of Perak. 
1. It having been ascertained that there is a large enough area of agricultural 
land in the State to afford a sufficient food supply for the entire population, and the 
Council having observed that distress arises yearly amongst the people owing to their 
inefficient methods of cultivation, It is hereby ordered that all people of every nationality 
who are settled in the State shall take up bendang land to the extent of not less than 
i \ acres per man or per family. 
2. All bendang land which is thus taken up must be properly and diligently culti- 
vated, the object in view being the cultivation by the people of sufficient rice for their 
own consumption, and to avoid being dependent on other countries. 
3. With regard to the method of cultivation, every planter must commence and 
continue to work at the same time, from felling and clearing the land to planting the 
seed. They will not be allowed to work at irregular seasons, as they please. Notice 
of the dates on which all bendang work is to be commenced will be issued by the 
District Magistrates through the Penghulus of the various mukims. 
4. When irrigation is necessary, or when difficulties arise which prove too great 
for the planters to overcome, the Government will assist as may appear expedient, but 
planters must not make light of assistance afforded by Government. 
5. When new land, which has never been cultivated before, is taken up for 
bond fide cultivation, Government may grant it rent free for three years. All land, 
whether new or old, if abandoned, or insufficiently cultivated for over three years, will 
revert to Government, and Government will re-allot the land to whosoever may desire it. 
6. Penghulus are instructed to watch carefully all bendang cultivation in their 
respective mukims, and in the event of any one committing a breach of these regula- 
tions, the Penghulu shall report the fact to the District Magistrate, who will punish 
the offender with a fine not exceeding $ 
Land Residency, Perak, 
Kuala Kangsar , 23rd June , 1892. 
To the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, 
Straits Settlements. 
Sir, — In the absence of the British Resident, and as merely his locum tenens y 
I have the honour to enclose, without making any recommendations, certain corres- 
pondence on the subject of the introduction of Chinese agricultural settlers into Perak, 
namely : — > 
(i) . Copy of a letter from the ex-State Commissioner of Lands (Dr. Leech), 
dated the 28th April, stating that he has been informed by Father Gazeau, a Roman 
Catholic priest stationed in Larut, who ministers to a number of Chinese converts, 
some of whom are successfully cultivating pepper and other agricultural products, that 
in the Fui Chew province of China there has for the last four years been a failure of 
the padi crops, with much consequent distress, and that it is thought, were the 
inhabitants informed that they could. obtain padi land on easy terms in Perak, they 
would flock into the country, but that the idea prevails amongst them that on their 
arrival here they would be enslaved. 
Dr. Leech was informed that the Government had already inserted a detailed 
communication concerning Perak in two Chinese newspapers and also circulated it 
extensively throughout the State (your papers, Perak and that the Bishop of 
Malacca had recently expressed an opinion contrary to that of Father Gazeau, 
saying that he considered that, as long as tin mining was such a remunerative 
business, the Chinese would not take to padi planting in Perak. 
(ii) . Copy of a letter from the Bishop of Malacca referred to above, dated 14th 
December, 1891. 
(iii) . Copy of a letter from the ex-State Commissioner of Lands (Dr. Leech), 
dated the 16th May, enclosing one from Father Gazeau, dated the 13th May, in which 
