39 
REPORT ON THE PROMOTION OF THE CULTIVATION OF RICE AND 
OTHER GRAIN SEEDS IN THE CONFEDERATED STATES OF 
THE NEGRI SEMBILAN. 
1. I attach the Report of the District Officer, Kuala Pilah, in extenso. 
2. The Acting District Officer, Tampin, after remarking on the various kinds 
of swamp rice seed in use in his District bearing local names and to which minor 
importance may be attached, states that in Rembau, a small and very populous State, 
there is not sufficient rice to supply the demand of the natives. Rembau is so tho- 
roughly cultivated that there is, practically, no land lying fallow. He estimates that 
about 150 acres might, by assistance in the construction of dams, be brought under 
rice cultivation. I had already gone into this question, and I considered at the time 
that the cost would not, under ordinary circumstances, warrant the cultivation of so 
small an acreage. He reports another 100 acres as available, but considers that the 
land, which is situated on the Lubok China-Linggi Road, is so liable to heavy floods 
that any outlay there would not repay either the State or the cultivator. 
3. In Tampin, he reports about 150 acres available for rice cultivation, all other 
lands being already cultivated, and the population being small, it would be necessary 
to bring in cultivators from outside into this land. 
4. In Gemencheh, the Malay population is very small. There are extensive 
flats on the Gemencheh River that could be converted into rice-fields and would 
probably accommodate at least four hundred families. 
5. His report in reference to ragi is unfavourable. It is only eaten in India 
by the natives in the colder parts. It is a heating form of food and considered quite 
unfit for food for the native population of the Peninsula. 
Mr. CAZALAS mistrusts the possibility of producing dholl at a cheaper rate than 
it can be purchased. It is not in favour with the Malays, being very rich, and is 
eaten only as a curry or sambal to rice. 
6. I will now give my remarks on these reports, and my general remarks on the 
question as existing in this State. The State possesses no sea-shore and no exten- 
sive alluvial flats at the estuaries of large rivers. All the available rice land lies in 
valleys between the hill ranges, and nearly all these valleys are in a high state of 
cultivation, so much so that in Rembau and in the Sri Menanti States proper of Ulu 
Muar, Jempol, Terachi and Gunong Pasir, the population, and consequent subdivision 
of land, is increasing so rapidly that by degrees land has to be found in other valleys 
for such surplus population to move to. This is being donp and could be done the more 
so with a little assistance from Government. But I would point out that this is a 
question of mere local requirement. It is not that lands could be found and opened 
for the cultivation of rice for sale or export, but merely for the sustenance of the 
Malay population of over 35,000 in a State containing about 1,800 square miles, 
which population is increasing. 
Such available lands as remain will undoubtedly gradually be opened up under 
the above conditions. 
Some assistance may be required in the opening up of the two principal uncul- 
tivated Districts, viz., Gemencheh and Sereting, although both these rivers and their 
tributaries contain alluvial deposits of tin and gold. I have recently had a report on 
the upper portion of the Sereting, which is not encouraging, the chiefs of tribes here 
affirming that the soil is unsuitable, sand being near the surface, as in the case of 
nearly all alluvial lands in which such minerals as gold and tin exist. The lower 
reaches of the river towards Sebaling and Lubok Serampang, however, appear to 
afford rich lands suitable to rice cultivation. At Langkap and Greloi in Ulu Muar 
to the North-East of Gunong Berembun, some work has already been done both by 
Natives and foreign Malays towards opening up lands for rice. At Selaru in Johol, 
on the main cart-road some work has been done, and also at Kelebang on the Muar 
River. In Gemencheh, the Natives have, I believe, been principally deterred from 
the cultivation of wet rice by the floods that occur there nearly every year. This 
District I believe to be the one principal district remaining in this State in which 
a large number of families could be provided for. It would be probable, however, 
that dams and water-courses would require a considerable outlay. 
