The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-03-08
AMONG THE MALkYS
CONTINUE on Page SiXtecn)

commune oh
$50 and upward. When it IS turned
intn chandu it is worth $500 ana
perhaps $4,000. So, you see, there IS
: bio nroft in the business. The sell
ing Of liquors is farmed ont the "ahle
way. as is also pawnbroking. II may
be questionable whether such Things
are creditable to . Christian govern
ment. They seem a blot on the Brit
ish administration, which is otherwise
almost beyond criticism.
States Without e
These Federated States are among
the few colonies of the world which
have no public debt. They take 1T
more than they spend every year ana
none of them owes a cent. The rev.
en1e of Perak amounts to something
like s15,O 0 900 and its expenditures
are less than ten millions. SelanSof
takes in over ten millions per annum
and it costs only about seven millions
to run the State. Nigri Semhlian mas
receipts Of $4,000 00 and spends
about two millions. The only state
which runs at all behind is Pahang,
and it is yet on the edge Of its de-
yelopment h governments are
managed for the people and the mon
ely raised goes back to them.
The new railways are almost self
supporting. Their receipts last year
were s5.2OO,O0O and their expenditures
lust ABOUT one nuiitlESu lIlOUodilo
lars more. This. in connection with
the new tracks which are building ana
the fact that railroads are practically
new to the country, is surprising. The
customs receipts last year brought IN
over twelve million dollars and Il
censes almost five millions, the latter
being largely made up from gambling,
opium and pawnbroking receipts.
The government spent last year over
five million dollars on public works,
and it is encouraging the development
of the country along the lines of ag-
riculture. In all the colonies plan
tatiOns are being set out and large
agricultural estates started. l have
before me u list of those now under
operation III S%elangor. They embrace
such crops as rubber coffee, cocoa
nuts, cloves and pepper, and they are
largely owned by syndicateS and other
associations. Many OF the estates are
of q thousand acres, and some of ten
thousand and twenty thousand each.
Among the chief crops of the Ma
lays are rice and cocOanuts. The Chi
nese grow sugar, and the government
has started pepper plantations and
there ire many good pepper farms.
The British have also introduced silk
worms and have expended large sums
on the Introduction Of Arabian coffee
rubber and tea, as we'll as cinchona.
The cinchona failed. but the tea and
coffee SucctSuou. ana eVcf1C1aIIY
plantations of his kind will be set
out l have already written as to
rubber. Many Of the new plantations
are Of para trees, which begin to
: yield a profit OF 500 per acre per
ennum at seven years and WIFI -
!, teen years. 1t Is estimated that when
tho trees arc twenty years old the
: profits will be $3.50 per acre per an
mum. The trees grow we'll and yield
, abundantly. At nineteen years old
one recently gave twenty-five pounds
tree was ninety feet high. and at
three feet from the ground it had
a Sirth Of eighty-eight feet.
: At present the planters find it hard
: to get laborers. The Malays are not
anxious to work, the Chinese are mi
s to India to find Workmen for the
t plantations. These are brought here
in large numbers and seem to thrive.
The Drones of the Orient.
indeed, | doubt whether any civil
I zation will make the full-blooded Ma
| lay an industrious man. This is true
Of the Philippines, and you will find
: rev steady workers among the Ma
lays OF the Straits Settlements or the
4 Dutch Fast Indies. These people do
! not believe in laying up money where
noth n rust will corrupt. They
k want only enough to support life. to
: dress in good style and to give 2
8 least when their children are mar
ried. Their needs are few, and when
e supplied they lay off until want comes
Some OF the rulers tell me they can
6 not get their own subjects to work
n their plantations, and the Sultan 81
d IGNORE, who governs the state on the
4 mainland opposite Singapore, saws
8 that he has to get Chinese coolies fr
e 90 his work, for his own men will not
:, labor.
e How II Malays Live.
| have visited some Of the NIa1a1
villages. Their houses are scattered
Z ABOUT under the trees near the roads
e Ihey are usually huts about ffteer
rect square. mad Of bamboos O,
- hD4TGS Nifh n fIntnl, -AH