tree, by the time it yields fruit, about eight dollars. The nutmeg tree begins to bear when about eight years old, but it gives no return for several years longer; and, therefore, to the expense of cultivation must be added the interest of the capital sunk. The plant being indigenous in the Moluccas, the expense of cultivation there is greatly less, and this consequently forms a strong ground of claim to the British planter for protective duties to their spices from the British Government.

The memorial points out the pernicious influence of the Dutch monopoly, previous to the introduction of these spices into the Straits Settlements; the difficulty at first experienced to produce spices there; the great amount expended by the British India Government, and by private capitalists, before they were successfully introduced; the vast amount of capital at present invested in these plantations, numbering now about 400, and belonging to various individuals of all classes; the consequent great reduction of prices to the consumer; the fact that these kind of spices have been introduced into various other parts of the world, but in all other places failed so as to become an article of export; all as affording very strong and just claims to differential duties upon their spices; and points at the possibility of the planters being compelled to abandon their plantations unless some protection is afforded them, and, in that case, the re-establishment of the Dutch monopoly, with all its evil consequences.

Perhaps excepting the extension of the Bengal Sugar Act to Pinang, there is nothing so necessary for the general interests of the Island, and there can be nothing more certain than the justness of the claims of the planters to the prayer of the memorial; justice requires that it shall be granted, the agricultural welfare of the settlement depends upon it, and the interest of the consumers calls loudly for it, the Dutch alone do not want it.

TO THE RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P., PRESIDENT OF THE
BOARD OF TRADE.

The Memorial of the undersigned Spice Planters, Merchants, and others, inhabitants of Prince of Wales Island and Province Wellesley.

Humbly showeth,-That when the bill for the present Tariff was introduced into Parliament, your memorialists observed with the deepest satisfaction that a more adequate protective duty was thereby afforded to nutmegs, and that protective duties were also extended to mace and cloves, the produce of British possessions, a reduction being made on the duty upon nutmegs from 2s. 6d. to Is. 9d. per lb., upon mace from 2s. 6d. to 1s. 3d., and upon cloves from 6d. to 3d., or one-half of the duties upon foreign produce, the two latter articles having heretofore been without any protection.

That when the Tariff, as finally adopted, was thereafter received in the Straits Settlements, your memorialists were surprised and grieved to find that amongst the alterations it had undergone in revision, the protection originally intended in favour of these descriptions of British Colonial spices had been withdrawn. This alteration, as your memorialists were advised, was owing to these spices having been included amongst a number of other articles which it had been intended to protect, but which it was afterwards represented were not produced in any of the British possessions, or only to an extent so limited and incapable of increase, as to afford no certain promise of ever becoming im

portant objects of commerce. Your memorialists had hoped that those in England who were interested in these spices would ere now have explained that they were erroneously classed with such articles, and that the differential duties at first contemplated would have been established. They regret that this has not been the case, and as the erroneousness of any such classification has become more and more apparent, and the necessity for an adequate protection more urgent from the rapid increase in the produce of the Straits Settlements, they are impelled to bring the actual extent and circumstances of the cultivation, which do not appear to be known in England, to your Honour's notice, in the assurance that the expressed determination of Her Majesty's Government to encourage the production of valuable articles in the British Colonies will secure to their representations your attention and favourable consideration.

That there are circumstances which, your memorialists conceive, in a peculiar manner strengthen the claim of the Straits Settlements to a higher and strictly enforced differential or protective duty on these spices. The large amount of capital which has been sunk in the cultivation of the nutmeg and clove trees, and the general national benefit that has resulted from the risk encountered by those who succeeded in proving its practicability, may be mentioned as amongst the chief. Until the acquisition of Prince of Wales' Island, towards the end of the last century, by the East India Company, the production of nutmegs, including mace and cloves, was confined to the islands possessed by the Dutch, who for two centuries maintained a rigid monopoly of these articles by the most arbitrary and cruel means, and only sold them to the rest of the world at exorbitant artificial prices. The British India Government used every effort to destroy this monopoly, and Prince of Wales' Island having been declared by their botanist, Dr. Roxburgh, to be the best adapted of all their territories for the cultivation of the spice trees, very great expense was incurred during many years in importing trees from the Spice Islands, and forming plantations. The success of the Government plantations continued to the last doubtful, and it was not until the enterprise was undertaken by a private capitalist, who devoted his care and means to the task, and who received every encouragement from Government, that it became certain spices could be produced to a useful extent in Prince of Wales' Island. As the nature of the cultivation is such that a large outlay is required to be made for many years before any return can be obtained, the first planters, ignorant as they were of the habits of the trees and the best mode of culture, exposed their capital to great risk, and did in fact expend many thousands of pounds in acquiring the necessary knowledge. After an experiment carried on from the end of the last century throughout nearly thirty years, the complete practicability of producing nutmegs, mace, and cloves fully equal in quality to those of the Dutch Spice Islands, ceased to be problematical, and numerous plantations were in consequence formed. At present there are in the settlement of Prince of Wales' Island above 400 nutmeg plantations, containing altogether 233,995 trees, female and male, of different ages, and yielding 18,000,000 of nutmegs; and about fifty clove plantations, containing 80,418 trees, and yielding annually above 300 piculs of dry cloves. The plantations vary in size from one thousand acres to one acre, and are owned by persons of all classes, but chiefly by Europeans and Chinese. In the island of Singapore there are about thirty-five nutmeg plantations, having from fifty to sixty thousand trees. The cultivation having been commenced much later at the latter settlement, only a few of the plantations have partially arrived at maturity, and their produce does not yet exceed 842,328 nutmegs. There are about 15,000 clove trees planted out, a few of which have only yet come into bearing.

The annexed official tables for Prince of Wales' Island show the progressive increase in produce of nutmegs and mace from 1832 to 1842. It will be seen that in ten years the exports of these articles have been trebled. The greatest increase has taken place during the latter half of the period, and as the number of young nutmeg trees is at present very great, a still more rapid rate of increase is anticipated for several years. It is calculated that when all the trees at present planted arrive at maturity, the plantations of Pinang alone will

yield 616,056 pounds of nutmegs, and above 200,000 pounds of mace. A great increase may be also expected in the production of cloves, as scarcely a third of the trees planted have yet come into bearing; and it is therefore calculated, that in the course of a few years there will be about 321,600 pounds of cloves produced from the trees growing in this island.

Although experience has now enabled planters to cultivate more economically and with better results than those who led the way, the outlay required to bring a nutmeg or clove plantation to maturity still is, and will continue to be, heavy. It can only be maintained in a healthy and productive state by very costly husbandry. In the Moluccas, the nutmeg and clove trees are indigenous, flourish with little care, and the cultivation consequently requires less outlay. In Princes of Wales' Island and Singapore, a planter who embarks his capital in the cultivation does not expect that it will be returned to him in less than twenty or twenty-five years. The nutmeg tree has been introduced into various other portions of the British possessions, both in the East and West Indies, and into some other countries; but in none, except the Straits Settlements, has it so succeeded as to become an article of export.

There is no other part of the Colonial possessions of Great Britain, and perhaps no other part of the world, save the Moluccas, where nutmegs and cloves can be produced at less cost than in the Straits Settlements, or where indeed the nutmeg tree can be reared save as a curious and unprofitable exotic. It is therefore of the utmost consequence to encourage the continuance of the present trade from the British Settlements in the Straits, to prevent the re-establishment of the former pernicious Dutch monopoly.

Your memorialists respectfully submit that there cannot be a doubt that the interests of the British consumers are identified with those of the Colonial planters of these spices. These spices are not analogous to coffee, sugar, pepper, and other articles, which may be produced in several countries to an almost unlimited extent, and for which the demand is great. The reasons against granting to the British Colonies the exclusive possessions of the Home market for such articles do not apply to the produce of the nutmeg and clove trees, for the sole foreign proprietors of lands capable of supplying these spices is the Dutch Government, which alone can enter into competition with British Colonial planters. And although by admitting the Dutch to the English market at reduced duties, the price of spices to the consumer might for a time be lowered, its inevitable ultimate effect would be to ruin the British planters, whose plantations would be sold, and the spice trees rooted out, to give place to the common descriptions of tropical cultivation, which demand less outlay and afford some return. The monopoly of the Dutch Government would then be permanently re-established, for it cannot be supposed that the capitalists of the Straits Settlements would again hazard an attempt to destroy that monopoly, whatever inducements might be held out to them, when the success of their predecessors, although their efforts were incited by the British Indian Government, had been followed by their ruin. The British public have no choice save between a Dutch monopoly and a British Colonial trade, with this important addition, that the monopoly would be in the hands of a single Government, which has the power and has shown itself to have the wish (not only by declaring illicit production of spices to be a crime punishable by death, but by actually cutting down trees and burning their produce) to restrict the supply to the world, in order to maintain whatever arbitrary prices it thought fit to prescribe, while the British Colonial trade and production would be in the hands of hundreds of competitors, and free to the enterprise of every person who chose to become a planter; for there is far more land available for the cultivation in the settlements of Prince of Wales' Island and Singapore, than would suffice to meet the demand not of Great Britain only, but of the world.

Prince of Wales' Island already produces above 140,000 lbs. of nutmegs annually, which is more than, and about 47,000 lbs. of mace, which is more than double, the entire quantity retained for home consumption in Great Britain. A large portion of this has, however, been diverted to other markets chiefly to India, because the Dutch have sent their spices to Singapore, Malacca, and the Cape of Good Hope, and thence surreptitiously introduced them

into the British market, so as to evade the nominal differential duty. Even while the Straits spice planters have thus found the home market freely occupied by the Dutch, the effect of the rapidly-increasing produce of this settlement has already been felt upon prices, which have fallen from 10 and 12 dollars per thousand to 4 and 5 per thousand in six years. In the course of a few years, without allowing for the progressive extension and formation of plantations, the exports from Prince of Wales' Island alone will be above 600,000 lbs. of nutmegs, 200,000 lbs. of mace, and above 300,000 lbs. of cloves, while, should the plantations of Singapore prove equally productive, that settlement will export above 137,000 lbs. of nutmegs, 45,000 lbs. of mace, and 60,000 lbs. of cloves, its own produce. There can be no doubt, therefore, that the Straits Settlements will amply suffice to meet the demands of the British market, and that the increase in their produce, and competition of planters, will reduce prices to the lowest standard they can attain consistently with a fair remuneration to the grower.

Your memorialists would further observe, that the cultivation of these spices has now become the most important branch of the agriculture of Prince of Wales' Island, the amount of capital invested in plantations being estimated at 1,200,000 Spanish dollars. The establishment of Singapore in a more central position in the Archipelago having diverted much of the trade from Prince of Wales' Island, which this settlement would otherwise have enjoyed, her prosperity has come to depend greatly upon her agriculture, which may now be considered the principal cause of the extent of capital in the settlement.

Your memorialists in conclusion respectfully submit that there is no valid reason why mace, which is nothing but the internal envelope of the shell of the nutmeg, should not be equally protected with the nutmeg.

Your memorialists therefore humbly pray, that your Honour will be pleased to recommend that the protection intended to be given to nutmegs, mace, and cloves, the produce of British possessions, by the Tariff when it was introduced into Parliament, be now granted; that is to say, that while the present duties upon the produce of foreign countries be retained, those upon British Colonial nutmegs, mace, and cloves, may be reduced to 1s. 9d., 1s. 3d., and 3d. respectively; and that, in order to render such protection operative, the Dutch be restrained from importing the produce of their possessions as the produce of British possessions, by requiring importers desirous of entering spices the produce of British possessions at the lower rate of duty, to produce at the Customhouse a certificate by the grower of such spices, verified by his oath, made before the Collector or Registrar of Imports and Exports at the place of growth, that they are the bona fide produce of his plantation.

And your memorialists will ever pray, &c.

The following is a Return of the quantity of Nutmegs, Mace, and Cloves, imported from Prince of Wales' Island, for ten years, commencing with the year 1832-33 :

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