making in all 25,902 trees planted out. The
produce was in 1842, 1,969,619 good nuts, 18,842 inferior ditto, and
4,500 lbs. of mace. The value of the produce of nutmegs was 9,867
dollars. The estimated number of nuts in 1843 was 1,980,000; in 1844,
2,958,000. There were in all 423 nutmeg plantations on the island and
main land.

There were annually exported in the four years ending 1850, 48,000
lbs. of nutmegs from Pinang, and 57,400 lbs. of mace.

The French at an early period cultivated the nutmeg at the Mauritius,
and from thence they carried it to Cayenne. In Sumatra it appears to
have been grown successfully, and according to Sir S. Raffles, there
was in 1819 a plantation at Bencoolen of 100,000 nutmeg trees,
one-fourth of which were bearing. Attempts have been made in Trinidad
and St. Vincent to carry out the culture, but for want of enterprise
very little progress seems to have been made in the matter.

Under the new duties which came into operation this year, nutmegs,
instead of standing at 1s. per pound all round, have been classified,
and the so-called "wild" nutmegs of the Dutch islands are to pay only
5d per pound. This deprives the Straits' produce of its last
protection against that of the Banda plantations, where the tree grows
spontaneously, while it gives the long Dutch nut a high protection. If
an alteration in this suicidal measure is not speedily obtained, the
Straits' planters will be ruined. The Dutch have the power of
inundating the market with the long aromatic nut. If the original plan
of putting all British and all foreign nutmegs on the same footing had
been adhered to, the Straits' planters would not have complained, as
they would have trusted to their superior skill and care to compensate
for the grand advantage the Dutch have in their rich soils.

On observing this alteration of duty, Mr. Crawfurd and Mr. Gilman
immediately prepared the following memorandum for the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, which however failed to influence that Minister:--

"MEMORANDUM ON THE DUTIES ON NUTMEGS.

"The duty proposed to be levied on nutmegs is 1s. per pound for
cultivated, and 5d. per pound for those commonly called wild. The
ground on which this distinction is founded, is said to be that the
market value of the one is but half that of the other, and that the
Customs can readily distinguish between them.

Now it is admitted, on all sides, that there is but one species of