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Mr. Osborne. We might give them a tract of ground.
Mr. Ladds. I never think of these things very much because it is so utterly useless bringing forward a scheme like that to Government.
Mr. Fung Wah Chün-Don't you think Chinese would rather keep cattle in pure Chinese territory?
A.-I don't know. I think if I was a Chinaman I would rather try them in European territory because you know there is no such thing as squeeze here. You see in Chinese territory they never know what tax or duty is to be put upon them.
Q. Do you know that there is any tax in China on a man keeping a cow?
A.--No, but they tax them when exported.
Mr. Fung Wah Chün.-The Chinese Government are very free with these people. They can do anything they like with their cattle, whereas with their cattle in British territory when a cow goes sick they have an Inspector constantly poking about. When a cow goes sick in Chinese territory the owner sells it and no one says a word.
Mr. Osborne.There is no harm in trying the experiment.
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Mr. Ladds. They do raise cattle in Kwangsi specially for the Hongkong market. Mr. Maitland. Would it not be a good thing to get an experienced gardener to show them how to grow potatoes?
Mr. Francis.-John Chinaman does not want anybody to show him how to garden.
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Mr. Osborne. That is all very well. No one is a better gardener than a China- man, but he is so beastly conservative.
Mr. Francis. You only want to hold out some inducement to him to show him that he will make a profit out of it.
Mr. Osborne.We want a certain amount of quality. If he has a carrot he will let it grow a foot long because it will weigh a little more, but then the thing is not fit to eat. If he had plucked it half the size it would have been a good carrot. They always grow for weight.
Mr. Ladds.--Then there is the seed. He always grows from the same seed.
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Mr. Osborne. I have for years past got a quantity of seed from Sutton's and distributed it among gardeners in the Colony with the hope of introducing them. offer to buy up the produce. Out of $1.50 worth of seeds each year I think $1.25 worth is wasted. They simply won't take the trouble to grow something new.
Mr. Marshall. I should like to ask Mr. Ladds one or two questions if in order. He tells us that the price of rice, oil and one or two other things has increased by about 100 per cent. How does he arrive at that?
A.-I might be wrong. I have no figures. It is simply from memory. Q.-I understand that your main suggestion for improving the supply of provi- sions and possibly decreasing the cost was that there should be more Markets?
A. Yes, I think there ought to be more Markets.
Q.--Have you thought of free Markets at all?
A.--I don't think it is any hardship to a man to have to pay a fair rent calculated on a certain percentage of the cost of the building.
Q.-There are certain people who bring produce over from the mainland to sell to these people who hold stalls in the Markets. Don't you think these people would get a better price for their products if they were established in a special Market without