The gouvernements rubberonderneming Langsa (1907) — the government rubber-estate at Langsa, opened in 1907 — was the rubber-plantation opened by the Indies government in 1907 on the onderafdeeling Langsa in the afdeeling Oostkust van Atjeh to show how Hevea would do on the low land. The estate is the type-case in Broersma’s Verkenningen in Atjeh of the failure of government enterprise in the planting-sector of Atjeh.
Foundation
The estate was opened in 1907 by the Indies government on peat-ground. It was to have a planting of 1.000 bouw; by 1915 it had reached barely half that extent. It then worked with 430 coolies, mostly contract labourers, and had a yield of 123.000 pounds of rubber at a cost-price of 66 cents. One might sing a panegyric to it, as in government publications has been done, but it is, in Broersma’s view, a pity for the public purse that no follow-up was given to the plan, ventilated years ago, of selling it. Had that been done, the opening would have answered to its purpose of showing a possibility.
The Peat-Ground Failure
As it is, other entrepreneurs came afterwards, not knowing what disappointments awaited them. The government rubber-estate was opened in 1907 on peat-ground, and now one can see how the soil sinks under the trees, the roots come up, and a wholly crooked growth is the result. The planting looks shabby. In other afdeelingen too the soil proves unfavourable, but in the younger plantings it is better. Curiously enough, the yield of the whole estate now gives reason for satisfaction. It now comprises 900 bouw and works with 250 labourers (the tappers included). The factory has only four rollers. Thanks to good management, it is not the least among its sisters in this region.
Significance
The gouvernement rubberonderneming at Langsa is the type-case of the failure of government enterprise in the planting-sector of Atjeh, and of the misplaced optimism about the suitability of the peat-soils of the eastern coast for Hevea-cultivation. Broersma’s judgement — ‘Het voorbeeld van het gouvernement in 1907 had wel achterwege mogen blijven. Maar in de jaren, dat alle grond goed heette, zouden de waaghalzen toch wel zijn gekomen’ — The government’s example in 1907 might well have been omitted. But in the years when all ground was called good, the daredevils would have come anyway — is one of the strongest passages of colonial self-criticism in the Verkenningen.
See Also
Source
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapter III, ‘Langsa’, pp. 17–18.
Source
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), passim.