ABSTRACT
The regular receipt of rubber income, the small need for working capital, and the way in which fruit income can be used to finance ‘extraordinary expenditures’ remove the few major causes of indebtedness among peasantry. Indebtedness is further lessened by the fact that the area is Malay Reservation and so could be loan security only for Malays, who do not practise usury. The harvest is the traditional time for the payment of debts, and when these are paid in rice they are usually calculated by a traditional fixed value of rice—one bushel equals 50 cents. People say they do not like to join kutu because they do not trust those who draw early to keep up their payments, and they doubt their own ability to maintain a regular payment for several weeks. The known cheat can mix freely in village affairs and find yet other people to cheat.
