Oppressive Regulations of the Government.
The Government is very jealous of foreign growers. There is a well-known case of a young Englishman that invested in a cocoanut grove, a few years ago, not far from Manila. He was ruined in a short time by taxes and exactions—on the score that he was not a native. The real reason, however, was the fear that his success would draw round him a British colony.
On the other hand, Spaniards and natives find no difficulty to obtain concessions from the Government, under promise of cultivating the land so taken. The regulations are so vague or so impossible, that they are inevitably broken. The proprietor, too, is never sure of his land: it can be forfeited by disobedience; and lawsuits are constantly going on between the individual and the State.
This condition of affairs is of course annoying to everyone concerned, yet no one ever thinks of changing the laws. To a Spaniard, what was good enough for his grandfather is quite good enough for himself.