Hugh Charles Clifford and Walter Armstrong Graham

“ Though much has been done to improve the courts, justice is not easily obtainable. A land registration system is in force but is in a state of confusion, though a land law passed in 1905 gives security of tenure over lands newly acquired. The mining laws are similar to those of Siam. In 1905 the Siamese government advanced two and a half million dollars to Kedah, to pay the debts of the state, which sum was refunded by the British Government on assuming the position of protector. The annual revenue is $1,000,000 and the expenditure about the same. Chief heads of revenue are opium and land tax. ”

“ Silk-weaving is a growing industry. Foreign trade, which in 1909 reached the value of two and a half million dollars, is chiefly with Singapore. Principal exports are copra, rice, fish, cattle and gold; chief imports are cotton goods, hardware and specie. The currency is the Straits Settlements dollar and small silver coin, supplemented by a locally made tin coin of low value.
By virtue of a mutual agreement made in 1902 Siam appointed a resident commissioner to Kelantan and consented, so long as the advice of that officer should be followed, to leave internal affairs to be conducted locally. ”

“ In former days Pahang was far more thickly populated than in modern times, but the long succession of civil wars which racked the land after the death of Bendahara Ali caused thousands of Pahang Malays to fly the country. To-day the valley of the Lebir River in Kelantan and the upper portions of several rivers near the Perak and Selangor boundaries are inhabited by Pahang Malays, the descendants of these fugitives. The Pahang natives are almost all engaged in agriculture. The work of the mines, &c., is performed by Chinese and foreign Malays. ”

“ Meanwhile the Malays have improved their ancestral holdings, have enjoyed a peace and a security to which their past history furnishes no parallel, have obtained easy access to new and important markets for their agricultural produce, and for the rest have been suffered to lead the lives best suited to their characters and their desires. ”

“ What is more certain is the tradition that Perak was twice invaded by the Achinese, and its rulers carried off into captivity, one of them, Sultan Mansur Shah, subsequently becoming the ruler of Achin. The first European settlement in Perak was made by the Dutch in 1650, under a treaty entered into with the Achinese, but the natives of the country rose against the Dutch again and again, and it was abandoned in 1783, though it was afterwards reoccupied, the Dutch being finally ejected by the British in 1795. ”

“ The Golok and Semarak rivers water the west and east parts of the state, falling into the sea a few miles on either side of the mouth of the Kelantan River. The climate of Kelantan is mild and singularly healthy in the open cultivated regions. The population is about 300,000 of which 10,000 are aboriginal tribes (Sakeis and Jakuns) , 10,000 Siamese and Chinese and the rest Malays. The Chinese are increasing and natives of different parts of India are resorting to the state for purposes of trade. ”

“ It will be noted that the inhabitants of this erstwhile Malayan state were, even at the time of the census of 1901, over 64% Chinese, while the Malays were little more than 20% of the population. In Selangor, as elsewhere in the Malay Peninsula, the deaths annually far outnumber the births recorded (e.g. in 1905 births 8293, deaths 12,500) . The disproportion of the female to the male sections of the population is greater in Selangor than in any other part of the colony or Malay States. ”

“ The population of the Negri Sembilan, which according to the census taken in April 1891 was only 70,730, had increased to 96,028 by 1901, and was estimated at 119,454 in 1905. Of these 46,500 are Chinese, 65,000 Malays, 6700 Tamils, and 900 Europeans and Eurasians. The births registered slightly exceed the deaths in number, there being a large Malay population in the Negri Sembilan among whom the proportion of women to men is fair, a condition of things not found in localities where the inhabitants are mostly Chinese immigrants. ”

“ Port Dickson, or Arang-Arang, is the only port on the coast. It is connected with the capital, Seremban, by a railway 24 m. in length. Most of the states comprising the federation depend largely for their prosperity upon agriculture, but in some of the districts tin is being worked in considerable quantities, with good results.
As is the case with the history of most Malayan states, much rests upon no surer ground than tradition, in so far as the records of the Negri Sembilan are concerned. ”

“ Exclusive of tin, the principal exports were $108,000 worth of Para rubber, $181,000 of copra, $54,000 of hides, $48,000 of patchouli, and considerable quantities of timber, rattans and other jungle produce. The agricultural development of the state is still in its infancy, but rubber is cultivated in rapidly increasing areas, and the known fertility of the soil, the steady and regular rainfall, the excellent means of communication, and the natural and artificial conditions of the country, justify the expectation that the future of Perak as an agricultural country will be prosperous. ”

“ The development of planting enterprise in Selangor, and more especially the cultivation of rubber, has led during recent years to the immigration of a considerable number of Tamil coolies, but the Tamil population is still insignificant as compared with the Chinese. ”

“ The mining population is recruited exclusively from the districts of southern China, and during certain years an increased demand for labourers in China itself, in French Indo-China, in the Dutch colonies, and in South Africa temporarily and adversely affected immigration to the Straits of Malacca. ”

“ Tumpat and Tabar on the coast, with population 4000 and 3000 respectively, are the places next in importance after Kota Bharu. A network of creeks render communication easy in the northern districts, the river and its tributaries afford means of access to all parts of the south; 20 miles of road have been made in the neighbourhood of Kota Bharu. Kelantan is connected by telegraph with Bangkok and Singapore, and maintains regular postal communication with those places. Rice cultivation is the principal industry and is increasing rapidly. ”

“ The estimated population in 1905 was 400,000, of whom 200,000 were Chinese and 160,000 were Malays, but owing to the disparity of the proportions between the sexes the deaths in each year largely outnumber the births, and the increase in the population is accounted for solely by the number of immigrants, chiefly from the mainland of China, and to a lesser extent from India also. ”

“ Not much livestock is raised, the few head of cattle exported from Besut being mostly stolen from across the neighbouring Kelantan border. A successful tin mine under European control exists in the Kmamun district, but as everything possible was done in the past to discourage all foreign enterprise, the probable mineral wealth of the country is still practically untouched. Silk-weaving, carried on entirely by the women, is a considerable industry. ”

“ To the work of development, however, the Malays have themselves contributed little, sound administration having been secured by the British officials, enterprise and capital having been supplied mainly by the Chinese, and the labour employed being almost entirely Chinese or Tamil. ”

“ It connects the caves at Batu with Kuala Lumpor. Frequent communication is maintained by steamer between Port Swettenham and Singapore, and by coasting vessels between the former port and those on the shores of the Straits of Malacca. All the principal places in the state are connected with one another by telegraph.
For administrative purposes Selangor is divided into six districts: Kuala Lumpor, in which the capital and the principal tin-fields are situated; Ulu Selangor, which is also a prosperous mining district; Kuala Selangor, which is agricultural, and poorly populated by Malays ”

“ The total area of alienated mining land at the end of 1905 amounted to 65,573 acres, and it was estimated that over 60,000 Chinese were employed in the mines.
The main trunk line of the Federated Malay States railways passes through Selangor. It enters the state at Tanjong Malim on the Perak boundary, runs southward through Kuala Lumpor and so into the Negri Sembilan. It runs for 81 m. in Selangor territory. A branch line 27 m. long connects Kuala Lumpor with Port Swettenham on the Klang Straits where extensive wharves, capable of accommodating ocean-going vessels, have been constructed. ”

“ A second line runs south from Perak and connects with the railway system of Selangor, which in its turn connects with the Negri Sembilan and Malacca line, thus giving through railway communication between the last-named town and Penang. Perak also possesses some 600 miles of excellent metalled cart-road, and the length of completed road is annually increasing. ”

“ Their lithological characteristics and the total absence of all organic remains point to the Archaean period. The failure to discover signs of life in them is, of course, merely negative evidence, and the finding of a single fossil would at once upset it. ”

“ The imports for the same year were valued at $50,575,455 (about £5,900,000) , and the exports at $80,057,654 (about £9,340,000) , making a total trade of nearly 151/4 millions sterling. The principal sources of revenue are an export duty on tin, the rents paid for the revenue farms of the right to collect import duties on opium, wine and spirits, and to keep licensed gambling-houses for the exclusive use of the Chinese population, railway receipts, land and forest revenue and postal revenue. ”