WHEN Sir William Jervois left Singapore, early in 1877, he
was succeeded by a civilian, Sir W. C. F. Robinson, who never visited the Malay
States during the eighteen months he remained in Singapore. After a short
interregnum, during which Colonel Sir A. E. H. Anson, Lieutenant-Governor of
Pinang, administered the government, Mr., afterwards Sir Frederick, Weld,
G.C.M.G., came from Tasmania, and remained in the Straits till he retired, in
the autumn of 1887, when he was succeeded Sir Cecil C. Smith, whose term of
office expired in 1893.
During these twenty years---to be exact from 1874 till 1895---the
British Residents gradually built up the system of administration which seemed
best suited to the peculiar circumstances, without much more than routine
references to the Governor. It was well for the Native States that the men
entrusted with this wide authority proved themselves fitted to wield it, and it
was proof of the foresight and wise judgment of the Governors that they
interfered very little with their officers. The Residents themselves were
nominated by the Governor and approved by the Secretary of State. They were
chosen as the best and most experienced men for this very special service. A
knowledge of the Malay language and character were almost indispensable ;
though, as has been explained, the
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Page 246 BRITISH MALAYA
real character of the Malay was in 1874 practically an
unknown quantity. But the disturbances had taught a great deal, and a man who
spoke Malay well, who sympathized with the people, and possessed the other
necessary qualities already described, felt his way carefully, and, living day
and night in a Malay atmosphere, had only himself to blame if he failed to get
at the heart of the people and win their respect and confidence.
As funds became available and the administrative machine was
built up bit by bit, the Resident collected about him a number of men,
Europeans, Eurasians, Malays, Chinese, and Indians to help him in his task. In
the first instance, the Resident was quite alone ; then he had a clerk or two ;
a native or a European non-commissioned officer at the head of his police ; a
Eurasian apothecary in charge of his first hospital ; a Malay warder to look
after the flimsy building dignified by the name of prison. But things moved
quickly, the country was very rich, and only required peace and order to
develop with amazing rapidity. Therefore the work contemplated for twelve
months was often done in six, villages grew like mushrooms, and the revenue
increased so fast that funds were available by the middle of a financial year
for services which were considered out of reach at the beginning. Under such
circumstances to have tied the hands of the man on the spot, the only man who knew, would have been to
retard the progress of the country, simply in order to propitiate the fetish of
red tape and follow dictates laid down for totally different circumstances. As
the States progressed and the establishments, of necessity, grew to keep pace
with the ever-advancing prosperity of the country, the Resident's experience of
tropical colony government in all its departments, his foresight, common sense,
courage, and adaptability were called into requisition almost hourly. For
several years it was understood that only the Residents were servants of the
British
EVOLUTION OF RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM Page 247
Government ; all subordinates were servants of the State
which employed them. That rule narrowed the field of selection, but no man who
could enter a recognized service through the gate of competition was anxious to
seek exile, " to scorn delights and live laborious days" in the wilds
of a Malay jungle. Still, for posts of trust and responsibility it was
necessary to have Englishmen,1 while the clerical service was mainly
recruited from Eurasians of the Straits or Ceylon, the rank and file of the
police from India and Malay countries, and the railways, post, and telegraph
offices from India and Ceylon, Subordinate posts requiring intelligence and
financial skill in the holders were best filled by Chinese. Appointments to and
promotions in the more important of these subordinate offices were subject to
the approval of the Governor ; the Resident could only deal with appointments
carrying very small salaries.
From 1876 to 1882 the Governor had, in Singapore, a
Secretary for Malay Affairs, who not only knew the country and the people, but
periodically visited all the protected States, travelled about in them, audited
the accounts of the various stations, made suggestions to the Residents on all
subjects, and did something to secure uniformity of method when dealing with
similar matters in different States. Before and after those dates, until the
year 1896, there was no one in Singapore who had knowledge enough to criticize
successfully the action of the Residents. Of the States, their topography,
chiefs, people, industries, needs, and resources, the Secretariat in Singapore
only knew what the Residents chose to tell, and they had not much time for
correspondence, or any but rare opportunities of despatching letters to
Singapore, or even to a neighbouring State. If there had been any
1 A name
which in this book includes Scotchmen, Irishmen, Welshmen, Channel Islanders,
Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, and other white British subjects.
Page 248 BRITISH MALAYA
one in the Singapore Secretariat who, at any time during
those twenty years, had possessed a fair personal knowledge of the Malay
States, in five years, or far less, it would have been useless, indeed worse
than useless, it would have been very misleading ; for the States advanced so
rapidly along the path of progress and development that in twelve months a
considerable mining town would spring up in the midst of what had been virgin
forest, and the Resident would write of roads and places never before heard of,
and not to be found on any map. Of course there were no maps ; they also were
the product of the Malay administration, and as articles of comparative luxury,
they only came much later, when the value of land, the extension of mines and
agriculture, the general development of the country, and the construction of
roads and railways, made accurate surveys and plans a necessity. Therefore
knowledge of Malay affairs, to be valuable, had to be kept up to date, and that
could only be done by constant visits to the country.
The impossibility of a Governor in Singapore exercising any
really effective control over men so circumstanced as the British Residents,
and with such a difficult task to occupy their whole time, had been so quickly
and fully recognized that they were instructed to keep journals of their daily
proceedings, and to send these records to Singapore from time to time, as
opportunity permitted. Beyond that the Residents sent every year, in October or
November, a detailed estimate of revenue expected to be raised from all sources
during the ensuing financial year, and of all expenditure proposed to be
defrayed for every government service during the same period. This annual
Budget had to receive the approval of the Governor before it could be acted
upon, and no vote could be altered or exceeded without special reference and
sanction. That of course was a very great and necessary safeguard, and it was
supplemented by an annual report, furnished about
EVOLUTION OF RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM Page 249
April or May, giving the actual result of the past year's
working, with all financial and other particulars, together with a general
review of the year's transactions, an account of the doings of every department
of government and the Resident's own remarks on the general progress of the
State. Besides furnishing this Annual Budget and Annual Report, the correspondence
of the Resident with Singapore was mainly occupied with the appointments,
promotions, salaries, and complaints of Government officers.
After about ten years, the Residents found they no longer
had time to keep journals of their daily doings, and that method of supplying
information to the Governor was abandoned. The annual Budget and the annual
Reports are furnished to the present time, and the latter have always been
forwarded by the Governor to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who causes
them to be printed and presented to both Houses of Parliament.
Up till 1896, a Governor who was interested in the Malay
States (and it must always be remembered that his first charge was the Straits
Settlements Colony) and wished to exercise some influence there, could only do
so by visiting the States, getting some idea of their geography, their then
condition and requirements, and by making the personal acquaintance of the
rulers, the more important chiefs, and the leading Chinese miners and capitalists.
That done, it has been easy in modern times (since roads and railways were
constructed and the Residents provided with steam yachts) to make opportunities
for seeing the Residents and discussing with them and the Malay Rulers any
projects of unusual importance. Sir Frederick Weld took an immense interest in
the Malay States, and spent a good deal of time travelling about in them,
seeing the country and making the acquaintance of the Rulers and chiefs. What
he saw convinced him that the Residents could be trusted with the large
authority they had
Page 250 BRITISH MALAYA
gradually acquired, and while supporting every project for
the development of the States, he stood for the strict observance of our
obligations towards the Malays and the improvement of their well-being. Sir
Cecil Smith, with a much wider experience of Chinese, Malays, and all the
circumstances of this special problem, was not less anxious to help the Malay
administrations along the path of progress on which their feet were now so
firmly placed. If Sir Cecil Smith's connexion with the Straits will always be
remembered by his firm suppression of the Chinese secret societies (a policy in
which at the time he received so little support, though his action has been so
fully justified by results), his sympathy with the Malay States was evidenced
by his strong support of railway development and his keen interest in the
advancement of education.
It is not easy to convey a correct idea of the difficulties
of correspondence between any Malay State and Singapore, between one State and
another, and between the more remote districts of a State and the head-quarters
of the Resident. Those difficulties continued until quite recently (1903), when
the main trunk line of railway traversing all the western States, with a
terminus in Province Wellesley, opposite Pinang, was completed. Until railway
communication was established, though the actual distances were comparatively
insignificant, the carriage of letters depended upon, first, runners over
jungle tracks, then pony carts, and finally railways, in the case of those
places which enjoy a train service. That was so far as land carriage was
concerned, and when a seaport was reached the mails were carried by small
steamers, some of which were subsidized for the purpose, while others were not,
but all of them called at sundry coast ports on their way to or from Singapore.
Therefore correspondence was irregular, and often subject to very trying
delays. Communication between the States was even more uncertain
EVOLUTION OF RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM Page 251
until they obtained a through railway service. These
circumstances partly explain the fact that each Resident followed his own line
in his own State, without any particular reference to his neighbours. Very
often he had no experience of any State but the one he was in. He seldom knew
or concerned himself with the affairs of his neighbours, and he probably
thought that he was as capable of dealing with any question of administration
as another Resident, who might be older or younger than himself, or who had had
a longer or shorter experience of Malays and Malay affairs. As already stated,
there had been, for the six years from 1876 to 1882, a more or less effective
control from Singapore with an attempt to secure uniformity. But when that
ceased with the abolition of the post of Secretary for Native Affairs (and the
control had never been absolutely effective) each Resident went his own way and
was inclined to resent either suggestion or interference. Some important matters,
such as the system of revenue farms, the amount of tin duty, and the rate of
quit rent on Government lands, had been established, as regards principle, in
the earliest days, and only details were open to varying treatment. Where there
was an opportunity for trying experiments it was usually taken advantage of,
for the reasons and owing to the circumstances already described. The result
was often useful, for amongst a variety of experiments it was possible to
realize which had proved most successful. But as time went on and the States
grew in importance, these differences, at first irritating, became unbearable
and led to federation. The weak point of the system, as then developed, was
that it placed too much power in the hands of one man. It may be said that
whether that is a bad or good arrangement depends upon the man ; but as it is
unlikely that there will always be a succession of good men, a satisfactory
system must be so conceived that a bad man cannot do an infinity of harm
without hindrance. The
Page 252 BRITISH MALAYA
reader must therefore bear the facts in mind, the peculiar
circumstances under which the Residents were appointed, the burden of their
stewardship and the necessary assumption of large authority if they were to
render a good account of it, their isolation and the absence of effective
control, the gradual increase of responsibility with the rapid development of
the States, the difficulties of correspondence and the want of uniformity in
the treatment of administrative details, so that, when the time comes to deal
with federation, he will understand why a system which on the whole worked so
admirably for twenty years had to give place to the natural outcome of that
system.
The year 1889 was notable in the history of the protected
States, for in that year Sir Hugh Low retired from his post as Resident of
Perak. Then Pahang, which had come into the fold late in 1888, for the first
time appeared as a protected State, and the first bank, a branch of the
Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China, was opened at the head-quarters
of the Perak Government. I have already mentioned Sir Hugh Low's appointment in
1877 and his successful management of Perak affairs at a critical time. It
would be difficult to overstate the value of his twelve years' work. He arrived
when Perak was overwhelmed by a heavy debt, with no visible resources to meet
it. He left the State with a flourishing revenue (over two millions of dollars)
and a credit balance of $1,500,000. If those figures, the peace and order of
the State, and the many useful public works completed during the period of his
office were the outward signs of his successful administration, the real value
of Sir Hugh Low's work was to be found in the influence he exerted to prove to
the Malays the meaning of justice, fair dealing, and consideration for their
claims, their customs, and their prejudices. That influence was not less firmly
and wisely used to teach his officers a lesson of strict integrity, and to
insist upon their
EVOLUTION OF RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM Page 253
treating all natives with the same courtesy and
consideration which he showed himself. Sir Hugh Low understood what others in
authority should never forget, that the only way to deal with a Malay people is
through their recognized chiefs and head-men. To gain their co-operation it is
necessary to show them at least as much consideration as if they were
Europeans, and infinitely more patience. Moreover, they should be consulted
before taking action, not after. When Sir Hugh Low retired, the Imperial
Government recognized his services by bestowing upon him the Grand Cross of St.
Michael and St. George ; but the people of Perak, of all classes and
nationalities, having already given him their esteem and affection, kept his
memory green, and when he died last year they would mourn him as a friend who
" had gone home to the mercy of God."
Reference has been made to the practice of "
farming" certain sources of revenue, the principal amongst them being the
right to prepare and sell opium for smoking, to manufacture and sell a Chinese
spirit called arak or samshu and collect the duty on all
imported spirits, to keep pawnshops and receive articles in pledge, and to open
and manage halls where public gambling on certain games was carried on during
certain prescribed hours. The regulations governing the right to open pawnshops
and deal with pledges, and to tax, manufacture, and sell spirits, are
practically the same as those in force in the neighbouring British colony. As
regards opium, the Malay States adopted a method different to and perhaps less
objectionable than the one recognized in the Straits Settlements. In the
Straits the farmer alone has the right to deal with raw opium and convert it
into the preparation called chandu,
which is used for smoking. With the consent of the Government, he issues
licences for the retail of chandu,
and the interference of the Government is practically confined to seeing that
the chandu is up to a certain
standard
Page 254 BRITISH MALAYA
of purity, and that it is not sold at a higher price than
that fixed by the Government contract. A chest of fine Indian opium contains
forty balls of the raw product. While the price is constantly fluctuating, from
under $750 to over $1200 a chest, the forty balls of raw opium, when "cooked"
and made into chandu, will sell for
$2500 to $3000, according to the limit of the Government price. It will be
understood that when opium is cheap the farmer is likely to make very large
profits, which will be adversely affected by a rise in price. On the other
hand, the farmer has to provide the whole preventive service to protect himself
against smuggling, and, though his profits are usually very large, his risks
are greater than most speculators would care to run. This system is
objectionable principally because of the enormous power it places in the hands
of the farmer for a period of three years, during which he holds the monopoly.
In order to give him a profit and a fair equivalent for the risks the consumer
has to pay rather a high price for his chandu.
While, therefore, from one point of view, the consumer suffers in order that
first the Government and then the farmer may gain, from another point of view
the moralist may urge that the more expensive the drug the better for the
community.
The Residents in the Malay States understood this system and
did not altogether favour it. The miners, the back-bone of the revenue,
declared that, if introduced, it would put a stop to their enterprise and ruin
the country. They objected to the power which might be wielded by a monopolist
who was also a miner, and they declared that unless the coolies could buy cheap
opium, they would riot first and then leave the country. The truth or otherwise
of these arguments was not put to the test, for the Residents adopted the following
system.
The country --- for the purposes of these revenue farms ---
was divided into a coast farm (where there were no mines, and into which it was
exceedingly easy to smuggle
EVOLUTION OF RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM Page 255
such a portable and valuable drug as opium), and a
rest-of-the-country farm, which of course included the mines and all the
up-country. The coast farm was let and worked on the same system as that
pursued in the Straits Colony, only that the maximum price of chandu was a good
deal lower than that charged in any of the colony's settlements. The coast
districts were, and still are, of much less importance and contained much fewer
inhabitants (principally Chinese woodcutters and fishermen) than the mines.
Except for use in the coast districts, any one could import raw opium on paying
the Government duty, which was at first about $7 a ball, and is now $14 a ball.
The Government licensed all retail shops, while mine owners and other large
employers of Chinese labour imported their own opium, converted it into chandu, and dispensed it to their own employees.
After a good many years the Government, in some States, farmed the collection
of the opium duty, and while that policy made not the slightest difference to
consumers, it enabled the Government to calculate with certainty on the
receipts from this source for each successive period of three years. The risks
of opium smuggling are small compared with those of chandu smuggling, because every chest of opium exported from India
to the Straits, and thence to the Malay States, can be traced through every
step of its passage. A great deal of inferior opium is, however, grown in
China, and attempts are sometimes made to smuggle this stuff into the colony
and the Malay States.
As regards public gambling, which is permitted to Chinese,
and always has been permitted in the Malay States, any one can supply reasons
against it. To argue the question at length would be foreign to the purposes of
this book. It is not necessary to do more than state briefly some of the causes
why the British Advisers have supported the retention of the custom. First of
all, the Chinese will gamble, whether the law
Page 256 BRITISH MALAYA
allows or forbids it. The habit is inveterate and
ineradicable with those who have the money to do it. With miners living in the
jungle, with no sources of amusement open to them and plenty of time on their
hands, no power short of an incorruptible police constable, attached day and
night to each Chinese, could stop it. The facilities for clandestine gambling,
in such a country as the Malay States, are so great that if the practice were
forbidden the law would be broken, with impunity, every hour of the day. The
Protected Malay States began their new life with such straitened means that it
was only possible to employ a police force just sufficient to deal with
ordinary crime ; the country is so large, the distances so great, the jungle so
all-pervading, that the comparatively large force of police now employed is
always overworked in its efforts to protect life and property, To have made
gambling illegal, would have been to expose the whole police force to an
irresistible temptation. They would have been corrupted and rendered
untrustworthy in other and more important matters, while gambling would have
been suppressed in name only. The Malay Rulers and Chiefs strongly objected to
the introduction of measures to make public gambling illegal ; they said it was
an old-established custom, they knew the evils which would certainly follow its
nominal suppression, and they declined to sacrifice the revenue which was
derived from sanctioning the practice under strict control. Therefore the
gambling farm has been continued. It is only permitted in places and buildings
approved by the police, and during very limited hours. It is to the farmer's
interest to see that no other form of gambling is carried on, and his servants,
not the police, are engaged in preventive work. There is no particular
inducement, for the class of Chinese who indulge in this habit, to play in
places other than those set apart for the purpose. All gambling is for ready
money, and as the players are nearly all miners and the
EVOLUTION OF RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM Page 257
halls are public, the better-class Chinese in the Malay
States go to the Colony --- where gaming is illegal --- when they wish to play.
There of course a man can only indulge surreptitiously, but in the country
house "of a friend these things are easily managed, and there is the added
attraction of risk. All forms of wha-wei,
or Chinese lottery, are absolutely forbidden in the Malay States, and
Government has the invaluable assistance of the farmer in suppressing them,
because it is to his interest to do so and is also a condition of his contract.
In the colony, on the other hand, it is admitted that these lotteries are
always rife and do an infinity of mischief.
As was natural, an administration which aimed at developing
the country for the benefit of the people gave early attention to the cause of
education. The whole business of the country was carried on in Malay. Every one
except the more newly arrived Chinese and Indians spoke it. It was the lingua franca by which white, and brown,
and black, and yellow men exchanged ideas and did business ; it was the
language of the State councils and the courts, of hospitals and police
stations, and of all Government departments in their dealings with natives of
any nationality. Most of the courts and police stations, and many of the
Government offices, gradually found it necessary to employ Chinese writers and
interpreters, and, as the States advanced in prosperity and grew in population,
Tamil and Hindustani interpreters have been added ; but for all that, the
general medium of conversation remains Malay. From very small beginnings, the
Government established in all the States a system of vernacular schools, where
Malay reading and writing, arithmetic, and some geography are taught. There are
also schools of the same class for girls, and in both the teachers are Malay
men and Malay women respectively. The Government has power by law to compel the
compulsory attendance of children at an accessible vernacular school in any
country
Page 258 BRITISH MALAYA
district where parents neglect their duty. The education in
all vernacular schools is free, and the Koran is taught in all Malay schools.
In towns there are English schools with English masters, where the standard of
education is much the same as that taught in similar institutions in the
neighbouring British Colony. The most promising boys in the vernacular schools
are helped, if they desire it, to pass on to a school where English is taught.
In the centres of Chinese and Tamil populations there are Chinese and Tamil
schools ; but the children of these nationalities usually manage to attend a
school where English is taught. There are also a few State-aided schools
founded under the auspices of Roman Catholic, Methodist, and other Christian
denominations. Special efforts have been made to provide a suitable education
for the children of Malay Rajas and chiefs ; but the Government has not aimed
at educating the children of any class or nationality to unfit them for the
lives they will probably have to lead. A critic might say that the Protected
States have spent, and continue to spend, too small a proportion of their
revenues on education. That may be so, but the results obtained are not
unsatisfactory, and the Government has never desired to give to the children a
smattering, or even a larger quantity, of knowledge which will not help them to
more useful and happy lives than they now lead. To the Malay the principal
value of school attendance is to teach him habits of order, punctuality, and
obedience. Reading, writing, and arithmetic will always be useful to him ; but
beyond that, what the Government has tried to introduce are agricultural and
technical schools and classes where a boy may learn the principles and practice
of a useful industry. Unfortunately there is at present such a demand for
clerks, both in and out of the Government service, that every intelligent boy
who has passed one of the higher standards (not necessarily the highest) can at
once secure remunerative employment. The consequence is that in-
EVOLUTION OF RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM Page 259
telligent boys leave school too soon, and very few of them
can be found to devote themselves to a technical education. As in the Colony,
the Native States offer every year a scholarship, which can be held for five years
and is valuable enough to give the holder five years' teaching in a British
University. Rightly or wrongly, the Malay administrations have tried to avoid a
system likely to create an imitation, however remote, of the occasionally
startling, sometimes grotesque, and often pathetic product of the British
Indian schools.
I have referred to Sir Cecil Smith's interest in the cause
of education. When he finally left the East in 1893, he wrote as follows to the
Marquess of Ripon, then Secretary of State for the Colonies :-
" Next, I wish to refer to the result of the policy
regarding the education of the Malays for employment in the administration.
This has been kept steadily in view as a cardinal feature in the government of
the States, and has met with a considerable measure of success. Throughout the
States there is an increasing number of Malays who, with ‘hereditary or
customary claims to office,' are being trained and are helping to educate
themselves to take an active and responsible share in the Government. The
importance of the policy referred to, whether as regards our simple duty
towards the Protected States or as regards the expediency of doing all that is
feasible to make the natives have the greatest interest in the welfare of their
own country, cannot be overrated."
While mining was the important industry in all the States,
the northernmost district of Perak, called Krian, was specially suited to the
cultivation of rice. It is a coast district adjoining Province Wellesley ;
almost the whole of it is quite level, and it is drained by several
considerable rivers. Prior to 1874, a very small portion of this district,
right on the coast, had been partially cultivated for rice ; the rest of the
district was unbroken
Page 260 BRITISH MALAYA
jungle. In the years which followed, the entire district
was, by the great exertions of Government officers, cleared, roaded, occupied
by Malays and a few Tamils, and turned into an immense rice field. Dotted about
are some sugar estates, owned by one European company and a number of Chinese
planters. Low country ricefields depend for success on a supply of water when
the fields are ploughed and the grain planted --- or, to be more accurate, when
the young plants are transferred from the nurseries to the fields ---and for
some months later. The only water-supply in Krian was an uncertain rainfall
which either made or marred the harvest. Moreover, the rivers were tidal, the
water brackish, and the land so low and flat that, in a drought, the supply of
drinking-water ran short, and the people were either compelled to leave the
place or to run the risk of disease which not seldom developed into epidemic.
By permission of the Sultan of Kedah, the Government of Perak obtained from
some hills in Kedah territory a supply of drinking-water sufficient for the
head-quarters of the district, but that of course did not supply the needs of
the agricultural population miles away. Under these circumstances a scheme was,
in 1895, elaborated to create a lake (by the construction of works at a gorge
in some hills through which a large stream forced its way), and thence to carry
the water in a great canal, raised above the level of the surrounding country,
and by side canals, at intervals throughout its length, to irrigate nearly
seventy thousand acres of rice land and supply the cultivators with
drinking-water from the same source.
Mr. Claude Vincent, of the Indian Public Works, was deputed,
on special service, to visit Perak and report on the scheme prepared by the
Department of the Perak State Engineer, Mr. F. St. George Caulfeild. The scheme
was approved, with some alterations, has been under construction ever since,
and was only lately completed at a
EVOLUTION OF RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM Page 261
cost exceeding £150,000. There has been great delay in
carrying out this work, but the difficulties were also great. The estimates
made, from time to time, of the probable cost of the work have been largely
exceeded, but the benefits to the district will justify the outlay, and a
water-rate should give a moderate interest on the capital expended.
With the advancing prosperity of the country, the rapid
development of new and old mining fields, and the construction of roads and
railways, many populous towns sprang up, and the Government expended large sums
of money in supplying them with pure water. In many cases it was necessary to
construct considerable head-works, and in all the water is conveyed long
distances, from the source of supply to the centre of distribution. Kuala
Lumpor, in Selangor, is lighted by electricity, and other Malay towns will, in
time, be similarly provided. There is no coal and no gas in the Malay States,
and all lighting has hitherto been done with imported mineral oil.
Tin-mining has enabled the administration to rapidly open up
and develop a country which, thirty years ago, was practically covered by
virgin forest. It was the clear policy of the Government to encourage the
mining industry by every legitimate means, and though, for twenty-five years,
Europeans have been prophesying the exhaustion of the alluvial tin deposits, I
have never shared that view, and the production is to-day larger than ever, and
likely to continue for many years to come. Still, no effort has been spared to
secure a settled population of agriculturists, and what has been accomplished
in the Krian district of Perak is a striking proof of success. Rice and
cocoanuts are probably the two forms of cultivation best suited to Malays. The
Chinese are successful sugar-growers, and years ago the Government introduced
into Perak the cultivation of the pepper vine, and that is an
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established industry. The Government also endeavoured to
introduce silkworms, but the experiment met with indifferent success. While
Resident of Perak, Sir Hugh Low started Government plantations and gardens, at
high and low levels, and large sums were expended on the introduction and
cultivation of Arabian coffee, cinchona, tea, and rubber. The cinchona failed,
but very fine qualities of Arabian coffee and tea were grown, and the suitability
of the climate and soil having been proved, these estates were sold or
abandoned. Having regard to the importance which the cultivation of rubber has
now assumed in the Malay States, it is interesting to record here the following
passage from a report written by Sir Hugh Low so long ago as July, 1883 :-
"All kinds of india-rubber succeed admirably, and seeds
and plants of Hevea Braziliensis have
been distributed to Java and Singapore, to Ceylon and to India, and supplies
will be forwarded on application to any person or institution which will take
care of these valuable plants."
In the report which Sir Hugh Low wrote in February, 1884,
just before taking leave to England --- a leave lasting nearly two years --- he
said : " Specimens of the rubber from six years old plants of the Hevea Brasiliensis, in the Government
experimental gardens, have also been collected, as well as of that from the Manihot Glaziari (Ceara Scrap), and will
be sent to England for report."
A little further on, in the same report, Sir Hugh Low wrote
: " British capitalists have, with the exception of the enterprising merchants from Shanghai, as yet done
little or nothing in Perak ; a feeble commencement only being yet apparent on
the part of two concessionaries from Australia, to whom large grants have been given." Those grants were for
mining land, and it is worth remembering that British capitalists declined to
risk even small sums in the Malay States till years after the enterprise and
EVOLUTION OF RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM Page 263
industry of the Chinese had established and developed the
mines, and the Government had, in their experimental plantations, proved the
capabilities of the soil. It is also highly interesting to note that nearly
thirty years ago a Malay State not only imported and successfully cultivated
Para rubber, but even distributed plants and seed to Java and Singapore, to
Ceylon and India ; though no one then thought it worth his while to cultivate
rubber, either the indigenous (such as Ficus
elasticd) or the imported varieties. Whilst in Perak in 1884-51 planted
four hundred seeds from Sir Hugh Low's trees, and in due time the seedlings
were planted out. Those trees yielded a great quantity of the seed from which
the Hevea plantations of Malaya were formed.
It has been stated that narrow-minded directions from
Singapore discouraged Ceylon planters for a while, but when efforts were made
to repair the mistake and land was granted on very easy terms, a number of
experienced men settled in all the western States, especially in Selangor, and
there took up the serious cultivation of Liberian coffee, which then promised
exceedingly well. The venture, in the hands of these able and determined men,
was quite successful, but almost as soon as the trees began to yield a crop the
price of coffee fell to almost one-third of what it had been, and all hope of
fair profit depended upon a greater recovery in price than has yet taken place.
It was a very trying time for men who had put almost, or quite, all they
possessed into the land, but the Ceylon planter has won a reputation for "
grit " and resource which places him very near the head of his profession.
Times were very bad indeed for some years : prices were hopeless, unforeseen
enemies attacked the coffee trees, labour was scarce, and funds were almost
exhausted. At this crisis the planting of Para rubber was taken up, first on a
small, but very soon on a rapidly increasing scale. Those who began the
movement have nothing to
Page 264 BRITISH MALAYA
regret, except their own caution, or the limitations imposed
upon them by want of capital. Now, every one understands the value of an acre
of Para rubber in the Malay States, and what profit it will yield at seven,
fourteen, and twenty-one years of age. The real difficulty is to believe the facts
which can no longer be questioned, but, at present prices, an acre of land
planted with 108 Para rubber trees, should, when the trees are seven years old,
yield a profit of £20 an acre; when the trees are fourteen years old they might
give a profit of £80 an acre, and from over twenty years onwards a profit of £150
an acre is possible. Possible, but very unlikely, because, though a given tree
of a certain age has yielded so many pounds of rubber in a year, it is hardly
conceivable that every tree on an acre of land will give a similar quantity. A
very reasonable estimate will, however, show a more than satisfactory return.
These estimates do not allow for the payment of any export duty, and the
Government of the Federated Malay States at present imposes a duty on exported
rubber of 2 1/2 per cent ad valorem,
and can, of course, vary these conditions in the future alienation of land.
The following extract from a report by the Acting British
Resident, Perak, dated 15 April, 1901, shows that the above estimates are not
extravagant, for the present price of the best plantation rubber is about 6s.
the pound.
" The result of a sale in the London market of a parcel
of Para rubber was received early in the year : 327 lb. of the best quality
rubber fetched 3s. 10d. per pound, and 23 lb. of scrap, i.e. fragments of
rubber picked off the stems of the trees after tapping, were sold at the rate
of 2s. 6d. per pound. Eighty-two trees of an average age of fourteen years were
tapped to give this result ; the yield is thus a little over 4 lb. to the tree,
but the Superintendent, Mr. Derry, reports that exceptionally heavy rains
EVOLUTION OF RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM Page 265
frequently interrupted the work, and threatened, in
conjunction with the tapping, to damage the seed crop, and that therefore the
tapping was stopped in many cases long before the supply of latex was
exhausted. From the eleven best trees over 97 lb. of dry rubber were obtained,
one tree yielding 12 lb. 1 ½ oz. A small sample of gutta ramboug (ficus elastica) was reported on in England as 'good
clean Java character,' and sold at the rate of 3s. 10d. per pound. A tree in
the Kuala Kangsar garden yielded 25 lb. at a single tapping ; this tree is
nineteen years old and about 90 feet high ; measured round the aerial roots, at
3 feet from the ground, it has a girth of 88 feet."
The following interesting particulars are from the latest
report of the Director of Agriculture :-
" Last year's production in the Federated Malay States
may be estimated at 300,000 lbs. The total world's consumption as found in the
official statistics of net imports of the seven great rubber-consuming
countries---viz. United States, Germany, Great Britain, France, Belgium,
Austria- Hungary, and Italy --- was 137,530,458 lbs., or 61,397 tons. These
official figures fall short of the total world's consumption probably as much
as 15 or 20 per cent., but if we take these approximate figures we find that
the Federated Malay States in 1905 produced 1/300 part of the world's
consumption.
" Taking the area planted in the Federated Malay
States, on 1st January, 1906, at 40,000 acres, this will give us at 100 lbs.
per acre in 1912 a yield of 4,000,000 lbs, or 1785 tons, that will be if the
consumption remains stationary 1/34th of the total consumption. But the world's
consumption as shown by official statistics is :-
1903 . . 112,860,478 lbs. . . 50,384 tons.
1904 . . 123,817,903 lbs. . . 55,275 tons.
1905 . . 137,530.458 lbs . .
61,397 tons.
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an increase of 10 per cent, roughly per year, so that in
1912 we may expect at the same rate of increased consumption 70 per cent, more
than in 1905 --- i.e., a demand for and perhaps a supply of 232,288,000 lbs.,
or 103,700 tons, and of that we could only supply 1/55th part.
" Thus, as far as statistics show, the price of rubber
is not likely to seriously decrease owing to over-production, and very much
larger areas will have to be planted before the production is in excess of the
demand."
In very early days the Perak Government established at
head-quarters a museum of Malay flora, fauna, minerals, grain, implements,
weapons, dress, pottery, artwork of all kinds, and, indeed, everything Malayan.
The institution was admirably managed by Mr. Leonard Wray, l.S.O. ; it has
proved most useful and most instructive to all classes and nationalities, and
it will bear comparison with any museum in the East. A similar museum was begun
many years ago in Kuala Lumpor, and has lately been placed under Mr. Wray's
direction.
Wherever the Englishman goes he carries his sports, and
Malaya has been no exception to the rule, but rather the contrary.
At first the officers were too few for any kind of combined
game ; they were too scattered ; the country was jungle and had to be cleared ;
and there was no leisure for amusement. Gradually some European ladies joined
the exiles, and it became politic, if not absolutely necessary, to supply, at
the head-quarters of each district, a reading-room where all Europeans could
find journals and books, and where they could meet on common ground. The
Government supplied the buildings and contributed an annual subscription, and
the members did the rest and undertook the management. Billiard-tables,
cricket, foot-ball, tennis, and hockey grounds were added as the European
population grew and funds were available. In a country where there are no
places of public amusement
EVOLUTION OF RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM Page 267
these clubs have supplied a very useful and civilizing
element, and the Government has no need to regret the comparatively small
amounts expended on providing healthy recreation for their officers, and for
all those who have benefited by this somewhat unusual generosity. It is,
however, very doubtful whether those who obtain a large amount of amusement at
very small cost properly appreciate their good fortune. In the most populous
towns, where the European community is sufficiently numerous, they have founded
other clubs, of much the same character, at their own expense. Race-courses and
golf-courses are now to be found in all the western States.
As a further means of preserving the health of their
officers, in a very relaxing and not always healthy climate, the Government
established hill bungalows at various elevations, from 1500 to 4500 feet above
the sea. Short visits to these stations (which enjoy a temperature varying from
60° F. to 73° F.) have saved many a man a long and expensive journey to Europe.
It is, however, not unusual for Europeans, Eurasians, and natives to visit
Java, India, China, and Japan for health and amusement. In the centre of the
main range of Malay hills there are about 100,000 acres of undulating country
at a height of 4000 feet, and it is probable that in time a large station may
be established there, more especially if planters find that the soil is
suitable for profitable cultivation. The highland referred to, originally
explored by Mr. W. Cameron under Government auspices, is less than forty miles
from a point on the Perak trunk railway.
For many years an adequate supply of coin was a serious
difficulty in the Malay States. The Mexican dollar, the Japanese yen, and later
the British trade dollar, with the Straits Settlements small silver and copper
coinage and the notes of the Eastern chartered banks, were the recognized
currency. The supply of
Page 268 BRITISH MALAYA
notes, silver, and copper was often quite inadequate to the
needs of a rapidly advancing country, and great inconvenience was the rule
rather than the exception. For sixteen years I urged the issue of Government
notes, but the first reply was that such a proposal was premature, because
neither the Straits Colony nor Hong-Kong possessed a note issue of its own. I
could not quite see that the argument was very convincing, but later I
understood that the Imperial Treasury raised some objection to the proposal. In
the end the Straits Government issued the notes, and the Malay States were not
allowed to share in the profits of the transaction, though a proportion of the
profits of the Straits copper and subsidiary silver coinage has been granted.
Another instance of the curious application of the view that
venerable theories must not be interfered with is worthy of mention. The
terrible disease leprosy is not indigenous in Malaya, but Chinese lepers have
for years passed into the Malay Peninsula, and in an up-country district of
Perak a few Malays contracted the malady. Years passed and it was noticed that
the number of Malay lepers was steadily increasing, so that when a census of
them was taken, it was found that there were close upon a hundred Malay lepers
of both sexes and all ages. Malays have a great horror of, and loathing for,
this terrible disease, and as they, and the best authorities locally available,
were convinced that all those afflicted had contracted the malady by contagion,
the Perak State Council passed a measure to compulsorily segregate the lepers
in an uninhabited island at the mouth of the Perak River. It was also proposed
to allow any of their relatives who desired it to accompany the lepers to the
island and remain there. This enactment was, as customary, forwarded to
Singapore and transmitted to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. In due
time orders came from England disallowing the measure and stating that as the
EVOLUTION OF RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM Page 269
Royal College of Physicians had decided that leprosy is not
contagious, the proposals of the Perak Government could not be sanctioned, but
that any lepers who desired exile on the island might have their wishes
gratified. Voluntary segregation is not popular with lepers, and it was not
considered advisable that the Government should go to the expense of erecting
buildings to house patients who would never occupy them ; but the Malay members
of Council suggested that the lepers might be sent to England, where they could
do no harm, while Perak would be free of them. Fifteen years later a circular
from the Colonial Office stated that as the high medical authorities in England
had changed their minds, and now consider that leprosy is contagious, there
would be no objection to the compulsory segregation of the unclean ! In those
fifteen years, of course, a number of poor wretches had contracted the disease.
It is only another instance of the advisability of letting people who live
eight thousand miles away, under somewhat different conditions, manage their
own domestic affairs without foreign interference. Mistakes made locally, in
such cases, are paid for locally ; but if the mistake is made at a distance, it
still has to be paid for locally.1
An invasion of all sorts and conditions of men and women
brought with it many evils to which the Malays, as a people, had hitherto been
strangers. The drinking of intoxicants was one, and others will occur to the
reader. Malays of all classes, and especially of the higher classes, felt these
things very strongly, and wished to legislate to prevent the evil and, where
possible, to cure it: but because the conditions of life in England are totally
different, and what was proposed to be done in Malaya would not be sanctioned by
public opinion if done here, the Malay has to accept the imported horror, and
is not allowed to protect
1 See p. 334,
note. No effort has been made to look for instances to support this statement,
but one has come very recently without seeking.
Page 270 BRITISH MALAYA
himself, his family, and his people, for whose benefit alone
he wishes to legislate.
Reference has been made more than once to Pahang. It is a
very large State on the east coast of the Peninsula, and in 1888 had a
population of about fifty thousand Malays and a few hundred Chinese. The State
was supposed to be very rich in gold, less so in tin. But it was undeveloped
and unregenerate ; the Government was despotic, the Raja Bendahara being the
despot, and the people suffered in the ways described in the earlier chapters
of this book, only rather more so in Pahang than elsewhere. It may be said that
that was their misfortune, and not the concern of any one outside Pahang.
Possibly matters might have remained as they were to this day, but a British
subject was murdered in Pahang under circumstances which made the
responsibilities of the ruler so manifest that Sir Cecil Smith, then Governor
of the Straits, felt compelled to demand explanation and satisfaction. The
explanation was altogether unacceptable, and, as satisfaction was not
forthcoming, it seemed that there must be serious consequences. The Bendahara,
however, mainly owing to the advice of the Sultan of Johore, expressed his
regret for what had occurred, and asked for the appointment of a British
Resident. This request was granted, and in October, 1888, Mr. J. P. Rodger (now
Sir John Rodger, K.C.M.G.) was appointed Resident of Pahang, while Mr. Hugh
Clifford, who had already spent some years in Pahang as Governor's agent,
remained there to assist the Resident. The size of Pahang made it unwieldy, and
the fact that during the prevalence of the north-east monsoon, from October to
April, the shore was almost unapproachable for steamers, severely handicapped
the country as regards development. There were many important chiefs, and only
a small revenue from which to give them suitable allowances and provide for the
costs of the most economical administration. To
EVOLUTION OF RESIDENTIAL SYSTEM Page 271
add the last straw, some chiefs took up arms against all
that the new regime stood for, and the consequence was a long, a harassing, and
an expensive "war," which was only brought to a conclusion by hunting
the rebels out of Pahang and even following them into the independent
neighbouring States, Kelantan and Trengganu, where they were eventually
secured, mainly by the efforts of Mr. Hugh Clifford. Some of the rebels lost
their lives in these prolonged operations, some were done to death by the
Siamese who took part in their arrest, and the remainder were deported to Siam,
where a number of the survivors remain to the present time.
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