FEDERATED MALAY STATES
The Protected States comprise four Residencies, namely, Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, and Pahang. These have been federated, the federation taking effect from the 1st July, 1896, and the administration is presided over by a British Officer styled the Resident-General. Each State has its own Resident and the native rulers retain their titles and dignity. The head offices are at Kuala Lumpur, Selangor.
The record of these States is one of progress and prosperity. The revenue for 1910 was $26,553,018, and the expenditure $23,598,610, which gives a surplus of $2,954,408. The assets on December 31st, 1910, stood at $42,683,853. These States have 453 miles of railway (which have been paid for out of current revenue), yielding good income; they have 2,000 miles of roads; and over 1,000 miles of telegraphs. Waterworks, wharves, hospitals, prisons, schools, and many other public buildings have been constructed, while the Government of Perak is engaged upon an important scheme of irrigation which will benefit about 60,000 acres of land and cost about $100,000. The principal sources of revenue and prosperity are the alluvial tin deposits which, at the present price of the metal, can be worked at considerable profit. About 600,000 tons of tin, worth over £50,000,000 sterling, have been exported during the last fifteen years. Tin has been worked in the Malay Peninsula for centuries, and it is believed it will still be produced there centuries hence. The industry has grown of recent years to very large proportions, but it would take a long time to work out the alluvial deposits in the lands already alienated, and these comprise but a fraction of the unexplored lands which still remain, where there is every reason to believe the mineral will be found in payable quantities. This only applies to alluvial deposits,
No one can guess what are the reserves of ore in underground rock formations, as at Kwantan *in Pahang, Slin in Perak, and Jelebu in the Negri Sembilan.
The annual export of tin from these States is valued at over $40,000,000. The Government has not overlooked the fact that in the export of tin its capital was being reduced, and it has made an effort to supply another and more useful invest- ment by the construction of Railways, with part at least of the revenue. Since British Protection the royalty on tin has yielded a total of over $60,000,000, and the Federated States have in the same time expended over $40,000,000 in the construction of railways. The profits give a return of over 6 per cent, on the capital expended.
Planting enterprise in the Federated Malay States has not hitherto proved very successful but that has not been due to any lack of enterprise or hard work on the part of the planters, who when one product failed tried another. The prospects of rubber, according to the High Commissioner, are so good that, unless some unforeseen disaster happens, the future is full of promise for those who have taken up this cultivation. Within the last few years great strides have been made in the planting of Para rubber. The total area now under cultivation is something like 700,000 acres,
nearly half of which has been placed under cultivation in the last two years. Over 12,000,000 pounds of rubber were exported from these States in 1910. The sugar estates have done well, and will continue to earn fair profit so long as their machinery and methods of treatment are kept up-to-date. Over 80,000 acres of land are under coco-nuts, for which the soil and climate of these States are peculiarly well suited; and the cultivation of rice is only a question of irrigation and labour. The irrigation scheme in Perak is making but slow progress, but the success of every form of agri- culture and of all the efforts of the Government to develop the country by means of railways, irrigation, and other great public works, depend upon an adequate supply of labour. To meet the demand the Federated Malay States have endeavoured, hitherto without success, to arrange for a direct line of steamers to carry Chinese labour from Canton to the ports of the Malay States. As regards Indian labour, the Govern ments of the Colony and the Federated Malay States, supported by the planters, are making every possible effort, by a new system of recruiting and by offering higher wages and other advantages, to secure an adequate supply of Indian labour. The question of creating an agricultural department to foster agricultural interests, encour age the cultivation of new products, to conduct experiments and be a source of information for planters, is under consideration.
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