SELANGOR
This protected native State, containing an area of 3,150 square miles, lies on the western coast of the Malay Peninsula, and is bounded by the protected native States of Perak on the north and Negri Sembilan on the south, extending inland to the mountains in the centre of the peninsula, which divide it from Pahang and Negri Sembilan.
The Government consists of the Sultan, advised by the British Resident, and assisted by the State Council. The State is divided into the following six districts: 1. Kuala Lumpur, the central district, where the Residency and principal Government Offices are situated, and which also contains the richest tin mines that have yet been developed. 2.--Klang, in which Port Swettenham, the principal port, is situated at the mouth of the Klang River and in which the Sultan resides. 3.-Kuala_Langat, an agricultural district. 4.-Kuala Selangor, containing the most important fisheries in the State. 5.-Ulu Langat, an inland mining district on the borders of Negri Sembilan. 6.-Ulu Selangor, a district adjoining Perak, containing much valuable mining land, as yet comparatively undeveloped.
Each district is under the charge of a European District Officer, from whom the Native Penghulus (in charge of the mukims into which each district is sub-divided) received instructions. The Police Force consists of 28 gazetted superior officers, 968 subordinate police officers and men, and 65 detectives.
The population of Selangor in 1884, when the first census was taken, was 46,568; but at the last census, in 1921, the returns gave a total of 398,434, of whom 170,725 were Chinese, 89,676 Malays, 132,114 natives of India, 2,475 Europeans, 1,561 Eurasians and 1,883 others.
The principal industries of the State, and those from which it derives the largest portion of its revenue, are alluvial tin mining and rubber cultivation.
In addition to its rich mineral resources, the State possesses large tracts of land well adapted for agricultural purposes, and the removal of restrictions on the free importation of Indian labourers into the Protected Native States rendered it possible for European planters to obtain cheap labour and to open estates on a large scale. Small plantations of coffee, coconuts and pepper have been successfully con- ducted; rice and other products of the Peninsula under native cultivation are doing well in various parts of the State; and, to encourage pioneer planters, grants of land have in recent years been made, on special terms, for the planting of cane sugar, African oil palm and nipah palm. But the principal agricultural product here, as in the other Malay States, is rubber. There were 744,483 acres alienated for agricultural and building purposes at the end of the year 1929, comprising 485,500 acres under rubber, 107,337 acres under coconuts, 5,623 acres under coffee, 17,815 acres under padi, 15,989 acres under African oil palm and 22,737 acres under cultivation by native small-holders. The value of rubber exported in 1929 was $71,833,433.
The principal exports are tin, rubber, tapioca, canes, copra and spices. The principal imports are machinery, cotton piece goods, rice, oil, tobacco and tea. The only import duties are on opium, spirituous liquors, matches, petroleum, motor spirit, tobacco and alum, while export duties are payable only on minerals, agricultural products, ivory, fish, horns and hides, a few kinds of jungle produce and guttapercha. The export duty on tin has amounted in recent years to over four million dollars a year, the duty on the gross value of the tin being, roughly, 13 per cent. There were 55,349 acres alienated for mining at the end of 1929, mostly for tin. and tin ore exported amounted to 329,886 piculs as compared with 283,056 piculs in 1928. The value was $36,823,130, as compared with $31,086,195 in 1928. The Malayan Collieries, Ltd., turned out 661,515 tons of coal against 556,590 tons in 1928. The quality of the coal is reported to be excellent. A branch railway has been constructed to the mine.
Tin
There is frequent and regular communication, by means of coasting steamers, between the Straits Settlements and Selangor. From Kuala Lumpur the chief town