KELANTAN
This State lies on the Eastern Coast of the Malay Peninsula between latitudes 4 deg. 32 min. and 6 deg. 15 min. North and longitudes 101 deg. 19 min. and 102 deg. 37 min. East, with a coast line of 60 miles on the China Sea. It embraces an area of 5,750 square miles. Southern Kelantan is mountainous but Northern Kelantan is a rich alluvial plain, drained by the Kelantan and Golok Rivers and their tributaries.
According to the Census of 1931 the population was 362,517 as compared with 309,300, in 1921.
Kota Bharu, six miles up the Kelantan River, is the capital, and the chief port is Tumpat at its mouth. His Highness the Sultan resides at Kota Bharu which is the capital and administrative headquarters of the State.
The chief exports are copra, rubber, betulnut, poultry, cattle, dried fish, tin ore, manganese ore, gold and gold ore and iron ore. The characteristic features of the climate are uniform temperature, high humidity, and copious rainfall, arising mainly from the situation of the State in the equatorial zone of constant precipitation. Actually the State is just far enough north and distant from the Straits of Malacca, for its climate to be appreciably affected by the Central Asian mountain mass. Most of the rest of the peninsula shares with Kelantan the heavy rainfall in November, December and January, during the North East Monsoon, but only Trengganu and Kedah have anything approaching the Kelantan continuous dry period from February to September, most other regions having only a short dry spell in February with a second wet season reaching its maximum in April. This climate rhythm is however far less marked than it is in countries bordering on the Indian Ocean.
In 1910, the revenue amounted to $419,327 and the expenditure to $403,552.
In 1937, the revenue had risen to $3,209,722 and the expenditure to $2,757,900. The public debt at the transference of the suzerainty was $150,000, upon which Siam charged 9 per cent. This debt was taken over by the F. M. S. Government, interest being reduced to 4 per cent. The debit balance of the State at the end of 1937 was $3,267,701. The value of the imports in 1937 was $7,941,213 against $6,562,911 in 1936. The principal imports were:- Rice, tobacco, textiles, provisions, kerosene oil, benzine, sugar, timber and plants, salt, machinery and tinned milk. The tonnage of the steamers using Kelantan ports was 141,000 in 1937 against 214,000 in 1936. There is ragular steamship communication with Bangkok and Singapore. The State had at the end of 1937, 241 miles of road open to wheeled traffic, the two main roads being those from Kota Bharu to Kuala Krai (45 miles) and to Pasir Puteh (26 miles). The latter has been extended to give connection to Kuala Besut in the State of Trengganu. By rail the State has been some years connected with Bangkok, and also with Penang, through lower Siam and Kedah. Since the opening in 1931 of the East Coast Railway, there has been direct communication with Singapore through Pahang. Beside the daily slower trains, a fast through Mail Train with sleeping berths runs once a week in each direction and does the journey in less than 24 hours. Kota Bharu is in direct telegraphic communication with Kuala Lumpur, Haadyai and Trengganu. It is also connected by telegraph and telephone with the two chief ports, Tumpat and Bachok, and with Kuala Krai, Pasir Puteh, Temangan, Sungai Nal and Pasir Mas. There are three wireless transmitting and receiving sets in Kelantan, one at Kota Bharu, belonging to the Royal Air Force, one at Kemubu and one at Kuala Krai, both belonging to the Federated Malay States Railways.