PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
Bungie Bosloo.
Balangors.
Salangore fugitivas.
Herense and *xpandimare.
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more people settled there. It is still, and always has been, much infested with tigers, but the one which killed the three men is believed to be dead.
On the following day, 21st February, I proceeded to Sungie Booloo, a small river on the north side of Bukit Jerom. This river is navigable for boats only a short distance, but it is narrow and deep, and if cleaned out boats of a light draught would probably be able to go up a long way. There are only three houses at the mouth of the river and one a little further up. At present a few Malays visit it to work gutta and rattans. It is said that there is very good tin ground near the source of the river, which may be true, as it probably takes its rise at the foot of the Kanching hills, where tin is abundant. All along the back of Jerom and up Sungie Booloo on both sides there is a large tract of rich swampy ground which seems admirably adapted for paddy or sugar cultivation. It could be drained and brought into a state of cultivation at very moderate cost.
On the morning of 22nd February I left Jerom, and arrived at Quilla Salangore on the afternoon of the same day. Indefinite complaints were made to me against Inchi Wan Dah and his followers, but nothing definite until he went up the river as aftermentioned, I verified when the old Salangore people complained that he and his people forced them to work without giving them any remuneration, and behaved badly to their women. two or three of their complaints, and have no doubt that others were well founded. On the 26th February about 11 o'clock in the day, while I was absent at Tanjong Kurrang, a Kalantan man was murdered in the street in presence of many people, and the men who committed the murder went towards the hills where Inchi Wan Dah and his followers reside. There is the clearest evidence against three of his men called Lambah, Ngah, and Hamit; and others of his followers were engaged in the murder, but have not been identified. The three men escaped up the river with the connivance of Inchi Wan Dah, and I have insisted on his arresting them and delivering them up for punishment, and on the 1st instant he went up the river to search for them. Immediately on getting the names of the three men I wrote to all the Chiefs in the interior to arrest them, but I have not heard that this has been done. I also sent to Klang for twenty armed police, as I was apprehensive that more outrages might be committed, and after their arrival I stationed them on the hill and left Mr. Denholme and a Malay writer to collect the revenue, and returned here on 3rd instant. Everything has been quiet since I left.
I went up the Salangore river about eighteen or twenty miles to a place called Passang. Up to this place both banks of the river, except at short intervals, are planted with cocoa-nut and sago trees; but, after leaving Permattang Passir, there are no inhabi- tants except at Sarang Lang where there are ten families, and at Campong Siak, where there are three families. The plantations are overgrown with grass and brushwood and frequented by elephants, pigs, and other wild beasts. The large tract of cocoa-nut planta- tions at Permattang Passir is in the same state except in some places where the grass and underwood have been cleared. As far as I could judge there were, including women and children, only about 150 of the old Salangore people at Permattang Passir and the Qualls. I have caused copies of the notice, recalling the Salangore fugitives, to be posted at Langat and this place, and sent copies to Salangore, Lookoot, Lingie, Malacca, and Bernam, and I have sent a further supply of these notices to Langat to be sealed by the Sultan for distribution at Perak, Laroot, and Penang, but his Highness has not yet returned them. When at Salangore I saw and conversed with most of the old inhabitants there, and gave them the remaining copies of the notice, and explained it to them. Several of them expressed a wish to go in search of their friends at once, but there was a difficulty in procuring boats for them, and on leaving 1 directed Mr. Denholm to endeavour to get boats for them. I promised to supply those who returned with rice for two or three months, until they could get their houses put in order and earn their own livelihoods. One man went away to Bernam, while I was at Salangore, to recall his friends and others, and I have since heard that he has returned with a few of them. Mr. Denholm writes me from Salangore, under date 13th instant, that upwards of fifty of the fugitives, men and women, had just returned, and they expect many others to follow shortly. I think it is necessary to keep a pretty strong force of police both here and at Qualla Salangore, as there are a great number of bad characters in the country who have been long accustomed to live by plundering. The population is also very mixed, consisting of Menangkabow men, Mendaling men, Rawas, Bugis, and Chinese. These classes are all so clannish and jealous of each other, that a casual quarrel between two men of different classes might at any moment cause such a disturbance as would require a considerable force to quell it. The Force is at present in want of clothing and accoutrements, which I will ask you to be good enough to order when I have seen what men can be made useful under the new system.
I inclose a Statement of the Revenue and Expenditure for the months of Dulhadjec
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and Mohurrum. I shall endeavour in future to arrange the expenditure under different heads, so as to give a better idea of how it is applied; but at present I have only one clerk here who writes English, and he is obliged to go away on leave for a few days by the present opportunity
The item of expenditure titled debts is principally composed of small amounts, arrears of wages, and a rebate of one-third of the duties paid by traders to whom money is owing. This system of rebate was entered into in good faith with the traders, and has had the effect of keeping them here, and I would recommend its being continued. They will nearly be all cleared off in five or six months, and their debts carry no interest.
In the beginning of February, trade was dull, probably owing to the Chinese new year, but began to get brisker after the middle of the month, when new men began to come in. The first lot of new miners arrived on 20th February, and within the last month, count from the present date, at least 800 new miners have come into this river, and some of them, I am informed, have gone through the interior on to the Salangore River. A few new traders have also come in, and they say that others will soon follow. People have commenced to clear the old plantations and small patches of ground for planting. Tobacco and nutmegs seem most in favour with them, but there is a difficulty in procuring tobacco-seeds, and several have applied to me for assistance. A small company has been formed to commence gambier and pepper planting, for which the soil near this town seems very well fitted, and they have written for a Chinese planter and coolies, and intend to commence work as soon as these men arrive.
All the roads, bridges, drains, and ditches, about this town, are in very bad order, and no coolie labour can be procured here, the Chinese going on to the mines as soon as they arrive. I am sending on to Singapore by this opportunity to engage 50 Kling coolies, whom I intend to employ at first in town, and then in making the road from Damansarah to Qualla Lumpor.
I have, &c.
To the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Straits Settlements.
(Signed)
J. G. DAVIDSON,
Her Britannic Majesty's Resident, Salangor.
No. 37.
Governor Sir A. Clarke, K.C.M.G., C.B., to the Earl of Carnarvon.-(Received June 7.)
My Lord,
Government House, Singapore, April 27, 1875.
I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith Reports dated the 18th December, 1874, and the 8th April, 1875, from Her Britannic Majesty's Acting Assistant-Resident of Salan- gore, and a sketch map of the locality.
2. The Reports are in themselves of interest, and show that progress has been made in establishing a better order of things in Salangore, and I have every reason to expect that this tranquillity will continue.
3. The Datu Bandar of Sungie Ujong and Rajah Mahmood of Salangore are still residing quietly in Singapore, and the latter is bringing down his family. Rajah Mahdie of Salangore is still with the Maharajah of Johore.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
A. CLARKE.
Inclosure 1 in No. 37.
Report of the Assistant Resident with the Sultan of Salangor, dated Langat, December 18, 1874.
[641]
[Vide Inclosure in No. 27.]
2 M
General.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference:-
T ། ། ། ། Iཊ^
331
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