505
TUBLIC
། ། ། ། ། །
PECORD OFFICE
Reference -
C.O.882/12
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE AT REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOI TO]
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The British Adviser is a Staff Officer of His Excellency the High Commissioner, and as such his conduct is governed in questions of principle by the general policy of the High Commissioner.
hand.
I would take that to be:-
(a) That no oppression or corruption or anything that is contrary to the
accepted principles of justice should be tolerated.
(b) That the budget should be balanced, reasonable reserves built up, and
excessive taxation avoided.
(c) That agriculture and especially the cultivation of rice and food-stuffs should
be encouraged.
(d) That every effort should be made to train Malay officers to administer their
own country.
That seconded British officers should be equitably treated.
That greater uniformity and co-operation with the rest of Malaya should be sought in certain services such as Post Office, Customs, Health, in which co-operation is particularly important.
Within these obvious limits the British Adviser is allowed an astonishingly free
It has been suggested at times that decentralization in the Federated Malay States might mean excessive centralization in the hands of the High Commissioner.
I can only say that correspondence with the Secretary to the High Commissioner is not extensive and is largely concerned with formal Secretariat questions, seconded officers, leave passages, pensions, League of Nations, International Conventions, &c. Occasionally, when an important question of Imperial policy is concerned, such as questions arising from the Ottawa Conference, instructions from His Excellency are conveyed to the British Adviser.
Occasionally also when the British Adviser is in doubt as to the views of His Excellency on a matter of general policy, the instructions of His Excellency are sought. Correspondence of this nature does not arise a dozen times in the year.
In no case during the course of my experience in Kedah has His Excellency found it necessary to vary or overrule any considered recommendation or action taken by the British Adviser.
The relations of the British Adviser with His Highness the Regent and the State Council are those of personal friendship and cordial co-operation. They are, I think, governed by three main principles :-
(a) The British Adviser must be content to seek an ultimate efficiency, and honestly seek to build up a Malay Administration by avoiding the easy form of immediate efficiency which can be obtained by having everything done by European officers along European lines.
(b) The British Adviser must not have the soul of an audit clerk and be
irritatingly officious in matters of detail.
(c) The British Adviser must be imperturbably patient and good tempered, ready to wait his time and not rush things, and avoid being right at the wrong time and in the wrong way.
The Secretary to Government.
}
This office, which really corresponds to the old Malay office of "Dato Mentri or King's Councillor, is the most important in the State, and is at present filled by a Malay officer of exceptional character and ability.
I look on this office as one which is essential to the advisory system. The Secretary to Government is assisted by two Under-Secretaries; the organiza- tion corresponds in some measure to the A and B sides of the Straits Settlements Colonial Secretariat.
All State Council papers are registered in the office of the Secretary to Govern- ment. All circulars and instructions are issued from that office, and in all cases of routine correspondence all preparatory matters such as are usually dealt with by a Secretariat are prepared by the Secretary to Government and the Assistant Adviser. Such papers reach the British Adviser in a form in which it is only necessary to concur with a recommendation or to suggest a decision or to advise reference to the State Council.
More important papers and question of principle are discussed by the British Adviser and the Secretary to Government, and the ground prepared before they go to His Highness the Regent.
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The Assistant Adviser registers and deals with all secret and confidential papers and generally assists the British Adviser; he only keeps a minimum office staff and avoids building up anything in the nature of a Secretariat organization.
His Highness the Regent, though a very shrewd ruler and ready to do a good deal of solid work, has neither the time, the inclination, nor the administrative training, to deal with the complexities of the whole business of the States; the organi- zation of a Malay Secretariat under the Secretary to Government enables him to keep in close contact with the detailed administration of the State.
This is in marked contrast to the system of the British Residents in the Federated Malay States, with an extensive Secretariat under the charge of the Secretary to the Resident.
The Seconded European Officers.
In the earlier years after the Treaty the Kedah Government appointed a few European officers as Kedah officers, some of whom are still in the Kedah service.
Recently, it has been found more convenient to secure the services of European officers seconded from the Federated Malay States and the Straits Settlements services. This both affords wider opportunities of selection and avoids the risk of an officer stagnating in one small agricultural State.
Service in Kedah is popular.
The work is interesting, the country healthy, living cheap, and free quarters are provided.
Kedah has been very generously treated by the other administrations and the selection of especially suitable officers has generally been possible.
All technical services, Public Works Department, Medical and Health Services, Surveys, Veterinary, and Telegraph Engineering, are in charge of European seconded
officers.
A number of young Malays are being trained with a view to appointments in these services but, in general, the Malay boy does not take kindly to scientific or mathematical training.
A small number of officers of the Malayan Civil Service are seconded for service in the administrative departments, Adviser Lands, Legal Adviser, Assistant Adviser, and Protector of Chinese and Protector of Indian Labour.
All other administrative billets are filled by members of the Kedah Malay Civil Service.
There are 47 billets filled by Malay officers of a status similar to those usually filled by European officers in the Federated Malay States and Colony; e.g., in the higher ranks Secretary to Government, Director of Lands, two Judges, State Treasurer, Auditor-General, Harbour Master, Registrar, Superintendent of Posts and Telegraphs, Agricultural Officer, Superintendent of Customs, &c.
There is not a single European officer in the whole of the ten District Offices and Land Offices of the State, some of which are, of similar importance to those filled by Class I and Class II District Officers in the Federated Malay States.
On the whole I cannot say that quite the same high standard of efficiency has been reached as in the Colony and the Federated Malay States; in some cases the results are excellent, in all cases a reasonable standard has been reached, and there is steady improvement.
Each year a rent roll of over $750,000 is collected with under 3 per cent. of arrears. Nearly 10,000 applications for land are dealt with and some 5,000 new grants registered, whilst over 9,000 transactions are recorded in the Registry of Deeds. The whole of this work is carried out by Malay officers with the assistance of a single European officer as Adviser Lands.
Agriculture.
The main feature of the State of Kedah is that it contains in the coastal rice plain, the largest rice-producing area in Malaya; not only producing all rice required for local consumption, but exporting a considerable surplus. Production from 200,000 acres of rice land gives a total of 100,000 tons and an exportable surplus of 35,000 tons in a good year.