138
establishment would consist of engineers attached for duty to the State and Settlement establishments in the Federated Malay States and Straits Settlements and seconded for duty to the various States in the Unfederated Malay States.' In other words, the executive authority was to be State, and the inspectoral and advisory authority Federal. It is a pity that the compiler of the Summary and Recom- mendations of the Committee (Volume I, page 3, paragraphe 34 and 35) failed to appreciate the meaning of, and so to reproduce correctly, the Committee's proposal.
7. The problems of rice cultivation affect particularly the Malay peasants, and Their Highnesses the Rulers of the Federated Malay States have in their public utter- ances frequently impressed upon their subjects the importance of producing and con- serving an adequate food supply. It is, in the view of myself and my advisers, essential to identify the State Governments individually with a policy and programme for the extension of padi areas within the territory of each, and with the working out of that policy and programime. In this way only can the full understanding and The federal, as distinct from State functions, co-operation of the Malays be enlisted
of the department will be essentially informative, co-ordinative, inspectoral, and advisory, though Mr. Finch will of course gladly accept executive responsibility for the carrying out of major schemes, if so invited by the State Governments. It is no part of my policy of decentralization to deprive any State of any service on the part of a federal officer that it has had in the past, and that it still desires for the present or future. All that it is designed to effect is the restoration to each State Government of the responsibility for, and therefore of an adequate control over, the proper develop- ment of its territory. The atrophy of the State Administrations under conditions of over-centralization has undoubtedly led to a stagnancy in the development of potential
rice areas.
you will 8. In the circumstances set out in this despatch I very much hope that see your way to approve by telegram the titles which I have proposed for the officers of the new Department, and I will gladly accept responsibility for the efficient working of the Department under the conditions which, with the exception of the titles, you have already approved.
9. I am sending this despatch by air mail. mail.
A duplicate will follow by ocean
I have, &c.,
C. CLEMENTI,
High Commissioner.
No. 53.
139
3. The salary, which you approved for Mr. Finch (who will now be styled "Director of Drainage and Irrigation, Straits Settlements, and Adviser on Drainage and Irrigation to the Malay States ") was $1,200 per mensem, but I have recently found it necessary to appoint a small committee, vide paragraph 4 of my Straits Settle- ments and Federated Malay States Confidential despatch dated the 14th July, 1933,* to consider the salaries attaching to certain appointments It may be necessary
in the light of any recommendation made by this committee to revise this figure. For the present, however, I recommend that the salary of the post be confirmed at $1,200.
per mensem,
13345/5/83 [No. 2].
No. 54.
I have, &c,
C. CLEMENTI,
High Commissioner.
FEDERATED MALAY STATES.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE HIGH COMMISSIONER. (Confidential (4).)
Downing Street, 12th October, 1933.
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Confidential despatch of the 5th August, 1933,† regarding the reorganisation of the Drainage and Irrigation Department and to inform you that I approve the organization of the Department and the titles of the officers serving in it as set out in your Confidential despatch of the 26th November, 1931, and the more recent Appendix V of the Report by Sir Samuel Wilson on his visits to Malaya.
I approve also your recommendation regarding the salary of the Director of Drainage and Irrigation, Straits Settlements and Adviser on Drainage and Irrigation to the Malay States, this figure to be subject to my confirmation after I have received your recommendations on the Report of the Committee which is inquiring into the remuneration of this and certain other offices.
I have, &c.,
P. CUNLIFFE-LISTER.
529
་་ ་་་་
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
11111C.O.882/12
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BF REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
13345/5/38 [No. 1].
FEDERATED MALAY STATES.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
THE HIGH COMMISSIONER to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Confidential.)
(Received 5th September, 1933.)
[Answered by No. 54.]
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to refer to your Federated Malay States and Straits Settle- ments Confidential despatch dated the 12th February, 1932,* in which you approved the creation of a separate Drainage and Irrigation Department in place of the Hydraulic Branch of the Public Works Department and the appointment of Mr. F. G. Finch to take charge of the Department, the definite titles of the Departmental officers to be decided upon at a later date.
Government House, Singapore, 5th August, 1933.
2. In Chapter IX of his Report, Sir Samuel Wilson recommend amongst the measures to be carried out during the first stage of decentralization, the transfer to State control of the Drainage and Irrigation Department in the Federated Malay States. In view of this recommendation and in the light of the facts set out in my Federated Malay States and Straits Settlements Confidential despatch of the 31st March, 1932,† I now seek your approval of the proposals put forward in my Federated Malay States and Straits Settlements Confidential despatch of the 26th November, 1931, and of the titles proposed therein for the officers of the Department.
* No. 51.
+ No. 52.
‡ No. 50.
VIIL APPOINTMENT OF INSPECTOR OF PRISONS FOR THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS AND THE FEDERATED MALAY STATES AND CREATION OF A NEW APPOINTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF THE SINGAPORE
C. 82165/31 [No. 1].
(No. 555.)
SIB,
PRISON.
No. 65.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 23rd November, 1931.)
[Answered by No. 56.]
"Bel Retiro," Penang Hill,
Penang, 27th October, 1931.
I HAVE the honour to refer to Lord Passfield's Straits Settlements despatch No. 502 of the 11th December, 1930, § on the subject of the creation of a new appoint- ment of Superintendent of the Singapore Prison, and to enclose a copy of Captain Hancock's report in accordance with the request made in paragraph 2 of that despatch.
Not printed here.
* No. 73.
+ No. 53. ↑ No. 50. § C. 72187/30 [No.1]: not printed.