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7. That an outlet is now much required for Chinese capital and labour there can be no doubt, and when once the wealthy Chinese feel that there will be safety to life and property in these native States, many will look there for new fields of enterprise,

8. No small part of the duty of a Resident, moreover, would be to protect the interests of these settlers, to watch over our own trade, and to suggest fresh means of developing the resources of the country.

9. Such a machinery once started would act and react on the surrounding native States, to the welfare of all, and the increase and prosperity of our own Settlement.

(Signed) J. F. A. Mc NAIR

Inclosure 2 in No. 85.

Memorandum relative to the Affairs of the Native States on the Malay Peninsula, with reference to the Despatch of the Secretary of State of September 20, 1873.

IN a Memorandum dated the 24th July, 1872, I gave an account of the state of affairs in Salangor and Perak, up to the 15th June of that year. Since then I have not been directly concerned with native affairs, but I believe I am acquainted with most of what has transpired of the occurrences since in the two countries, and have the means of giving a tolerably accurate view of their present position. In connection with the affairs of these two countries, in regard to which I have from time to time made inquiries on the part of the Government, I shall have occasion to enter into some parti- culars in regard to the States of Pahang, Johore, and Quedah, the petty States of Rambow, including Sungie Ujong, and the territory of Muar. Of the affairs of Quedah, on the west coast, I have no knowledge, and besides they are out of connection with the subject that is at present under consideration; and I may speak in the same manner with regard to the States on the east coast to the north of Pabang. On each side of the peninsula the system of Malay States terminates with Malay States feudatory to Siam, Quedah, on the west, and Patani, Kalantan, and Tringanu, on the east. These are well- ordered countries, to all appearance, and the same may be said of Pahang and Johore. The ill-ordered countries are the two to which I commenced by referring, Salangor and Perak, the petty States into which the territory of Rambow has been broken up, especially Sungie Ujong, and the small territory on the Muar River which Sultan Ali of Johore, who is now living on his pension in Malacca, reserved for himself at the time that he made over the rest of his country to the then "Tumongong," the father of the present Maharaja.

2. Before taking up the narrative of Salangor and Perak affairs subsequent to June, 1872, it may be as well that I should state that, of all these disordered countries the most hopeless case, the one in which anything like re-organization seems impossible except through the exercise of foreign influence from some quarter or another, is Salangor. The troubles in Perak are of recent date, and of an exceptional character; and except at Laroot, where a large Chinese population has grown up, and out-grown the power of the Malay Rulers, nothing seems required but a settlement of a very peculiar and exceptional question connected with the succession to the Sultanship, to place Perak at once in the category of well-ordered States. But at Salangor misgovernment appears to have been the invariable rule for hundreds of years past-from as long ago as anything is known of the country, from the time that the Bugis pirates, who were the ancestors of the present dynasty, first got possession of the country; and the consequence is that the country is little better than a wilderness, while the scanty population is, or was, miserably oppressed by a set of semi-savage Chiefs, who, as long as they were in power, did not confine their misdeeds to those against their own subjects, but made their rivers houses- of-call for petty pirates, harboured our runaway convicts, and were in every respect the ill-neighbours that such a set of men might be expected to be. Such was the state of Salangor when I first became acquainted with it, when I acted as Lieutenant-Governor of Malacca in 1870, and from what I have seen and heard of the people from the Sultan downwards I can see not the smallest prospect of the country, in the event of its falling. back into their bands, ever rising to any better condition.

3. My Memorandum of the 24th July, so far as related to Salangor affairs, closed Hee paragraph 39) with an account of the opening a negotiation at Singapore, with à view to bringing about a settlement of the country, on the basis of a relinquishment of his claims by Raja Mahdi, in consideration of a pension to be paid him by Tunku Dia Udin, some understanding being at the same time come to in regard to the succession to the Sultanship.

These negotiations which were pending when I left Singapore for

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Penang on the 15th June, 1872, proved, an I afterwards learned, entirely unsuccessful. Raja Mahdi suddenly quitted Johore, where he had been living under the surveillance of the Maharaja, and found his way back to the Hulu Kallang, or somewhere in that neigh- bourhood; and, about the same time, Raja Assal, a Chief of some importance at Hulu Kallang, and one of Tunku Dia Udin's principal supporters, induced by a false report that the English Government had declared against Tunku Dia Udin, and was detaining him in Singapore, changed sides, and joining with others of what may be called the Mahdi faction, made a movement on Qualla Lumpor, a place in the neighbourhood of the tin mines, where Tunku dia Udin held a fortified place of some strength under European officers. The place appears to have been ill-supplied with provisions, and being closely invested, was starved out. The garrison attempted to retreat to the next post down the Kallang River, Dammar Sara, but were led by their guide into an ambush, and cut to pieces. Not long after this the forts at the mouth of the Salangor River were taken, through the treachery of some of the garrison, by Syed Mashor, one of the party; so that at this time Tunku Dia Udin's hold on the country was reduced to his posts on the Kallang River, viz., at the Qualla and at Pankalan Batu, with other less important ones at Daminar Sara, and other places between that and Pankalan Batu.

4. At this point a new element was introduced into the question, in the person of the Bandahara of Pahang, who sent assistance to Tunku Dia Udin by sea; and also by marching his men across the mountains from Pahang to the Hulu Kallang, and the Hulu Salangor. This very soon turned the tide of affairs once more. Raja Assal's forts at the Hulu Kallang were taken one after another, and, after a Lumpor was re-taken. After this, then, came a long pause in the events, and it began long blockade, Qualla to appear doubtful whether the impetus given from Pahang had not been exhausted, and whether the other side might not be about once more to have a period of successes. But quite recently letters were received from Tunku Dia Udin, announcing that the Salangor forts had fallen into his hands, and that Syed Mashor, perhaps the most dangerous of his opponents, had been taken prisoner and sent to Pabang; and that he was about to start with 500 men to the Hulu Birnam (the Birnam is the frontier between Salangor and Perak), to "make an end," as he expresses it, of the remains of the faction who were assembled in that neighbourhood.

5. At the present moment, then, it will be seen that Tunku Dia Udin occupies to all appearance a strong position in the country. He has command of the sea (he has got a steam-vessel, the "Telegraph"), he is in uninterrupted communication with Pahang, and he holds the two important rivers, the Salangor and Kallang, from their mouths to their sources in the mountains which divide Pahang from Salangor. Those are his strong points. His weak ones are, first, that his pecuniary resources, in conse- quence of the interruption of the tin mining, must be wellnigh exhausted; and, secondly, that his position in regard to the neighbouring States, and also in regard to the terri- tory of Langat, where the Sultan lives, and is supposed to rule, are such that it seems almost impossible for him to come to final conclusions with his opponents. The Sultan of Perak (that is the Raja Bandahara of Perak, who claims to be Sultan), is ill- disposed to him, and either cannot, or will not, prevent expeditions from the Hulu Perak into Salangor; and I shall be surprised if I do not find, in spite of Tunku Dia Udin's confident liopes, that when he gets to the Hulu Birnam he will find that the enemy have got out of his reach across the frontier, only to recross it the moment his back is turned. As regards the Raja of Sungie Ujong, Tunku Dia Udin has always made most urgent complaints as to the way his territory has been made a rendezvous, and starting-point for attacks on the Kallang districts. the position cannot but be one of extreme embarrassment.

As regards Langat and the Sultan quarters of the Mahdi faction, and Tunku Dia Udin's position in regard to it is, or was Langat is the head- when I last inquired about the matter, that either he, must blockade the place, at the risk of being brought to account for transgressions of international law, else he must practically abandon all idea of bringing his enterprize to a successful termination.

6. Shortly after Tunku Dia Udin had lost the Salangor forts, and his fortunes were at their lowest ebb, Sir Harry Ord saw him,-I forget whether it was at Penang or at Kallang, and spoke to him about his prospects, and asked him whether in view of all that had occurred be still felt himself in a position to continue his enterprize, and at the same time offered, I believe, in case he did not, to assist him in retiring from it without loss of dignity. In reply Tunku Dia Udin said, so I understood, that if the English Government thought he ought to retire, he was prepared to do so at once; but that if he were free to act as he pleased, it was his intention to persevere. Sir Harry Ord replied that it was entirely for him to judge, and accordingly he did persevere with