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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TELCO.
882
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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his full consent. The subject of debt-slavery will be brought forward and dealt with by our officers, in conjunction with the Malay Council in Perak, as explained in my despatch
No. 291.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
No. 50.
WM. F. DRUMMOND JERVOIS.
GOVERNOR SIR W. JERVOIS, K.C.M.G., C.B., to the EARL OF CARNARVON. (Received November 22.)
(Confidential.) MY LORD,
Government House, Singapore, October 16, 1875.- WITH reference to your Lordship's confidential despatch of the 27th July last,* received by me on the 18th September after my return from Perak, enclosing copy of a letter addressed to your Lordship by Lord Stanley of Alderley, respecting native affairs in the Malay States, I transmit, for your Lordship's information, replies to the comments enclosed by Lord Stanley, of his Lordship's friend in the India Office.
These replies will show your Lordship that Indian experience is not necessarily a qualification for forming a judgment on the relations between our officers and the Chiefs of the Malay States.
With reference to your Lordship's directions, I am sensible of the necessity of exer- cising great care in the character of the advice tendered by the Residents, and will do my best to carry out your Lordship's instructions on this point. I beg leave, however, to remark, with respect to your Lordship's concluding injunction, that, if the Government of the States to which our officers are accredited, be actually carried on by native rulers, the presence of our officers would result in the countenance by the British Government of the oppression of the ryots by the Chiefs, who are the main obstacles to the improve. ment of the condition of the people.
I have, &c. (Signed)
•
WM. F. DRUMMOND JERVOIS.
Enclosure in No. 50.
Answer.
Memorandum on the Perak Resident's Report.
FROM perusal of this Report, it must be concluded that the Resident is under a misapprehension as to the relations which should exist between the protecting and protected Powers. This is a grave matter, but it further appears that he publicly uses an influence which should only be felt through the conduct of the native ruler.
Without criticising the Resident's policy too severely, as he pursues it in an un- doubtedly conscientious spirit, it will only be necessary to quote a few clauses to show the mistaken course of action pursued by him.
Clause 24. "I therefore deemed it an important point to make the establishment of any lodge of this kind penal, and in this view I have been entirely supported by the Chinese headmen in the country, who, although themselves probably compulsorily belonging to lodges in Penang, yet one and all concur in saying that they are but pro- ductive of evil and never of good."
* No. 87 of Command Paper (C. 1,820], August 1975.
Memorandum.
(1.) The Resident should have induced the Mantri to issue a Proclamation pro- nouncing these societies illegal, and then have seen the Proclamation enforced through the Mantri's police. In this way he could have carried out his policy without publicly appearing in the light of an arbitrary
ruler.
Clause 89. "Seeing, however, the dis- advantage which would ensue of using foreign coin in a State under British pro- tection, I immediately, on taking office as Acting Resident of Perak in January 1874, commenced to circulate the copper coin used in the Straits Settlements, and
gave orders that no other kind should be received into the Larut Treasury."
(2.) In causing the old coin to be refused at the Treasury, the Resident inflicted a grievous wrong on the people and com- mitted an act opposed to the laws of political economy; he should have issued nothing but Straits Settlements coin failing a native Mint, and have melted up the old coin as it accumulated in the Treasury under a system of gradual withdrawal from circulation and re-coinage as Perak coin.
Such high-handed measures might be expected from an ignorant and despotic oriental ruler, but no English officer should identify himself with measures opposed to sound judgment and a due regard for the interests of the people governed.
Clause 94. "I established a Court for the trial of criminals and settlement of disputes, in (sic) the judication of which I endeavour as nearly as possible to follow always the Indian Penal Code."
sort of
(3.) The formation of some Court is necessary through which criminal and civil law may be administered, having due regard to the constitutional laws of the country. The Court, however, should be established by the Mantri's Proclamation. The chief officer should be a native, with an European officer, inferior in rank to the Resident, to sit with him as assessor, with an appeal to the native Ruler in cases where both parties to the suit are native or non- British subjects; and to the native Ruler and Resident conjointly, where either of the parties is a British subject.
In the event of the settlement of French or German or other subjects in Perak, and the establishment of Consula, the posi- tion of the Resident in the Local Court as Chief Judge would cause him serious inconvenience and be injurious to his in-
H 2
Answers.
Sultan's, not in the Mantri's name.
(1.) The Proclamation should be in the police belong to and are paid by the State, The not by the Mantri,
Captain Speedy has been informed that everything he does ought to be in the name of the Sultan.
(2.) This criticism is written with a want of knowledge of the circumstances. "Im- mediately," as Captain Speedy states, on his taking office, there was no copper coin to speak of in the country, certainly not 100 dollars' worth. There were no shops in Larut then, not even houses, a popula. tion of only about 2,000 Chinese living in stockades, fighting, and living on rice and fruit, the rice all bought in Penang, and the fruits taken from trees on the spot.
Thus the critic, in speaking of the "refusal of the "old coin," speaks of what did not exist. Captain Speedy, as he says, gave orders that "no other coin" (but Treasury. This was, no doubt, to prevent the English) should be received at the
the introduction into the Larut district of Dutch or Sarawak coin, and also of that most inconvenient coinage, now, as then, in use in Perak proper, with 1,000 coins to the dollar.
Properly speaking, the order should have been in the Sultan's name, but no injustice was done.
(3.) In this criticism again the Court should not be established by the Mantıd's Proclamation but by the Sultan's, if by Proclamation at all.
In the cases tried, the Assistant-Resi- dent would only act up to his powers, and not go into the Mohommedan religion or recognised customs.
The critic must have had in his mind natives of some other country, and can have little or no knowledge of Malays to propose an " appeal” to them.
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Reference
C.O.
882
3
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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