CO882-(6-8) — Page 488

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TLC.O. 882

8

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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here, the port, from being as it now is, one where quick despatch is, on the whole, the rule, would, I believe, suffer from the despatch given to vessels becoming less expeditious than it now is.

Singapore, January 3, 1903.

(Confidential.)

Enclosure 2 in No. 11.

JOHN ANDERSON,

THE TANJONG PAGAR DOCK COMPANY, LIMITED, OF SINGAPORE. Copies of:-

(A).—Tanjong Pagar Dock Company's Chairman's letter to Resident-General Federated Malay States, asking for loan of $10,000,000, dated 8th February, 1904.*

(B). Resident-General's letter, dated 22nd February, 1904, acknowledging

above.

(C). Mr. John Anderson's personal letter to Mr. W. H. Treacher (Resident-

General, Federated Malay States), dated 24th February, 1904. (D).—Mr. John Anderson's confidential memorandum for Resident-General, Federated Malay States, dated 15th February, 1904, re loan of $10,000,000 asked for by the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company, Limited. (F)-Mr. John Anderson's memorandum, dated 22nd February, 1904, handed to Honourable W. T. Taylor, C.M.G., Colonial Secretary, Singapore, being his criticisms and suggestions upon draft of proposed Bill for Legislative Council, "Tanjong Pagar Wharf Improvements Bill."

(B.)

Resident-General's Office,

SI,

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt, on the 20th February current, of your letter and its enclosure, of date 8th February, on the question of the Federated Malay States lending money to the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company, Limited, of Singapore.

Selangor, Malay Peninsula, February 22, 1904.

2. I recognise the importance of the communication, and the subject will receive due consideration after I have had an opportunity of conferring with the High Com- missioner for the Federated Malay States.

John Anderson, Esq., Chairman,

I have, &c.,

W. H. TREACHER, Resident-General, Federated Malay States.

Tanjong Pagar Dock Company, Limited, Singapore.

(Confidential.)

MY DEAR TREACHER,

(C.)

Singapore, February 24, 1904. THANK you for your note of 22nd instant, re application by Tanjong Pagar Dock Company for loan of $10,000,000.

I now enclose my promised memorandum on that subject, dated 15th February, 1904, which is of course confidential.

I think you can hardly fail to feel that-looking to the future-it is worth far more than a hypothetical sacrifice of 1 per cent. per annum on the loan asked for, to get now for the Federated Malay States railway terminus requirements of the future

control of affairs at Tanjong Pagar.

In my view, it will sooner or later be found a necessity that this is obtained. Hence, you will understand the strength I have ventured to introduce into my

Printed in No. 5 (page 7).

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advocacy that the Federated Malay States should now at least try for this by the special inducement of 3 per cent.

W. Hood Treacher, Esq., C.M.G.,

Resident-General, Federated Malay States,

Kuala Lumpur.

(Strictly Confidential.)

(D.)

Yours, &c.,

JOHN ANDERSON.

Singapore, February 15, 1904.

1. The Directors of the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company, Limited, instructed the Chairman of the Company to write to the Resident-General of the Federated Malay States asking if the Federated Malay States Government will lend the Company- in amounts as from time to time required-up to $10,000,000, at 3 per cent, per

annum.

2. The letter to this effect is dated 8th February, 1904, and has been sent in. The draft of that letter was first submitted to, and approved by, the complete Board in Singapore.

3. If I correctly understand the policy at which Government aims, it is to obtain some effective control of the affairs of the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company, Limited, this because on the conduct of that Company's affairs depends in very great measure the attractiveness of the Port of Singapore to shipping, and its pros- perity and advancement as a centre of, and attraction to, tonnage.

4. There involved also in this matter the bearing of the future terminus (at the wharves and docks in Singapore of the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company) of the Federated Malay States Railway. To this I sball refer further on.

5. The present method by which I understand Government is working to obtain

a voice in, and control of, the affairs of the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company, is that of acquiring shares of the Company by purchase of these on the open market as they are from time to time to be had.

6. Government has also (recently) arranged that it is to have the appointment of two Directors on the Singapore Board.

7. At present, exclusive of these two Directors yet to be appointed by Govern- ment, the Directorate in Singapore consists of nine persons. Of these, (5) five may he said to be under the command of what is known as the "Consulting Committee in London; (2) two are uncertain; and (2) two only are independent.

8. It is desirable to record here that the London Consulting Committee have already decided that when the two Government nominees have been appointed, the total strength of the Singapore Board is to be reduced to (8) eight persons. The members that are to be put out are the two independent ones, and one other that the Committee feels it cannot always count on.

9. Six, as against the two nominees of Government, may to Government look as an improvement, but it will be exactly the reverse, because the persons to be put out are those members of the present Board who feel themselves quite free to vote according to their own judgments, who do so, and who cannot be commanded by letters and telegrams from "Seniors " in London. Mr. Sellar, the Company's Manager, just returned from London (February, 1904), has told me in confidence that this had been decided at a private conference in London while he was at home. The result will be that the London voice and direction will be even more solid than before.

10. It may be argued or thought that the influence or weight of even two Government representatives on the Board-notwithstanding that this is a decided umerical minority-will operate, satisfactorily as a moral check or deterrent on the majority being guided and directed by strings pulled by the London Committee, or by "Senior partners" in England.

11. With this argument or view I do not at all agree; and, more particularly in the light of what I have observed in the last four months, I feel convinced that the London Ring is determined to rule and direct so long as it exists. And, Govern- iment will assuredly not be able to know for a certainty all that the London Committee is doing or directing behind the scenes.

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