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17. Fourthly-Military defence is a matter in which all the Malay States should combine. The need for it and the benefits of it are obvious. The Malay States Guides

was a regiment of which the entire cost was defrayed by the Fede rated Malay States. When it was decided to disband the Guides, I suggested, in confidential correspondence, that the cost of whatever regiment, or regiments, might be sent to the Malay States, in place of the Guides, should be borne by all the Malay States. Unfederated as well as Federated. It was submitted that it was hardly fair to the Federated States that the whole cost should fall on them, and it was further submitted that, politically, it was desirable that the Rulers of the Malay States, Federated and Unfederated, should realise that in this respect their interests were in common. Nothing was done in the matter. Since then a proposal has been laid before the Federal Government by H.H. the Sultan of Perak for the formation of a Malay regiment or regiments as being preferable to the maintenance in the Federated Malay States of Indian regiments. If anything comes of this proposal, it is very desirable that there should be some broad scheme which should cover the whole of the Malay Peninsula, and not only the Federated States. Similarly, any scheme for the reorganization of the various European Volunteer Corps and for the extension of Malay. Chinese and Indian Volunteer Corps (which are wall supported) should cover the whole of the Malay Peninsula.

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18. Fifthly.-Three Government Departments--namely, the Department of Agriculture, the Forest Department and the Fisheries Department--stand out as being, by their nature, departments in which (with necessary allowances for local circumstances) there should be a common policy throughout the Malay Peninsula. They are, in the main, scientific and technical departments. The Government is guided by, even dependent upon, the advice of the Head of the Department. Conten- tious or controversial questions are uncommon. The Advisers to the Governments of the Unfederated States should be given to understand that the general policy of the Director of Agriculture, Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States, the Con- servator of Forests, Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States, and Director of Fisheries, Federated Malay States, should, unless the Unfederated State was prepared to show good reason to the contrary, be followed in every Unfederated State. The difficulty will be to prevent the local Agricultural, Forest or Fisheries officer from serving two masters. It should be understood, therefore, that, whilst the local officer might correspond direct with the Federal Head of Department, yet he would receive no executive instructions otherwise than through the local Government.

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19. Sirthly. The Medical Department and the Education Departments should also have a common policy throughout British Malaya. They differ from the three Departments mentioned in the preceding paragraph in that they deal with highly contentious matters. It is suggested that a means of getting over the difficulty would be the establishment of a " Medical Committee 31 and an

Education Committee " for Malaya. The two committees might comprise experts representative of the Colony and all the Malay States: it would formulate the general policy, and leave local details to local authorities. In this connection I may mention, as an indication of a move in this direction, that, whilst I was General Adviser in Johore, the Johore Government established an Education Board for Johore, and asked that the Director of Education, Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States, might be permitted to serve on the Board.

20. Seventhly.-In any research conducted by the Federated Malay States Gov- ernment (e.g., Rubber, Rice, Timber, Medical) the Unfederated States might be asked to co-operate, or at least to make a contribution towards the cost.

21. There is, I think, nothing to be gained by carrying this list any further. All that is aimed at is the barest indication of the outline of a policy. I am keenly aware that what has been written is open to the criticism, first, that it does not show how the new federation is to be made, and, secondly, that apparently it contemplates a federation within a federation. In reply to the second point, I can only say that, so long as the Federated Malay States are constituted as they are at present, this appears to be inevitable. Sir Arthur Young has stated (and I entirely agree) that Johore and Kedah will never join the Federation without compulsion; and Kedah has Sir John Anderson's promise that compulsion will never be used. All that seems to be possible, therefore, is some policy of combination, co-operation and co-ordination, with the creation of a friendly spirit which may ripen into a federal spirit. In reply to the first point. I would say that it is undesirable, even if it were possible, to lay down, a priori. a complete scheme for the federation of the Malay States. Any scheme must unfold itself as it develops. Influences at present unforeseen will

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operate upon it. In some respects, progress may be surprisingly rapid, and in others it may be extraordinarily slow. It is vain to prophesy, and it would be vainer still to attempt to work out a "cut-and-dried "scheme.

22. I have had a long and very intimate acquaintance with all the Malay States. I know every one of the Rulers intimately, and have personal friendships with many of the principal Chiefs in each State. I am thus emboldened to emphasize the importance of avoiding anything in the nature of a "Meeting of Rulers," or a "Con- ference of Residents and Advisers." The "Meetings of Rulers" referred to in paragraph 8 above, were wholly foreign to Malay ideas and etiquette. The fact that only two were held is in itself a sign of unsuccess. "Conferences of Residents and Advisers" might possibly be useful for the interchange of ideas, but they would do active harm by creating suspicion amongst the Malays.

23. I venture to recommend that the policy be as follows:-

(i) A public declaration should be made on some suitable occasion, such as the High Commissioner's Annual Address to the Federal Council, that the policy of the Government is not to extend the Federation so as to include any State not at present included in it, and that the policy is to aim at a friendly combination and co-operation between the Federated States, the Unfederated States and the Colony in all matters in which they have a common interest, on the understanding that each party is free to act as it thinks best in matters of local interest. All matters, whether of common, or of local, interest would, as hitherto, be subject to the approval of the Governor or the High Commissioner.

(ii) In any scheme for friendly combination and co-operation, particular care should be taken to give full representation to the Unfederated States, and to avoid carefully anything that might be interpreted as undue pressure.

(iii) In any matters in which there was no such scheme, the Advisers of the Unfederated States should be given to understand that, unless they could show cause to the contrary, they should advise their Govern- ments to adopt the general policy of the Federated Malay States. (iv) In the Federated Malay States, power should be restored not only to the Residents, but also to the Rulers and the State Councils, in order to give the Rulers more share and interest in the administration of their countries, and at the same time to reduce the difference, which is now very marked, between the Rulers of the Federated and the Unfederated States.

24. Before concluding, I would refer to two points in Sir Arthur Young's letter to Mr. Dixon. He says, "I found, nevertheless, no difficulty in getting the "Rulers of the Unfederated States to agree to adopt any measure which had been adopted in the Federated States, and which I considered should apply to the Unfederated." Later on he says, "It would have saved me and other officers a good deal of work, and, as I have said, simplified administration, if the whole were federated." I venture to submit that the work falls almost entirely on the Secretary to the High Commissioner, who conducts the High Commissioner's correspondence with the Federated and Unfederated States. Sir Arthur Young says that there is to difficulty in getting the measure adopted: it is only a matter of correspondence. 25. The second point is in the following passage in Sir Arthur Young's letter. He writes:-" There is another factor which militates against the Unfederated "States joining the Federation, and that is the unwritten law that in the Federation "the Rulers take precedence according to the dates they joined the Federation; for "instance, the Ruler of Negri Sembilan, who is not a Sultan, takes precedence of the Sultan of Pahang. Even the Sultan of Kelantan would not, I consider, join the Federation if this rule holds good." With all deferénce to Sir Arthur Young, I think that he is mistaken. Precedence can hardly date from the time when the Rulers joined the Federation. They all joined (with the extraordinary rapidity mentioned above) within a few days of one another; and the Federation was not com plete until the last had joined. It is more likely that consideration was had to the dates on which the various States came under British protection. But, however that may be, I venture with all respect to submit that the "unwritten law a thoroughly bad one. Under it the present Sultan of Perak, who recently came to the throne, and who has no decoration from His Majesty, takes precedence over the Sultan of Selangor and the Ruler of Negri Sembilan, both of whom have the

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