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There will also be certain other gentlemen available for interrogation or consultation in England, whose names I shall mention later in this despatch.

4. In paragraphs 3 and 4 of his memorandum (Enclosure 1) Mr. Sturrock very pertinently quotes from the General Order governing the organization of the Public Works Department that has hitherto obtained in the Federated Malay States. It may, I conjecture, have escaped notice that the role indicated in my previous despatches for Director-Advisers, vis-à-vis, the Malay States differs very little indeed from the role which has been assigned to the Director of Public Works and the Principal Medical Officer in the past. The Heads of Federal Departments have never, owing to political necessity, been permitted the same untrammelled executive authority in the Malay States as has been vested in their counterparts in the Straits Settlements under the Crown Colony system of administration. I invite particular reference to the following orders and regulations, copies of all of which have been sent for the Colonial Office Library :-

Circulars issued by the Government of the Federated Malay States cor- rected to 16th November, 1925, page 7.

General Orders, 1930, Reprint, page

139.

General Orders, 1930, Reprint. Page 349.

Page 351.

Page 363.

Page 377.

Circular No. 7 of 1912. "Reference by Federal Heads of Depart- ments to the Resident in all matters of importance arising in the State."

General Order 101. Administrative powers of Residents and Duties of Federal Heads.

Duties of Chief Health Officer, Federated

Malay States.

Duties of Senior Health Officers.

Duties of the Principal Medical Officer. Powers and duties of Public Works Officers.

I claim for my proposed organization that (apart from financial economies and retrenchment of posts) it will clarify the position of the Professional Heads of Depart- ments in the Federated Malay States by straightforwardly proclaiming it to be advisory, instead of leaving them with the hybrid status that has led to confusion and conflict in the past. To the old system the Head of a Federal Department aptly and wittily applied certain words from the introduction to the Book of Common Prayer, represent- ing that the number and hardness of the Rules called the General Orders, and the manifold changing of the Circulars, was the cause, that to turn the books only was so hard and intricate a matter, that many times there was more business to find out what he could do than to do it when it was found out." I know that Dr. Wilson will bear out this view, and has come as a surprise to me that the Colonial Advisory Medical Committee, presented with a politically practicable scheme for placing the officers of the Malayan Medical Service under a single professional head, with control over their movements and promotions, and for standardizing medical practice and equipment throughout the Peninsula, should not have embraced the opportunity with open arms. I can only infer that the Committee is not cognisant of the political necessities of Malaya, and this is a point to which I shall revert lafer.

5. In paragraph 12 of his memorandum (Enclosure 2) Dr. Wilson mentions the danger of a rupture between the Medical and Health Branches of his Department. The recent abolition of the post of Chief Health Officer, Federated Malay States, has removed a dyarchical factor which has on more than one occasion resulted in cleavages of opinion and a lamentable absence of co-operative sympathy between the two branches. The new organization, by providing that the control of Medical and Health Services in each State may be entrusted to an officer of either of the two branches (subject in the case of the two larger States to his Deputy being chosen from the other) should carry the development of liaison and collaboration between them a still further stage, and finally obliterate any fissiparous tendency.

6. It will be noticed that neither Dr. Wilson nor Mr. Sturrock envisage the likelihood of any serious loss of disciplinary control over their respective services, While I nor of any diminution in departmental efficiency, under the new system. agree with them in this, I nevertheless desire to point out that I do not base, and have never based, the policy of decentralization on arguments of administrative effi- ciency, but on political necessity. I did not indeed myself invent the policy. I came here to find it written clear and large on page after page of the Government records as the approved method of future political development in the Federated

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Malay States. My additions to what I found are only two, though I consider them all-important:

First, that the policy should not be merely destructive of the existing so-called "federation" of four States, but constructive of a true federation of all the Malayan administrations; second, that the process of decentralization in the four States must be accelerated, if recorded promises are not to be regarded. as broken by inaction and incompletion, and if the eventual emergence of a pan- Malayan federation is to remain in the category of desirable possibilities.

7. In connexion with further development of the policy of decentralization, I should be grateful if the published records of its past might receive your perusal and consideration. In particular I invite attention to the following passages in the printed Proceedings of the Federal Council:-

1925 Proceedings. Pages B91 to 94, pages C544 to 545.

1926 Proceedings. Pages B15 to 21, B126, B132-134, C451-4, C633-37. 1927 Proceedings. Pages B110-113.

The last reference is to an annual address by Sir Hugh Clifford, locally known as the "Mohammedan Monarchies' Speech,'

" which will repay careful scrutiny, because it

is frequently quoted by the Rulers as a statement of their political rights. Reference- was in fact made to it by the Sultan of Perak at the recent opening of his reconstituted State Council.

8. If the process of devolution in the Federated States were finally relinquished at the stage, which may be described as one of temporary compromise, at which Sir Laurence Guillemard had perforce to leave it, the criticism that the mountains- had been in child-birth and brought forth a mouse, would indeed be applicable. Local public opinion is unanimous, I believe, in the view that the only action in this direction taken since the departure of Sir Laurence, i.e., the formal transfer of the Marine and Town Planning chapters of the Budget from the Unreserved to the State-Reserved Estimates, has been totally inadequate in view of the declaration made in para- graph 22 of Council Paper No. 39 of 1925 that—

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to the policy of devolution to the Rulers, State Councils, and Residents the Government is already committed, and the logical outcome of that policy must be faced.'

If such opinion is not unanimous, it is at least that of the Rulers and of the Press of this country; and it came to me as a shock to find that nothing had been done during the last six years to render the promised devolution possible by a strengthening of the State Councils. That has now been done, as reported in my despatches Confidential of the 17th December, 1931,* and No. 158 of the 17th March, 1932,† and I invite attention to the speeches and telegrams which signalized the opening of the recon- stituted bodies.

9. The reply to the question recently put in the House of Commons, com- municated to me by your telegram of the 17th March current, has in these circum- stances caused considerable astonishment here in so far as it suggests that the policy of decentralization, and not merely its administrative details. is still sub judice. The position, as I see it, is that, whereas in 1925 and 1926 the implementation of a declared policy was delayed by the opposition of local interests, these interests have since been educated with the flux of time and by the general trend of local opinion to an appre- ciation of its necessity, so that the situation has become exactly reversed, and the opposition is now limited to certain quarters outside Malaya.

10. I in no way desire to pose as the sole exponent of local Malayan opinion, official or unofficial, and I should welcome a reference to the following gentlemen, all of whom will arrive in England in the course of the next six weeks and will thus be available for consultation, should you think fit :-

Mr. J. W. Simmons, retiring British Resident of Selangor, formerly Resident of Negri Sembilan, acting Resident of Perak, and British Adviser, Treng- ganu, who has an unrivalled experience of the Unfederated as well as the Federated States; Mr. G. P. Bradney, Auditor, Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States, who is a signatory of the Report on Financial Devolution, and was till recently acting Treasurer and Financial Adviser, Federated Malay States; Mr. H. B. Egmont-Hake, Unofficial Member of the Federal Council, whose address on leave is c/o the Secretary. Messrs. Harrison and Crossfield,

*Nos. 11 and 36.

† No. 37.

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He is also a member of the recently reconstituted State Council of Selangor, and thoroughly au fait with unofficial opinion in this country among all races. 11. In conclusion I wish to state that, although I have the profoundest trust in the loyalty of Their Highnesses the Rulers of the Federated Malay States to the British Throne, I am nevertheless aware that the Sultan of Perak in particular is grow- ing restive under the checks and procrastinations which have attended the carrying out of the decentralization policy; and I am deeply conscious of the fact that further delay may ruin for all time the chances, that still in the opinion of myself and my principal advisers obtain, of an ultimate federation of all Malayan Governments in matters of common interest. There is no doubt that we have not carried the Malays with us in the process of centralization which set in after, but not as a natural or proper corollary of, the federation of Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, and Pahang; and to make clear my meaning I will quote three passages of which the first two were written at an interval of twenty-five years. The first is from Sir Frank Swettenham's British Malaya, published in 1906, pages 344-5 :-

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We have learned by long experience, by our own blunders, and by such success as has attended our venture in Malaya, that when you take the Malay- Sultan, Raja, chief, or simple village headman---into your confidence, when you consult him on all questions affecting his country, you can carry him with you, secure his keen interest and co-operation, and he will travel quite as fast as is expedient along the path of progress. If, however, he is neglected and ignored he will resent treatment to which he is not accustomed, and which he is conscious is undeserved. If such a mistake were ever made (and the Malay is not a person who is always asserting himself, airing grievances and clamouring for rights), it would be found that the administration had gone too fast, had left the Malay behind, left him discontented, perhaps offended, and that would mean trouble The danger is that and many years of effort to get matters right again. the legitimate aspirations of a people, who are too reserved to complain aloud, may be overlooked."

The second is from a speech by Mr. Simmons, Resident of Selangor, delivered at the last session of Federal Council, on the 14th March, 1932:-

"I am now leaving this Council at a time of considerable political interest, and I wish I could have been leaving at the consummation rather than at the initiation of Your Excellency's policy, and that I could have had a little more opportunity of working towards that consummation. I have been a member of five State Councils, and I may therefore claim to know a little about their work- ing. It has been objected to Your Excellency's policy that relegation to State Councils from the Federal Council, and to State Governments from the Federal Government must result in inefficiency. So long as it is done slowly I do not believe that there will be much inefficiency, although I think that there may be some loss of efficiency. But I would suggest that we have perhaps here wor- shipped the brazen god of efficiency rather too rigorously. There are other and higher things than 100 per cent. cast-iron efficiency, and if in the years to come we have to spell Efficiency' with a slightly less capitalE,' who shall blame us and say we are wrong, so long as we spell with an increasingly capital 'S' the Soul of the People ""'?

The third is from Sir Frank Swettenham's Annual Report on these States for the first year of their federation (1896), paragraph 12:—

"

I have heard it suggested that the endeavour to secure identity of system under some form of central control tends to destroy individual effort. I do not think it will do so here, if the Federal officers use their authority as it is intended it should be used, that is, rather as inspectors and advisers to the local officers than as the heads of departments. What was wanted was to get rid of a feeling of inter-State jealousy, which had nothing to recommend it, and often took the The healthy form of different methods, apparently from simple perversity. rivalry of officers, of whole offices and departments in the different States, deserves encouragement, and is often of great assistance as showing what might be done if all were equally zealous and capable."

I claim that the proposals which I have put forward in respect of the Public Works and Medical Departments exactly meet the requirements of the four States as they were thus propounded by the founder of the Federation.

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12. I am posting this despatch by air-mail, the duplicate will follow by ocean- mail.

I have, &c.,

C. CLEMENTI,

High Commissioner.

P.S.-I shall write to you separately on the subject of the Drainage and Irrigation Department as well as about such other departments as are affected by the decen- tralization policy.

Enclosure 1 in No. 26.

MEMORANDUM BY THE DIRECTOR-ADVISER ON THE WORKING OF THE MALAYAN DEPART- MENT OF PUBLIC WORKS UNDER THE NEW POLICY-AS OUTLINED BY HIS EXCELLENCY IN HIS CONFIDEntial Despatch No. 2, DATED 29TH OCTOBER, 1931.

1. The duties of the Director-Adviser are clearly defined in the despatch referred to above. They are the same as those of the Colonial Engineer in the Colony and practically the same as those of the Director of Public Works in the Federated Malay States--but with the addition of advisory duties in the Unfederated Malay States.

2. The duties of the Director-Adviser in the Malay States as outlined in the despatch are:-

(a) He will be responsible for the control of the Malayan Civil Engineering Service, and effect transfers of Engineers throughout the Colony and the Malay States after due consultation with the Administrations concerned. (b) He will pay periodic visits to each State and inspect the work of the State Public Works Department. The results of every such inspection will be submitted by him in the form of a report to the State Government. He will have no power to issue orders but only to give advice.

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(c) He will give advice on any matter referred to him by the State Engineer any State or by any State Government, and will keep each State Govern- ment informed of any important engineering developments in any other State or Settlement.

(d) He will be responsible for the compilation and issue of instructions on purely professional (as distinct from administrative) matters to all officers of the Malayan Civil Engineering Service, so that engineering practice may be uniform throughout Malaya.

(e) He will be responsible to me and through me to all the owner Govern- ments, for the proper running of joint institutions, such as the Federated Malay States Government Factory.

3. The duties of the former Director of Public Works, Federated Malay States are set out in Federated Malay States General Order 101 (ii): "The duties of Federal heads of departments, except where otherwise specified, are those of advisers and in- specting officers of the Federal and State Governments. They will communicate direct with the Federal and State Secretariats, but they may not issue orders to their depart- ments in any State which are opposed to the ruling of the Resident.' specifically, in Appendix D to the Federated Malay States General Orders:-

Again, more

The Director is the technical adviser to the State and Federal Governments on all questions of civil engineering other than those pertaining to railways.

He is in complete control of the staff of the Public Works Department, provided that changes in the personnel of State Engineers or of Engineers in charge of districts shall not be made without the previous assent of the Resident or Residents concerned.

The duties of the Director as laid down in the Manual of the Federated Malay States Department of Public Works include the following:-

The Director of Public Works shall be in control of the whole Department, and shall be the consulting and advising Head to the Chief Secretary and to the British Residents.

He shall deal with all appointments and promotions on the Establishment. He shall control the movements of all Establishment officers, provided that

no officer of Executive rank (or above) on the Engineering Establishment shall

be moved from one State to another without prior consultation with the Residents concerned.