CO885-(26N14) — Page 260

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STRAITS SETTLEMENTS AND LABUAN.

Population (1911), 722,000. Area, 1,600 square miles.

Public Revenue Public Expenditure

Loan Expenditure (including Railway Subsidies),

1901-13

Public Debt

Shipping entered and cleared. Net tonnage

1901. £679,000 £707,000

1913. £1,446,000 £1,221,000

Rubber Tin and Tin Ore

41

Pahang.

1902.

1913.

Dollars.

Dollars.

Nil 1,834,000

424,000 6,718,000

COMMUNICATIONS.

£7,561,000

Nil.

£6,913,000

1901.

1913.

1917.

15,065,000

25,065,000

Imports (excluding bullion and specie)

£27,132,000

£53,011,000

Exports (excluding bullion and specie)

£23,485,000

£43,510,000

COMMUNICATIONS.

Railway Mileage Telegraph Mileage

Telephone Mileage

271

936

771

930

2,009

2,276

Railway Mileage

Telegraph Mileage

Telephone Mile of Wire

Nil.

1,332

1,166

48°

2,658+ 8,133

216

The bulk of the trade is really transit trade and owes its enormous development to the pro- Fress of the rich tin-mining and rubber-bearing lands of the Malay Peninsula.

Over 50 lines of sea-going steamers touch at the great port of Singapore, which is one of the greatest commercial centres of the East,

Its great prosperity arises from the splendid transport facilities, which provide the outlet for the greatest tin and rubber-producing district of the world, and which is also a great entrepot

for the whole of the East.

The heavy loan expenditure was mainly for barbour purposes, and it has produced an Paormous return in the increased prosperity of the Colony.

Much rubber is produced in the Colony itself. It appears to have been first exported in 1906, and the export of local produce (i.e., exclusive of F.M.S. produce) in 1917 was 27,464,000 lbs., worth £2,903,000.

The success of rubber has been so great as to threaten so seriously the production of foodstuffs that the greater proportion has to be imported.

FEDERATED MALAY STATES.

Population (1911), 1,037,000. Area, 27,506 square miles,

Note.-

The capital expenditure on railways up to December 31st, 1917, was $105,388,000 (#12,295,000), which appears to have been provided out of ordinary State Revenues, so that nearly the whole of the net receipts (excluding rentals and a contribution to the Imperial Government) is net profit, an abnormal condition of affairs in the case of a State railway.

The net profit in 1917 was $4,168,000 (£486,000).

It is probable that no country in the world has ever shown such amazing development in such a short time as the F.M.S.

The great expenditure on improving communications, rail and road (allied with the shipping facilities of Singapore in the Straits Settlements), and the great flow of European and Chinese capital into rubber planting and tin mining enterprises, is a clear indication of the immense possibilities of a rich tropical country.

At the beginning of the century, copra and tin were already of great importance, particularly the latter, but no rubber was exported, while by 1917 (excluding estates under 100 arres) no less than 612,268 acres were planted with rubber and the export of rubber totalled 79,820 tons and would have been much larger but for shortage of shipping due to the war.

There are great agricultural opportunities outside rubber and coconuts, but the profita from rubber have caused these to be neglected.

Important agricultural research is constantly carried on in order to combat the diseases to which the rubber tree is subject.

The health of the F.M.S. is bad, and there is great need for both greater research and improved sanitation. Malaria is responsible for nearly half the mortality.

There is prosperity unaccompanied by any real poverty in the F.M.S., and heavy expendi ture on health work can be afforded. It is only fair, however, to say that much has been done.

The statistics relating to the Malay States not in the Federation cover such a short period that a review of them would not be of any particular value for the purpose in view.

Is. 11d. in 1901 and 24. 4d. in 1906 et seq.

1901.

1913.

Dollars.

Dollars.

Public Bevenue

17,185,000

44,333,000

Public Expenditure

17,078,000

47,288,000

Public Debt (owed by Pahang to Perak and Selangor;

free of interest)

3,391,000

11,893,000

Shipping entered and cleared (excluding Pahang),

Net Tonnage

1,055,000

4,063,000

Imports (including bullion and specie)

36,733,000

86,409,000

Exporta (Ditto)

63,107,000

148,669,000

Note. There appear to be discrepancies between the figures in the Statistical Abstract Cd. 9051 of 1918 and the Report for the F.M.S. for 1917, Cmd. 26 of 1919. The Exports and Imports Statistics are taken from the Statistical Abstract,

PRINCIPAL EXPORTS.

Perak,

1902.

1913.

Copra

Rubber

Tin and Tin Ore

68,000 Nil, 31,943,000

1,417,000

18,327,080 49,083,000

Selangor.

Copra

Rubber

Tiu and Tin Ore

145,000 60 22,749,000,

362,000

28,754,000

26,790,000

Negri Sembilan.

Rubber

Tin and Tin Ore

250 5,838,000

9,790,000 3,156,000

Linked with and run by the F.M.8. System.

† Including cables linking the various islands and the mainland.

FIJI.

Population (1911), 140,000. Aren, 7,435 square miles.

1901.

Public Revenue

£114,000

Public Expenditure

£105,000

1913. £266,000 £269,000

Loan Expenditure, 1901-13

Nil

Public Debt

Shipping entered and cleared, net tonnage

£196,000 205,000

£72,000

Imports (excluding bullion and specie) Exports (excluding bullion and specie)

£321,000 £549,000

712,000 £843,000 £1,426,000

PRINCIPAL EXPORTS.

1875.

1900.

1913.

£

£

£

Sugar

3,417

394,000

1,042,000

Fruit

97

Copra

40,000

28,000 152,000

168,000

177,000

COMMUNICATIONS.

1901.

Railway Mileage

Telegraph Mileage

Telephone Mileage

Nil

Nil

105

1913.

54*

58+

542

• The Colonial Sugar Refining Co. own various tramlines on their estates and some of these are open to public use. †There are several wireless installations,

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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885/26

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