Directory_and_Chronicle_1893 — Page 770

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

364

SELANGOR

The population of Selangor in 1884, when the first census was taken, was 46,568. According to the census taken in April, 1891, the total population of the State amounted to 81,592 persons, of whom 50,844 are Chinese, 23,750 Malays, 3,592 Indians, 1,224 Sarkeis (aboriginal tribes), 357 Europeans and Eurasians, and the remainder Japanese, Arabs, Singhalese, Bataks, &c. This return is supposed to be far below the real number.

The principal industry of the State, and from which it derives the largest portion of its revenue, is alluvial tíu mining, on which a duty is charged of $12 per bhara (three piculs). The export in 1891 amounted to 195,506 piculs.

In addition to its mineral resources the State, however, possesses large tracts of land well adapted for agricultural purposes, and the recent removal of restrictions on the free importation of Indian coolies into the Protected Native States renders it possible for European planters to obtain cheap labour and to open estates on a large scale. Small plantations of coffee, cocoa, and pepper have already been successfully commenced, and rice, sugar, and other products of the Peninsula under native cultivation are doing well in various parts of the State, and to encourage pioneer planters, large grants of land have recently been made, on special terms, for the planting of sago, pepper, and gambier.

The following table shows the total annual revenue and expenditure of the State since the year 1883 :-

1883.

1894.

1885. 1886. 1887.

1888. 1889. 1890. 1891. 1892.

$ $ ¿

$ Revenue 450,664 494,483 566,411 689,401 1,153,896 1,072,890 1,828,427 1,888,9281,825.000 1,946,755

Ex'ture 448,703 514,948 826,526 683,876 885,9311,053,000 1,394,181 1,996,000 1,724,338 1,613,424 In 1892 the estimated expenditure on railways is set down at $145,298, as separate from the ordinary expenditure given in the above table.

The principal exports are tin, hides, garmwood, tapioca, canes, rattans, and gutta percha. The principal imports are opium, salt, salt-fish, rice, oil, tobacco, and tea. At the commencement of the year 1885, all duties were abolished, with the exception of those on tin, opium, and spirits.

There is frequent and regular communication, by means of coasting steamers, between the Straits Settlements and Selangor, and from Kwala Lumpor a system of cart and bridle roads extends to the boundaries of Perak, Sungie Ujong, and Pahang. A line of metre gauge railway, to connect Kwala Lumpor and Klang (a distance of 22 miles), has been constructed, and was formally opened by Sir F. Weld on the 15th Sept., 1886. An extension of this line to Serendalı, 24 miles north of Kwala Lumpor, is now nearly completed, and will ultimately be carried on to Kwala Kubu, the principal inland town. The first sod of the extension was cut on the 26th August, 1889. Another extension is projected to Cheras, in the Ulu Langat district. In connection with the railway a line of telegraph has been erected between the same terminal stations and extended to Malacca via Sungie Ujong, where it is connected with the cables of the E. E., A. & C. Telegraph Co. There is also inland telegraphic communication between Kwala Lumpor, Rawang, and Kwala Kubu, whence it is carried on to Raub in Pahang, extending up to the Perak frontier at Tompong Malim and through Perak to Penang. A telegraph line from Rawang to Kwala Selangor has lately been completed, and Kwala Langat has been connected with Klang,

Directory_and_Chronicle_1893 — Page 770

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