Directory_and_Chronicle_1901 — Page 953

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STRAITS SETTLEMENTS

This Colony-now consisting of the island of Singapore, the province of Malacca. the island of Penang, the Dindings further south, Province Wellesley on the mainland, and the Cocos or Keeling Islands, and Christmas Island, the latter two placed under the same Government in 1886 and 1889 respectively-was transferred from the control. of the Indian Government to that of the Secretary of State for the Colonies by an Order in Council dated the 1st April, 1867. The seat of Government is the town of Singapore, on the island of the same name. The Government consists of a Governor,, aided by an Executive and Legislative Council, the latter body consisting of nine official members and seven unofficial members, of whom two are nominated by the Chambers of Commerce of Singapore and Penang. There are Municipal bodies in each Settlement, the members of which are partly elected by the ratepayers and partly appointed by the Governor.

Penang was the first British Settlement on the Malayan Peninsula, having been ceded to the British by the Rajah of Kedah in 1785, and it soon acquired a monopoly of the trade of the Peninsula. Malacca, which had been successively held by the Portuguese and the Dutch, finally passed into the hands of Great Britain by treaty with Holland in 1824, having been previously held by Great Britain from 1795 to 1818. With the establishment of Penang in 1785 most of the trade which had formerly centred at Malacca was transferred to the former. In 1819 Singapore was taken possession of by Sir Stamford Raffles, by virtue of a treaty with the Johore Princes, and it soon took the lead of Penang as a commercial centre. In 1826 Singa- pore and Malacca were incorporated with Penang under one Government, Penang remaining the seat of Government until 1830, when the administration was transferred to Singapore.

Sir Alex. Swettenham, the officer administering the Government at Singapore, in the annual address to the Legislative Council, reviewing the financial prospects of the Colony, in 1900, thus refers to the trade of the Settlements :-"As in 1898, Exchange with the Mother Country was comparatively steady during 1899, the difference between the highest and lowest rates for deinand during the year being only 1d. The commer- cial world also anjoyed more than usual prosperity and the trade of the Colony reflected the general condition of mercantile progress. Our imports of goods from other countries showed an increase in sterling values of considerably over 18 per cent. while the increases in exports was approximately 20 per cent. Both Singapore and Penang. participated in these increases. The high prices which were obtainable for tin contributed largely to the enhanced percentage in exports. A comparison of the trade- figures for the first half of the present year with those for the same period of 1899 shows an increase of 23 million dollars or over 19 per cent. in imports, and an increase of over 163 million dollars for more than 15 per cent. in exports. In imports the increases come under the heads of foodstuffs, raw materials, and manufactured articles. In: imports, tin and produce show the largest increases. The comparative returns for the second quarters of both years, however, are less favourable. Owing to the demonetisa-- tion of the Japanese Yen there are and has been a very considerable increase in the number of the British dollars imported by the Banks in 1899, the value being $29,349,725, againsi $19,492,168 imported in 1898. The introduction of the British dollar, for which we owe a debt of gratitude to the Chartered and Hongkong and Shanghai Banks, has. been extraordinarily successful and opportune."