Directory_and_Chronicle_1909 — Page 1475

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OFFICES

Salvage Association, London

SINGAPORE-MALACCA

Samarang Sea and Fire Insurance Company Scottish Amicable Life Insurance Company Scottish Imperial Insurance Company

Scottish Union and National Insurance Company

Sjo Assurans Foreningen (Finland).

South British Fire and Marine Ince, of New Zealand Standard Life Insurance Company Standard Marine Insurance Company State Fire Insurance Company Sun Insurance Office, London

Thames and Mersey Marine Insurance Co., Ld., L’don Tokyo Marine Insurance Company

Transatlantic Marine Insurance Co., Ld., of Berlin... Triton Insurance Company, Limited Union Assurance Society (Fire and Life) Union Insurance Society of Canton.....

Union International Company, Assur., Antwerp Union Marine Insurance Company Union Marine Insurance Company

Union of Paris (Fire Insurance Company)

United Dutch Marine Insurance Co.

Universo Insurance Company, Milan

Western Assurance Co.

Yangtsze Insurance Association

Yorkshire Insurance Co.

Yorkshire Insurance Co.

MALACCA

Syme & Co.

AGENTS

Hooglandt & Co.

Paterson, Simons & Co. Syme & Co.

Syme & Co.

Rautenberg, Schmidt & Co.

Meyer Bros. Borneo Co., Ld. Sarkies & Moses Behr & Co. Brinkmann & Co. Brinkmann & Co. Mitsui Bussan Kaisha Kumpers & Co. Guthrie & Co. Ld. Sarkies & Moses Wm. Macbean, agent Behn, Meyer & Co. Barlow & Co. Sarkies & Moses Moine-Comte & Co.

Paterson, Simons & Co., Ld. Pertile & Co.

Guthrie & Co., Ld. Adamson, Gilfillan & Co. Sandilands Buttery & Co. Travers, Joseph & Sons, Ld.

The settlement of Malacca excites more interest from a historical point of view than either of its sister towns, but has so completely fallen to the rear commercially since the establishment of Penang and Singapore as to merit but brief notice in this compilation. It is now seldom visited by foreigners except for purposes of relaxation. Originally settled by the Portuguese in 1511, it retained its importance as the one foreign entrepôt in the East until the founding of Penang, when its fortunes as a port rapidly declined. The settlement, however, has made considerable progress in agriculture since the formation of new roads. At the present moment it is the least European of all British Settlements in the East, though the facts that it has given its name to the Peninsula and that it was the cradle of Anglo-Chinese study attest its former importance. Its area is embraced by boundaries some 42 miles in length, with a breadth of from 8 to 25 miles. It is governed by a Resident Councillor in subordination to Singapore.

The geological formation of the territory of Malacca consists chiefly of granite rocks, overlaid in several places by the red cellular clay iron-stone called by geologists laterite. Many of the low plains are alluvial, the soil composed of decayed vegetable mould interlaced with sand. The metallic ores are iron, gold, and tin. The surface generally is undulating, consisting of low round ridges and narrow valleys, the only mountain of considerable elevation being the Ledang of the Malays, and the Ophir of the Portuguese, 4,400 feet above the level of the sea, or less than one-half the height of the principal mountains of the volcanic islands of Java-Bali and Lomboc--or those of the partially volcanic neighbouring island of Sumatra.

The mineral products of Malacca were at one time looked upon as offering valuable prospects. Gold to the extent of 1,500 ounces yearly was obtained in 1857-8, but the yield decreased to such an extent that it is no longer worked. Tin, about the same period, assumed considerable importance. The first mines were opened in 1793, but no great enterprise was displayed until 1848, when some 5,000 cwt. was the annual product. This increased until 1858, and a large number of Chinese were employed in the industry. The superior yield of the Native States, however, combined with the exhaustion of the surface washings, resulted in mining enterprise in Malacca being virtually abandoned, although both gold and tin probably still exist in workable quantities.