Directory_and_Chronicle_1923 — Page 1254

STRAITS SETTLEMENTS

This Colony 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. It now consists of the island of Singapore, the province of Malacca, the island of Penang, the Dindings further south, Province Wellesley on the mainland, the Cocos or Keeling Islands, Christmas Island (the latter two placed under the same Government in 1886 and 1889, respectively), and Labuan, annexed to the Straits Settlements on January 1st, 1907. The seat of Government is the town of Singapore, on the island of the same name. Under a new Constitution to be introduced in 1923, the Government consists of a Governor, aided by an Executive Council consisting of eight of the principal officers of the Government and two nominated Unofficials; and by a Legislative Council, consisting of 13 official members (in addition to His Excellency, who presides) and 13 unofficial members, of whom two are elected by the Chambers of Commerce of Singapore and Penang, There are Municipal bodies in each Settlement, the members of which are 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 1836, when the administration was transferred to Singapore.

The population of the Straits Settlements was 883,769 in 1921. The death rate in 1921 was 31.54 per mille. The Colonial Secretary in one of his reports to the Colonial Office says on this subject:-" In spite of the high death rate, the climate in the towns and in the country, which has long been opened up, cannot be considered unhealthy for Europeans, who, if they take ordinary precautions, can, with their higher and more sanitary mode of life, to a great extent avoid the malarial and other tropical fevers and dysentery which attack the Oriental inhabitant of the peninsula."

The revenue of the Colony in 1921 amounted to $39,545,735 (£4,613,669) and the expenditure to $35,430,808 (£4,133,604). Two-thirds of the revenue is derived from Singapore. The aggregate trade in 1921 (merchandise only) was valued at £121,928,691, against £220,752,843 in 1920. Imports aggregated £65,790,969,

and exports £56,137,722.

Railway communication is now established between Singapore and Penang, and all the principal ports and towns in the Peninsula. Direct communication by rail has been opened up with Bangkok, the capital of Siam. Despite the temporary trade depression, it may be said that there are many signs of the increasing prosperity of the Colony, intimately connected as it is with the welfare of the Federated Malay States. The towns of Singapore and George Town, Penang, continue to extend, and the value of town property has enormously increased. Concurrently, the cost of living has advanced. House-rent both in Singapore and Penang has risen greatly, while the price of labour and building materials has deterred many from investing their capital in building operations.

The output of tin in the Federated Malay States, the bulk of which finds its way to the Smelting Works in the Colony, has largely contributed to the wealth of the population. Many have made fortunes out of tin and have invested a large propor- tion of their gains in the Colony.

There has been extensive planting of Para rubber, about 273,353 acres having been leased for that purpose at the end of 1919. The peninsula is regarded as a veritable land of promise, for the potentialities in respect of agriculture and mining cannot be over-estimated. At the present time the Colony is experiencing the prevailing trade depression in the tin-mining and rubber-planting industries.

Upon a rise

in the market prices of these two commodities a future no less prosperous than the past is confidently expected.