Directory_and_Chronicle_1927 — Page 1306

JOHORE

This State occupies the southern portion of the Malay Peninsula, and has an area of about 7,678 square miles. The State is ruled by a Sultan, who is independent, but under the protection of the British Government so far as external policy is concerned. The present Sultan, Ibrahim, was born in 1873, and succeeded his father, the late Sultan Abubakar, in 1895, being crowned on the 2nd of November of that year. On the 1st January, 1916, the dignity of an Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George was conferred on His Highness the Sultan by His Majesty the King, and the investiture took place at Johore Bahru on May 11th, 1916. More recently, His Highness has been decorated with the Order of the British Empire in further recognition of his services during the Great War. Since 1910, the Sultan has had the services of an officer of the Straits or F.M.S. Civil Services as General Adviser, and other members of these services are seconded to control various departments, with the result that the government is now on a better footing and the finances have materially improved. The country has made great progress in material prosperity, and its orderly condition has attracted a good deal of European capital, invested in planting enterprises.

The revenue for 1925 amounted to $15,884,592 against $10,947,960 in 1924, and the expenditure to $9,780,322 in 1925 against $8,095,275 in 1923. Improved methods of collection and administration and the expansion of the agricultural and tin-mining industries are factors in the increase of revenue. Surplus assets at the end of 1925 amounted to $17,253,175. The railway, which connects Singapore with the F.M.S. system, was completed in 1909, and its construction has already given a great impetus to the opening up of this fertile State. Along its 120 miles it provides access to the extensive areas of valuable forest land not conveniently reached by the natural waterways. It is operated and leased by the F.M.S. Railway Department, which now controls the whole of the railways in the Malay Peninsula. A causeway has been constructed over the Straits of Johore, between the mainland of Johore and the Island of Singapore, carrying a railway track and a roadway. It was opened for passenger trains on 1st October, 1923. The roadway was opened to vehicular traffic on 28th June, 1924. The State owns a light railway in Muar, but this has now been closed to passenger traffic, the opening up of a road system making the district more accessible.

Ninety-two schools are maintained by the Government, and four of these are English Schools passing boys through the Cambridge School Certificate Examination. At the English College, which is conducted on the lines of an English Public School, there were 80 boys in residence in 1926. English is also taught in some of the larger Vernacular Boys' Schools and in three Vernacular Schools for Girls. A Training College for Vernacular Masters was opened in April, 1926, and thirty student teachers are in residence.

The capital is the town of Johore Bahru, or new Johore, as distinguished from Johore Lama, or old Johore, the former seat of the Sultans of Johore, which was situated a few miles up the wide estuary of the Johore river. The new town is a flourishing little place on the nearest point of the mainland to Singapore island, and lying about 14 miles to the north-east of Singapore city, in 1° 26' N. It contains some 15,000 inhabitants, mostly Chinese. Public Works have received a good deal of attention in recent years and $4,218,068 was spent on them in 1925. There are now over 600 miles of roads in the State, and six new roads are being constructed.

The population of the State at the census in 1921 was ascertained to be 282,234 (as compared with 180,412 in 1911), of whom 618 were Europeans, 157,852 Malays, 97,253 Chinese, 24,180 Indians, 183 Eurasians, and 2,148 others. The Chinese are chiefly found as cultivators of gambier and pepper, and are spread over the range of country in the extreme southern end of the peninsula, nearest to Singapore, but there is also a large Chinese population on the Jemaluang tin-field near Mersing.

Imports Exports

1924 $33,688,565

1925 $49,874,197

48,474,134

118,214,613

$82,162,699

$168,088,810

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