Justice and Crime. The law in force is contained in local ordinances and in such English and Indian Acts and Orders in Council as are applicable to the colony. The Indian Penal Code, with slight alterations, has been adopted, and there is a Civil Procedure Code based on the English Judicature Acts. There is a Supreme Court which holds assizes at Singapore and Penang every two months, and quarterly at Malacca, and which holds civil sittings monthly at Singapore and Penang, and once or twice a quarter at Malacca. There are, besides, police and marine magistrates' courts. The total convictions before the Superior Courts in 1897 was 692; before the other courts 34,367. The police force numbered 1,843 of all ranks in 1897, of whom 58 were Europeans. The number of criminal prisoners admitted to the gaols in 1897 was 8,291. Finance. The public revenue and expenditure of the colony for each of the last five years were as follows: The estimated revenue for 1898 was 4,753,650 dollars. The leading items of revenue in 1897 were-stamps, 300,895 dollars; licences, 2,597,050 dollars land revenue, 259,600 dollars; port and harbour dues, 167,769 dollars; postage, 211,825 dollars; and of expenditure-salaries, 1,552,717 dollars; public works, 494,363 dollars; education, 92,346 dollars; police, 88,666 dollars; marine department, 63,752 dollars; transport, 12,259 dollars; military expenditure, 1,027,164 dollars. The revenue in 1897 was derived as follows:-Singapore, 2,536,429 dollars; Penang, 1,425,421 dollars; Malacca, 358,358 dollars. The total assets of the colony, January 1, 1898, amounted to 3,325,018 dollars, and liabilities 1,183,643 dollars. The revenue and expenditure of the protected native States were as follows for 1897 : Debt of Negri Sembilan, 503,119 dollars; of Pahang, 2,103,739 dollars. 1 Sungei Ujong now included in Negri Sembilan. Defence, Production, and Industry. The new harbour of Singapore, comprising the coal stores, wharves, and docks, is defended by several forts armed with armour-piercing and medium guns, and by a system of submarine mines. The initial cost of the forts amounted to nearly 100,000l., and was defrayed out of the revenues of the colony, the Imperial Government supplying the guns and ammunition only. The garrison comprises one battalion of infantry at war strength, two batteries of European artillery, half a company of fortress engineers, and a company of Malay submarine miners. A further augmentation of the garrison is under contemplation. The colony also maintains an armed police force consisting of 32 officers and 1,811 men, and a battery of volunteer artillery consisting of 105 officers and men. The latter during time of war would be placed under the orders of the officer commanding the troops and act as auxiliaries to the European artillery. Articles produced in the Straits territory are gambier in Singapore; pepper in Singapore and Province Wellesley; tapioca and rice in Malacca and Province Wellesley; sugar in Province Wellesley. Liberian coffee is successfully cultivated in Perak, Selangor, Sungei Ujong, Negri Sembilan, and Johor. Coffee, pepper, sugar and rice are exported from Perak; gambier and pepper are grown in Sungei Ujong, Negri Sembilan, Selangor, and Johor; tapioca in Sungei Ujong and Negri Sembilan. The duty on the export of tin forms the largest item of the revenue of the States on the West Coast. In 1897 the ex port from Perak amounted to 20,702 tons, from Selangor 20,606 tons, and from Sungei Ujong and Jelebu about 3,522 tons. Tin is also successfully worked in the Kuantan District of Pahang. Gold is found in and exported from Pahang, Negri Sembilan, and Perak, and other metals are known to exist in various parts of the Peninsula. In 1897, 26,420 ounces of gold was exported from Pahang. Commerce. The Straits ports are wholly free from duties on imports and exports, and their trade, centred at Singapore, is to a large extent a transit trade. The ports of the Protected Malay States are also free except as to opium and spirits. The chief exports comprise tin, sugar, pepper, nutmegs, mace, sago, tapioca, rice, buffalo hides and horns, rattans, gutta percha, india-rubber, gambier, gum, copra, coffee, dyestuffs, tobacco, &c. The following table shows the value of imports and exports (exclusive of inter-Settlement trade, but inclusive of treasure) for five years : Dollars Dollars Dollars Dollars Dollars Dollars Dollars Dollars 1893 22,126,738 42,041,115 95,981,107 160,148,960 30,294,499 20,243,591 94,219,354 144,757,394 1894 27,852,362 47,051,162 134,450 699 209,354,223 31,759,488 21,800,010 120,340,818 173,900,316 1895 21,599,976 51,414,927 125,203,403 198,218,306 30,062,072 21,766,794 121,146,087 172,974,953 1896 21,680,591 56,804,570 122,858,539 201,343,700 26,012,414 22,468,804 125,239,596 173,720,814 1897 28,476,443 67,093,079 124,340,774 219,910,296 25,936, 224 29,576,077 137,624,076 193,136,377 The exports do not include coal supplied to ships' bunkers, ships' stores, telegraph cables, &c., materials for building and repairing vessels, nor opium sent to Johor for consumption there. The tables of the values of the imports into, and exports from, the three Settlements during two years (inclusive of inter-colonial trade and treasure), give the following results : The trade of the Native States (including inter-State trade) was as follows in 1897 : Imports Dollars The following table shows the value of the most important imports and exports of the Straits Settlements in 1897, exclusive of inter-settlement trade :— Exports Dollars Among the leading imports are cotton goods, opium, rice, tea, coffee, tobacco, hardware, copper, copra, gambier, pepper, gum, rattans, sago, cigars, tin, tapioca; many of these, however, being largely re-exported. The values are determined by the market prices at the time, and declarations are made both as to quantity and value by importers and exporters. Imports are credited to the country of the first port of shipment, and exports to the country where the final port of destination is, as far as can be ascertained; thus, e.g., Switzerland is never inserted in the returns. The information is supplied by traders on declaration forms. There may be said to be three classes of trade-passing, transit, actual; passing trade being goods in vessels merely passing through Singapore for China, &c.; transit trade, goods changing bottom at Singapore, or landed and stored awaiting re-shipment. These two classes of trade are not included in the import and export statistics. Actual trade may be defined as goods brought for sale into Singapore and purchased there, either for consumption or for sale to other places whither they are said to be exported. The trade is a transit trade in the sense only that what is imported is exported without undergoing any process of manufacture. Exchange fluctuations affect the value of the statistical results. In times of low exchange the dollar value of goods having their origin in gold countries is enhanced, and the same probably holds good, to a less extent, in the case of produce exported. The following table shows, according to the Board of Trade Returns, the value of the trade between the Straits Settlements and Great Britain for five years. The imports, however, include produce from Borneo, Sarawak, and other eastern places, transhipped at Singapore which is thus entered as the place of export : -- 1893 1594 1895 1896 1897 Imports into U. K. from the Straits. 4,518,387 4,584,783 4,645,446 4,309,847 3,643,224 Exports of British produce to the Straits 1,780,799 2,352,259 1,995,906 2,019,874 2,496,895 The principal imports into the United Kingdom are (1897) tin, 1,217,1787.; spices, 421,7071.; cutch and gambier, 292,8797.; gutta percha, 269,4627.; caoutchouc, 126, 1777.; raw hides, 153, 1237.; leather, 118,0591.; sago and sago flour, 155,3767.; the principal exports from the United Kingdom, cottons, 1,120,0027.; iron, 328,3491.; machinery, 87,3147. Shipping and Navigation. The The total number of vessels entered at the ports of the colony during 1897, exclusive of native craft, was 8,872, with a tonnage of 6,148,194 tons. The number of native craft was 15,857, with a tonnage of 588,459 tons. number of vessels cleared at the ports of the colony was 8,932, with a tonnage of 6,058,588 tons, and the total number of native craft was 15,964, with a tonnage of 594,811 tons. Communications. There are no railways within the colony itself, but in Penang there are over 4 miles of tramway open, constructed and worked by a private firm. The motive power is steam. In Perak there is a railway from Port Weld to Taiping, 8 miles in length, from Taiping to Ulu Sápetang, 9 miles, from Teluk Anson via Tapah and Kampar to Enggor on the Perak River, 79 miles. In Sělángor a railway, 22 miles long, connects the capital, Kwala Lumpor, with the port of Klang. Kwala Lumpor is also connected with Serendah and Kwala Kubu, important mining centres, by a line 38 miles long, and with Pudoh and Sungei Besi mining centres, by a line 10 miles long. In Sungei Ujong a railway of 23 miles has been constructed by a private company from Port Dickson on the coast to the capital, Seremban. The following lines are under construction: in Perak from Enggor to Taiping about 24 miles, and from Ulu Sápetang to Kuala Prai in Province Wellesley 50 miles (23 miles of this line runs through British territory, but the Federated Malay States are constructing it at their own cost); in Selangor from Sungei Besi to Kajang, 8 miles, and from Klang to Tanjong Kubu, 5 miles. In 1897, 2,990,720 letters and articles of all kinds were received at the Post Office, and 3,040,416 despatched. Money, Weights, and Measures. There are three banks with establishments in the colony. The amount of deposits in the Government Savings Bank on December 31, 1897, was 363,544 dollars. By an Order of the Queen in Council dated February 2, 1895, the silver Mexican dollar, weighing 417 74 grains (or 27 070 grammes), 9027 fine, is the standard coin. The British dollar, the Hong Kong dollar, and the N 178 THE BRITISH EMPIRE :—' -THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS Japanese yen, each weighing 416 grains (or 26 957 grammes), 900 fine, are also legal tender, the least currency weight being in each case 411 grains (or 26 633 grammes). Subsidiary silver coins are 50, 20, 10, and 5 cent pieces, which are legal tender for sums not exceeding two dollars; copper coins are cents, half-cents, and quarter-cents, legal tender for any sum not exceeding one dollar. The measures of length in use in the Settlements is the English yard, with its divisions and multiples, and land is measured by the English acre. The native terms are, however, still in use. Commercial weights are:lb. avoirdupois. 1 Kati 1 Koyan = = 16 Tahil= 1 100 Kati = 133 lbs. 40 Picul=5,333,, The kati of 13 lb. is known as the Chinese kati. Another weight, known as the Malay kati, and still in partial use in Penang, is equal to the weight of 24 Spanish dollars, or 9.984 grains. This gives 142 628 lbs. as the weight of the picul, and 5,705 143 lbs. as the weight of the koyan. The measures of capacity throughout the colony are the gantang or gallon, and chupak or quart. The State of Johore (area 9,000 square miles, estimated population 200,000), at the southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula, is, in its foreign relations, controlled by Great Britain, in virtue of a treaty of 1885. The Sultan is H.H. Ibrahim, under whom the country is administered by district headmen. The revenue is chiefly from import and export duties. Imports are opium, spirits, tobacco, rice, hardware, Manchester goods, &c. Exports are gambier, pepper, sago, tea, coffee, gutta percha, &c. The population is chiefly Malay and Chinese. Chief Town, Johore Bahru, 15 miles N. of Singapore. Keeling or Cocos Islands, group of about 20 small coral islands, about 700 miles S. W. of Sumatra, and 1,200 miles S. W. of Singapore. Population (1891), 554. The islands were formally annexed to England in 1857, and placed under the Governor of the Straits Settlements by Letters Patent in 1886. Large quantities of copra, coco-nuts, and oil are exported. Christmas Island is 200 miles S. W. of Java, and 700 miles E. of Keeling Islands. It is 9 miles long and about the same wide. It was added to the colony by Letters Patent in January 1889, and a settlement from the Cocos Islands has since been made on it. Books of Reference concerning the Straits Settlements. Colonial Office List. Annual. London. Statistical Abstract for the Colonial and other Possessions of the United Kingdom Annual. London. Blue Book for the Straits Settlements. Annual. Singapore. Annual Reports on the Protected Malay States. London. Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions. London. Perak Handbook and Civil List. Singapore, 1897. Précis of Information concerning the Straits Settlements and Malay Peninsula. Pre pared in the Intelligence Division, War Office. 8. London, 1892. Papers relating to the Cocos-Keeling and Christmas Islands. London, 1897. Andrews (C. W.), A Description of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean). In Geographical Journal Vol. XIII., 1. (January, 1898). London. Bird (Isabella L.), The Golden Chersonese. London, 1883. |