6 34 BRITISH MALAYA 



Kedah. The years 1909 and 1910 were devoted largely to a reorganisation of the internal 

 affairs of this state with a view of bringing its governmental system into line with the Feder- 

 ated States of Malaya. With the transfer of the suzerainty under the Anglo-Siamese Treaty 

 of 1909, Mr. VV. G. Maxwell, of the Federated Malay States Civil Service, as British Adviser, 

 succeeded Mr. G. C. Hart, the Adviser appointed by the Siamese government. In that year 

 the state council held 25 meetings and passed 13 enactments or decisions, by some of which 

 forced labour was abolished and new methods introduced for raising revenue for state pur- 

 poses. The administration is entrusted to departments, and in each district there are now 

 district officers who interest themselves in the work of the land office, mines office, hospital, 

 gaol, public works, etc. A sanitary board was brought into existence in the capital (Alor 

 Star), and is doing good work. In 1910 the State Council held 75 meetings; 16 enactments 

 were passed. They enable the central authorities to exercise closer control of finance and a 

 more thorough management of business. Special mention should be made of the legis- 

 lation for the speedy abolition of "debt bondage," a peculiar feature of ancient Malay life. 



A survey department has been constituted. Road making, bridge building and canal 

 extension are features of the new regime, and a tracing has been made of an extension of the 

 railway from Province Wellesley into Kedah as far as Alor Star. New post offices have been 

 established throughout the country, the money order system introduced and telegraph and 

 telephone systems extended. The telephones are being connected with Penang. 



Education is making rapid progress. Before 1905 there was only one school in Kedah. 

 In 1910 there were 20 Malay schools, with 37 masters and 1,675 pupils enrolled. There is 

 a growing demand for schools and the extension of accommodation in existing schools. An 

 English school at Alor Star had 97 boys on the register in 1910 and an average daily attend- 

 ance of 80, including two of the Sultan's sons. There is a girls' school at Alor Star. 



There are 37 police stations, with a total police force of 419 men, of whom 2 are Europeans 

 an d 335 Malays. A Courts Enactment, passed in 1910, constitutes the various courts of 

 the state and defines their powers. The Court of Appeal, which had formerly consisted of 

 the State Council without the President and Adviser, but with the Assistant Adviser and 

 two experts in Mahommedan law in their place, now consists of officers specially selected to 

 be judges. At any appeal at least five judges must be present. Members of the State 

 Council are not eligible to be the judges, but if any case appears to be of exceptional difficulty 

 or importance, the Court may ask the State Council to sit with it. The enactment provides 

 for a judge of the High Court sitting with two Assessors at the hearing of any murder case 

 or criminal case of unusual importance or difficulty. It also gives the High Court full powers 

 of revising on its own initiative the decisions of the District Courts. The powers of the 

 Adviser in sitting in civil and criminal cases in which British subjects are defendants are 

 the subject of special sections of the enactment. The efficiency of the High Court has been 

 much improved, and the arrangements for the Chief Justice to go on circuit saves much 

 trouble, expense and delay. Most of the work is done by the nine District Courts. 



Population (1911) 245,986 (males 137,139, females 108,847); of these 195,411 were Malays, 

 33,746 Chinese, 8,135 Siamese, 6,074 Indians, and 136 Europeans (128 British). There were 

 198,720 Mahommedans in the state, 5,002 Hindus and 642 Christians. A smallpox epidemic 

 in 1910 caused 36 deaths, and over 33,000 persons were vaccinated. The Kedah Malays 

 believe in the efficacy of vaccination. 



Revenue (1910) $1,449,116; expenditure $1,285,342. Seventy-three per cent of the 

 revenue is derived from the opium monopoly, land revenue, and export and import duties. 

 The revenue from land in 1910 was $398,034 against $242,873 in 1909. 



In 1910 693 tons of tin were exported as against 744 tons in 1909; and 12 tons of wolfram. 



Agriculture is the mainstay of Kedah at present. An epidemic of rinderpest having 

 swept the country in 1908-9 carrying off 9,000 head of cattle, valued at $300,000, left many 

 villages in the north without animals enough to plough the rice-fields. The State Council 

 in 1910 came to the rescue of the cultivators, lending money against the security of title 

 deeds at 6 per cent interest (against the 24 per cent formerly charged by native money lend- 

 ers), the principal being repaid in instalments. An excellent harvest induced many of the 

 cultivators to repay half the principal in the first year. The state veterinary surgeon reports 

 that Koch's anti-rinderpest serum is less efficacious in Kedah than it appears to be in India, 

 which is possibly due to the Indian cattle possessing a modified immunity through their 

 ancestors having had rinderpest or to the deterioration of the serum in the Kedah climate. 

 During 1910 16,7^.1 head of cattle were licenced either as imported or born in the country 

 as against 11,125 in 1909; 15,808 sales were registered as against 6,599 ' n 1909. Exports 

 (1910) of rice were 614,080 gantangs; of padi 13,653,936 gantangs (i gallon = l gantang). 



Canals have been extended for irrigation in the rice-growing districts. 



There has been great activity in rubber planting, and out of 40 agricultural estates regis- 

 tered at the end of 1910 only one had no rubber trees. The total acreage was 94,005, of which 

 20,034 acres were under rubber, 3,679 coco-nuts and 10,005 tapioca. 



The passing of a Timber and Forest Produce Passes Enactment was the first step towards 

 protecting the forests of the state. No forest reserves have yet been created. 



The rainfall in 1910 ranged from 89.92 in. in South Kedah to 135.38 in. in North Kedah. 



Perils. The chief work of the British Adviser (Mr. Meadows Frost) in 1909 and 1910 was 



