S1AM. 



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the people and an important article of export. 

 The cultivation has been extended by the cutting 

 of irrigation canals through the upper part of 

 the Menam delta. Pepper and sesame are also 

 grown for export, and tobacco, coffee, hemp, and 

 cotton for domestic consumption. Salt and dried 

 fish are exported in considerable quantities. The 

 forestry products are important. Most of the 

 teak forests have been leased to Englishmen. The 

 ruby and sapphire mines in Chantabun are worked 

 by an English company. Concessions have been 

 granted for gold mining. Coal, iron, copper, man- 

 ganese, zinc, and antimony exist, but are not 

 regularly mined. The trade of the country is 

 carried on by Europeans, Chinese, and other for- 

 eigners. The total value of imports in 1897 was 

 2,484,807, and of exports 3,203,218. Included 

 in the imports are 874,376 of treasure, and in 

 the exports 116,520. The importation of cot- 

 ton goods was 237,208; of silks, 91,519; of 

 gunny bags, 75,692; of kerosene, 75,437; of 

 piece goods, 68,863; of sugar, 62,316; of opi- 

 um, 55,055; of cotton yarn, 46,016; of hard- 

 ware and cutlery, 39,933; of iron and steel 

 goods and machinery, 29,974; of other merchan- 

 dise, 829,418. The exportation of rice was 

 2,342,619; of teak, 284,012; of fishery prod- 

 ucts, 84,888; of various woods, 39,173; of 

 pepper, 22,693; of other articles, 313,313. 

 During 1897 there were 533 vessels, of 431,611 

 tons, entered and 521, of 463,244 tons, cleared at 

 the port of Bangkok. Over 73 per cent, of the 

 vessels entered and 77 per cent, of the vessels 

 cleared was British. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. There is 

 a railroad between Bangkok and Paknam, 14 

 miles, and of the railroad from Bangkok to 

 Korat 98 miles have been completed. Another 

 railroad has been sanctioned leading from the 

 capital to Ban Mai, on the Patriew river, and a 

 line running from Bangkok to the northeastern 

 extremity of the country has been surveyed. An 

 American company has constructed trolley roads 

 and an electric-lighting plant in Bangkok. 



The telegraph lines have a total length of 1,820 

 miles. The post office in 1896 forwarded 471,295 

 internal and 373,704 foreign letters, etc. 



Political Affairs. The reorganization of the 

 GoverniVient and nation on European models with 

 the help of foreign experts was the policy adopted 

 by King Chulalongkorn when the encroachments' 

 of the British from Burmah and of the French 

 from Annam threatened his kingdom with ex- 

 tinction. To prevent the undue growth of for- 

 eign political influence he has placed different de- 

 partments of administration under the control 

 of Europeans of different nationalities, preferably 

 from the small and neutral countries that have 

 no great interests or ambitions in the East. 

 After the annexation of the five border Shan 

 States to Burmah in 1884 he was for some time 

 distrustful of Great Britain. The endless dis- 

 putes with France since the rectification of the 

 frontier of Annam and Tonquin in 1893 turned 

 his animosity toward that power, and, as Great 

 Britain supported him in his territorial claims 

 against French pretensions, he has favored Brit- 

 ish commerce in Siam and employed British of- 

 ficials, and toward the French he has shown con- 

 stant hostility. The' assumption by France of 

 protection over the descendants of Annamite and 

 Laotian prisoners of war, colonies of whom are 

 scattered over the Menam valley, has been a con- 

 stant source of irritation. Although this class 

 of people was recognized as entitled to French 

 registration by the treaty of 1893, the Siamese 

 authorities have raised every possible difficulty to 



their claim, and have continued to subject them 

 to taxation and forced labor. By the Anglo- 

 French convention of 18!M> the integrity of the 

 Menam valley was secured by mutual pledges on 

 the part of Siam's powerful neighbors. By her 

 diplomatic support in securing the evacuation of 

 Siamese territory when French troops occupied 

 the capital in 1893 England obtained for herself 

 the reversionary right to the Siamese Malay 

 states, while France was restricted to the old 

 frontier of Annam. 



The Siamese Government is indebted to a dis- 

 tinguished Belgian jurist, Rolin Jacquemyns, it* 

 chief European adviser, for the reform of its law& 

 and law courts and the general reorganization 

 of the administration. The chief branches of the 

 administration are in the hands of princes of 

 the royal house. The Minister of Finance is a 

 brother of the King, Prince Mahitson. The Min- 

 ister of the Interior is Prince Damrong. The Min- 

 ister of Justice, Prince Kabi, a son of the King, 

 was educated in Oxford University and called to 

 the bar in London. A college has been founded 

 with an Englishman at its head for the education 

 of the sons of the nobility, so that they can 

 carry on the work of the administrative depart- 

 ments now intrusted to foreigners. The chief 

 criminal judge is a Siamese who read law in Eng- 

 land, and the attorney-general an advocate from 

 Ceylon. Many of the smaller courts have Bel- 

 gian advisers attached to them. A Dane has 

 reorganized the rural police, with countrymen 

 of his own for subordinates. The inspector of the 

 police in Bangkok and on the river and railroad 

 is an English official from Burmah, who has other 

 Englishmen under him, and has introduced Pa- 

 thans and Sikhs into the police force of 2,515 

 men. The foreign naval officers are all Danes. 

 Belgians are employed in many of the depart- 

 ments, but since 1896 the leading part in the 

 reform of the public services has been confided 

 to English officials lent by the authorities of 

 Burmah. An English surveyor general with ten 

 English assistants has undertaken a cadastral 

 survey of the country. The English conservator 

 of the forests has effected a thorough reform of 

 the forestry department. Effective control has 

 been instituted, and regulations similar to those 

 which have conserved the teak forests of Burmah 

 have been enforced, arresting the wholesale de- 

 struction that threatened the teak forests of 

 upper Siam. Leases are given for six years, and 

 only trees of a certain girth that have been 

 girdled for two years are allowed to be felled. 

 Under the new supervision the royalties collected 

 have increased fourfold, and a permanent source 

 of revenue has been restored to the Governmnt. 



The reform of the financial administration was 

 undertaken in 1896 by Mitchell Innes, of the Bur- 

 mese Government staff, who was succeeded early 

 in 1899 by Rivett Carnac, also from Burmah. In 

 the year preceding the appointment of a financial 

 adviser, the year ending March 31, 1896, the rev- 

 enue was 1,080,000, being 30,000 more than 

 the average for the last two previous years. For 

 the year ending March 31, 1898, this amount had 

 risen to 1,488,000, During the same time ex- 

 penditure increased from 762,000 in 1896 to 

 1,416,000 in 1898. For 1899 the revenue was 

 estimated at 1,740,000 and expenditure at 

 1,560,000. The increase in revenue is attributed 

 partly to the increased prosperity of the country 

 and partly to more punctual and efficient collec- 

 tion, partly also to the introduction of an im- 

 proved system of accounts and to improvement 

 in the administration of justice. The revenue 

 from the farming of gambling privileges increased 



