MALAY LAND TENURE. 165 



" sive to offer any important obstruction to the satisfactory 

 ' e working of the new system as a whole. The position of the 

 (( lands referred to, their limited area, and the facility of ob- 

 " taining correct information respecting their produce and 

 " value, would obviate all risk of a recurrence, in relation to 

 " them, of the miscalculations or deceptions which have ren- 

 " dered the existing composition with the tithe-owners so bad 

 " a bargain to the State. If, however, these impropriators 

 " should be unwilling to assent to an equitable arrangement 

 " with the State for the surrender of their rights — the terms of 

 " which might be settled by arbitrators — and if Government 

 ce should be of opinion that the retention, in hands of a few 

 " individuals of privileges, the reservation of which, even to 

 l< the ruling authority, has been declared to be incompatible 

 " with the good of the country, would militate against the 

 " beneficial working of the new plan — there would be neither 

 " injustice nor difficulty in providing by law for the transfer 

 " of those privileges to the State, with a view to the perfec- 

 " tion of the commutation arrangement, compensation, on an 

 " equitable principle being of course awarded to the parties 

 " whose interests may be affected by the transfer. A measure 

 " of this sort would, I have no doubt, be acceptable to the 

 " tithe-payers, who will soon find themselves in a more un- 

 " favourable position than their neighbours who have assented 

 " to the commutation, and, indeed, there is little reason to 

 " suppose that the tithe-owners would object to a fair adjust- 

 "ment. Perhaps it would be advisable that Government 

 " should direct the local authorities to negotiate with the 

 " impropriators in question for the surrender of their rights 

 " to tithes, and to report the result for the approval or further 

 Ci instructions of the Supreme Government.''' 



A good deal has been said lately about " British Malaya/' 

 under which term those who favour a policy of extending our 

 territory on the Malay Peninsula, by annexation, would in- 

 clude the Straits Settlements, and at least those Native States 

 which are now under our direct protectorate (Perak, Salangor 

 and Sungei Ujong). A word, therefore, may here be added as 

 to the lessons to be learnt from the history of the land-laws 



