194 



-XxTS- 



Surveyor will then trace off, with colours only, the present distribu- 

 tion of territory, using numbers, in lieu of Roman letters, for 

 references as above. 



As this Register and the map are to be be submitted to the 

 Hon'ble the Governor, the period of whose arrival is very uncer- 

 tain, the Dutch Translator and Land Surveyor are requested to 

 exercise such practicable expedition as may be compatible with a 

 clean elucidation of the points in question. 



Extract from a Minute hy Mr. Ftjllerton, Governor of the 

 Straits Settlements, dated the 24th of November, 1827. 



All the papers connected with Lands of Malacca being under 

 preparation for transmission to Bengal, I now record a minute to 

 accompany them, being an abstract of past transactions in that 

 department. 



The Lands of Malacca extend along the coast of the Malay 

 Peninsula 39 miles, their greatest breadth inland, without including 

 Naning, 28 miles, containing square miles 654-, or acres 4LS,560. Of 

 this, 500 square miles, or acres 320,000, are capable of wet rice 

 cultivation, and of which 500 acres are now supplied to be actually 

 cultivated. Of the dry lands, acres 10,000 may be supposed to be 

 planted with fruit trees, or in gardens, acres S8,560 waste and 

 covered with forest. 



The whole of the lands appeared to have been assigned over 

 to certain of the inhabitants nearly one hundred years ago. On first 

 enquiry and examination of the deeds held by the present pro- 

 prietors as they were called, descendants of the first grantees, the 

 Government were led to view them as absolute proprietors and 

 owners of the soil at full liberty to rent and derive the utmost 

 advantage from them. On a further enquiry, however, and the ex- 

 amination of the Dutch records, it was found that only the 

 Government right of levying from the resident inhabitants a tenth 

 of the produce had been granted to them, and Proclamations were 

 discovered interdicting, under heavy penalties, the demnnd of any 

 rent or tax beyond the tenth of the produce. The persons thus 

 investing with the G-overnment right, it appeared, took little pains 

 to encourage or extend the cultivation. Residing at Malacca and 

 never quitting the town, the right of levying the tax was sold 

 annually to certain Chinese inhabitants, who appear to have exer- 

 cised over the inhabitants the right of compulsory labour and a 



