38 ADDRES BY MR. KEUYT ON 



Sultan, surrounded by a capable staff o£ Europeans, has derived 

 every advantage from its position in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of Singapore. Chinese capital and labour have been attracted 

 there and have brought it to a state of great prosperity and wealth, 

 especially through the cultivation of pepper, gambler and tapioca, 

 as minerals are not found there. The Sultan stays a good deal in 

 Europe, and returned a short time ago from England. 



I can add here that the Chinese, who have done everything un- 

 der British guidance, and still do so, are the pioneers of progress 

 in the Malay Peninsula and in the Settlements. Sir Chaeles Dil- 

 KE says of this in his "Problems of Greater Britain": — "Our great 

 "' success in the Malay Peninsula has lain in enlisting upon our 

 " side the warm and ever enthusiastic co-operation of the Chinese. 

 " In no part of the world can v^^e point to more obvious results 

 " from good government than throughout the Malay Peninsula, 

 " where England, in fact, presides over a federation of Malay 

 " Princes, to whom we have taught the art of success, but to whose 

 " former subjects we have added a vast population of Chinese. 

 "The future of Malaya lies in the development of great natural, 

 " mineral and agricultural wealth by patient Chinese labour." 



This is the case too in Kedah and in the more northern Siamese 

 States, in some of which Penang Chinese have been able to get 

 themselves appointed Eajas. Chinese, too, are members of the 

 Legislative Council, of the Municipal Councils, and of the State 

 Councils. There can be no doubt as to the future of the Malay 

 Peninsula, outside the towns of Penang and Singapore, under an 

 enlightened and liberal-minded Government. 



"We have seen that in the Native States, and also in Kedah, the 

 tin industry has been the principal one of the country up till now. 

 However, considerable experiments have been made in the cultiva- 

 tion of rice, pepper, sugar, tapioca, gambler, tobacco, coffee, tea, 

 cocoa, etc., but by far not on a sufficiently large scale to be regard- 

 ed as a permanent form of cultivation. This can be said of the 

 islands of Singapore and Penang, and of the districts in their im- 

 mediate neighbourhood — the Province, Malacca, Johor and Kedah 

 — as regards sugar, pepper, gambler and tapioca; in Perak too the 

 cultivation of sugar may be regarded as permanent, but the Straits 

 planters have much to learn from Java as regards cheap and in- 

 creased production. Cheap transport, local markets, and a low rate 

 of exchange are factors in their favour. Arabian and especially 

 Liberian coffee has been started in all the States. Perak tea has 



