January i, 1892.] 
THE TROPICAL AQRIOULTURI8T, 
467 
opinion, misIeadinK. Given nbnndaut deposits of a 
valuable metal (two-thirds of tlo tin produced in tbo 
worid is exported from the Straits Settleimnts), and 
given a Qovernoient, even a bad Government, strong 
enough to maintain order and to make the trader 
feel sure that be can keep what he gains, there is 
certain to be an ample revenue. There is no reason 
why a corrupt and selfish Government should not have 
sufficient financial sagacity to discover all reasonable 
sources of income, and at the same time avoid impo- 
sing on tbo people a burden of taxation which would 
deter imm'gration and diminish industry. Again, 
causes which do not arise within the State itself may 
unexpectedly, and not as the result of any consoicus 
effort on the part of anyone cunueoted with the Govern- 
ment, produce a great aocesaion of revenue. Fur 
instance, the proximity of Johor to Siugaporo gives 
tire former State a larger Obincae population, and 
consequently a larger exoise revenue, than it would 
otherwise have. I do not tbereforo wish to say merely, 
"Just look at our balanco-shcet, and see what we have 
done." It is by the application of the revenue for, 
as wo believe, the beat interests of the people that we 
and our work must be judged. The revenue of those 
States which have British Uesideuta has fceeu ener- 
getically employed, by their advice, in publio works of 
all kinds, a civil list heiug Drat set apart for the 
maiiiteuauoe of the Itajas, chiefs, and headmen of 
the Stats, and dueprovision being made for the payment 
of the police force and of the establishment of tbo 
various publio offices. 
rK8AK. — The State (7,949 square miles) is divided 
into six districts — Larut, Kuala Kangsa, KUta, Balaug 
Padang, Lower I’erak, and Krian, Taiping, in the 
Larut district, is the piinoipal town, and it is here 
that the Kosident lives. The Sultan (Raja Idris bin 
Iskaudar, c. m. a.) prefers to dwell, like bis predecessors 
tfom time iramemuiial, on the hanks of the beautiful 
river Perak, and a palace is being built for him a 
Kuala Kangsa. A lino of railway, eleven and a half 
miles long, connects the mining distriota in Laiut with 
the sea, and in Lower Perak work has oommenced on 
section of the Kinta Valley Railway, a line 
which IS designed to run from Xclnk Anson to Ipob, a 
distance of fifty miles. The open line in X,srut is worked 
at a profit to Government of about 6 pet cent. 
Perak possesses no less tbau 1.38 miles of metalled 
cart-road, and each year tbo work of road-making is 
ooutinned with the object of giving complete oommu- 
nioatioii to all parts of the State. Besides first-class 
iroads, there are unmctiilled cart-roads and bridle-paths 
n many distriota. The head jndioial authority in the 
State is the Chief Magistrate (nn Euglish barrister). 
Ihe publio buildings in the State include Government 
offices, bouses for officials, excellent barracks for tbo 
Sikh police, polioc-stutious iu all districts, a prison with 
oellnlar wards on the modern system, lighthouses, a 
museum (ohieily geological and ethnographical, 
founded by Sir Hngh Low, and well arranged and 
managed bj| Mr. L. Wray, jiinr.), ecbools, Ac. The town 
of Taiping is provided with excellent drinking water 
brought in pipes from the nearest range of hills. 
There is telegraphic oommunioatiou tbrongbout the 
length and breadth of the land, snd the oompletieu 
this year of the principle line to a point whore it joins 
the Selangor boundary onubles messages to be sent now 
from Penang to Malacca by the Native Stales lines. 
The population, according to a census taken in 1891, is 
213,000 including the unexpected number of 100,0( 0 
Malays ; the revenue iu 189(J was $2,501,118. On Jan. 
1, 1891, the Slate had a surplus hslauce of more than 
182,000, (X)0. of which atont SI, 500,000 was invested in 
Indian or other secutities. There are thus funds iu 
hand to mcot tho cost of tho constrnction of projected 
railways. 
In Selangor progress has boon equally remarkable. 
Tho Slate (3,000 square miles) ia divided into six 
distriots— Klang, Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Laagat, Ulu 
Langat, Kuala S-laugor, and Ulu Selangor. The town 
ot Kuala Lumpur is piotiiroequely situated in the upper 
portion of tho valley of tho Klang River. From it 
good oart-roails radiate to the Periik frontier on tho 
north-cast, fifty-six miles distant, and to tho Suugei 
Ujong frontier on Ihe south-east, thirty miles distant. 
A line of railway twenty-four miles long conneets the 
capital with the port of Pangkalan Bata, on the Klang 
River, the river being ctossed by an iron railway-bridge 
473 feet long. This short State line is, I suppose 
one of the most paying railway proportiea in the 
world. Having an up and down traffic, that is to say, 
carrying all the rice and oilier foodstuffs up to the 
mines and bringing all the tin down, it pays about lUJ 
por cent., though the tariff of charges is not a high 
one. This lino is now being extended thirty-eight 
miles in a north-easterly direction, tapping a district 
known to bo rich iu tin. I hope that by the end ot 
this year twenty-three miles of this extention ('whioh 
was projected by my predecessor, Mr. Swettonham, 
with the eanction of Sir C. 0. Smith) will be open 
and that 1892 will see the whole oompleted. 
Further railway extension is in contemplalioii j but 
whether this will take tbo form of a further advanoe 
in the direotion of the Pahang border, or whether we 
shall improve onr sea eommuuication by carrying oar 
railway coastward to a point on the Klang Straits 
whore there is a deep sea harbour, I cannot at present 
eay. 
The revenue in 1890 was Sli888,928, and on Jannary 
1st, 1891, the Government bad a surplus balanoe of 
!t;720,000. This is being applied in tbo construotion 
of railways ; and in this oonncction it may be desir- 
able to state that the railways in Perak and Selangor 
are exclusive the property ot tho State, and have been 
and are being oonstruoled out of revenue, no recourse 
having yet been had to loans. 
Then as to Resouroes in Mining and Planting, 
tho following are representative extracts : — 
What field is there, then, for the successful employ- 
ment of Enropean capitsl in the Peninsula V I will 
deal first with mining, and then with aarionlture. 
There were exported from tho Protected Native States 
in 1889, 413,886 jiikuls, or 26.392 tuns, of tin, and in 
1890, 450,777 pikuls, equal to 28,173 tons of tin. At 
867. a ton, which is a fair average price, the metal 
exported in 1889 was worth 2,269,7127.; while the 
estimafod value of that of 1890 was 2,422,8787, With 
insigiiiflcaut exceptions the whole of this money less 
the royalty or export duty obarged by Government, 
has gone into the pockets of the Chinese. Js it then 
impossible for Enropeans to git a footing in the 
mining diatrioto end work their claims at a profit P 
Not at all, I think, if mining advtntarers are content 
to being in a modest way ; but the events of the part 
few years jnstify the most extreme scepticism as to 
the possibility of tho snocess of an English oompany 
formed to work an untried concessiou. 
To summarise tho general purport of these remarks, 
the European mining adventurer, whether an individual 
or a company, should, to be successful— (a) Deal ditcol 
with the Government for mining land instead ol 
buying from a middle-man. (7i) Start with a small 
ospital, and consequently with a small labour force, 
which can bo superintended with moderate ease. As 
experince is gained the works, if euooessfnl, can bo 
exicuded, and the labour toroe increased, (c) Imi- 
tate the Chinese, and spend as little as pooaible on 
anything that is niA directly remunerative. Tbo re- 
Bonrees of the Peninsula in respect of gold are so 
vr-guely known that I am able to say littid about 
them. The precious metal may be found in sufficient 
quantities to pique curiosity, arouse cupidity, and iuoito 
speciilalioti. and yet the most diligent search may 
result in tlie discovery of nothing that will pay a 
dividend. Tbo existence of gold in the Batang Padang 
district in Persk has long been known. The Perak 
Adininistratiun Raport fur 1890 inontiona the discovery 
in that distiiot of “tin-stuff rich in ooarso gold;” 
and the Resident adds ; " This district has alwaya 
produced stream gold, but no attempt has been made 
to mako gold the principal object of mining, nor to 
staruh for it in the reef.” 
F'or every ton ol metal produced in a year at least 
four coolies must bo employed. One hundred coolies 
will work out 1$ aero of au ordinary tiu-fleld in a 
year. To produce yearly 250 tons (value at 867 
21,6CI07.)-and lees, I suppose, would not be satisfactory 
