Vol. VIII. No. 87. 
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE JOURNAL. 
[March, 1902.] 71 
LECTURES AND PAPERS. 
“ THE ECONOMIC RESOURCES OF THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS 
AND THE MALAY PENINSULA.” 
(By II. N. Ridley, Esq.J 
Sir Cecil Clementi Smith presided, on the i6Lh December, at an illustrated lecture 
given at the Imperial Institute by Mr. H. N. Ridley, Director of the Botanic Gardens, 
Singapore, entitled “ The Economic Resources of the Straits Settlements and the Malay 
Peninsula.” 
Probably, said Mr. Ridley, no portion of the Empire was so little known to the English 
public as the Straits Settlements and the attached Federated States. It was, however, one 
of the most thriving of the smaller colonies, and possessed, in Singapore, the most important 
port in Eastern Asia. 
Its heavy rainfall, of over ioo inches annually, was evenly distributed throughout the year ; 
so, unlike other tropical regions, there were no seasons. The trees, which were evergreen and 
for the most part bore flowers and fruits irregularly all the year round, grew with great 
rapidity ; consequently it had been found more suitable to cultivate plants whose produce 
was derived from the vegetative portion rather than from the fructificative. The climate, 
though hot, was neither unpleasant nor unhealthy, and cases of sun-stroke were almost 
unknown. Coolie labour on the estates was supplied by Javanese and Tamils ; the Chinese, 
though very industrious and invaluable when working for themselves in agriculture, 
commerce, or mining, had not been found amenable to European methods of discipline. 
The greater part of the Malay Peninsula, which consisted of hills rising to about 7,000 feet 
altitude with more or less Hat country running along the coast-line, was, or until recently had 
been, covered with dense forests ; and the characteristic view from almost any of the hill-tops 
at the present day was one of endless trees, of which there were several thousand kinds, 
although to the casual observer they seemed very similar. These produced excellent timber, 
both hard and soft woods suitable for all kinds of purposes, while some of them, ebony and 
other ornamental woods, were suitable for cabinet work. 
Among the trees of special interest Mr. Ridley mentioned the camphor, not the Japanese 
camphor tree from which the camphor of commerce was now obtained, but a much larger 
one, belonging to a different natural order, and from which camphor had originally been 
obtained some hundred of years before the discovery of the Japanese tree. This Malay 
camphor was obtained from the hollows of the trees, but it was very scarce and far too 
expensive to come into the London market. It was sought by the Malays with quaint 
ceremonies, and generally used in magic and religious ceremonials by. both the Malays and the 
Chinese. 
Wood-oil was obtained from certain of the large trees by cutting a hole in the trunk 
about a foot across and six inches deep and lighting a fire therein. This caused the oil to 
flow out, which was caught in tins and used as varnish. Owing, however, to the death of the 
trees the supply of the oil had become so scanty that it seemed nearly to have disappeared from 
commerce. The sweet-scented incense gum, benzoin, was also obtained from one of the 
Malay forest trees, and formed the chief element in the incense used in churches. 
The most important of the Malay jungle products, however, was gutta percha, without 
which the submarine telegraph cables could never have developed to their present importance. 
This tree, the Isonandra gutta , was confined to the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and 
the islands of the immediate neighbourhood. It was discovered in 1843, first being noticed 
on account of its property of becoming soft and easily moulded in hot water. Its high 
insulating powers, and resistance to sea-water, were soon noticed, and it very shortly was in 
great demand for electrical work, surgical instruments, and many other purposes. The tree 
was of very slow growth, but eventually attained great size. The gutta percha was obtained 
by felling the trees and cutting rings through the bark all up the trunks, when it exuded in 
the form of white milk, which was collected in leaves and set into blocks of different 
forms. 
So great indeed had been the demand that every accessible tree of any size had been 
felled, not only by the Malays, but by the wild tribes who rambled all over the forests, and 
consequently in large areas no tree large enough to produce seed remained, and the plant was 
on the verge of extinction. The trees produced seed very seldom, and although Mr. Ridley 
had offered large prices for some none had been forthcoming. The Government of the Straits 
Settlements had consequently stepped in and taken measures for the protection of the remain- 
ing trees. The amount of gutta percha produced by felling and cutting was very small in 
proportion to the age and size of the trees ; one upwards of a hundred years old would 
produce but 2 or 3 lb. 
However, a Frenchman in Singapore had, about eight or nine years ago, discovered that, by 
drying the leaves and twigs of the tree, and grinding them to powder and then mixing the 
powder with water, the gutta percha floated to the top so that it could be skimmed off 7 and 
pressed into blocks. He had started a factory in Singapore, which had, at his death, passed 
into other hands and had been eventually transferred to France, whither the leaves and twigs 
were now sent to be worked. By this simple method, and by growing the plant in the form 
of bushes rather than trees, it was hoped that in time the Malay Peninsula would be able 
to furnish the world with a good and regular supply of this valuable product. 
The rattan was another important jungle product. It was the stem of a thorny, 
climbing palm which scrambled about and over trees by the aid of sharp hooks with which 
the leaves and flower-stems were provided. There were a great many different kinds of 
rattans, and Mr. Ridley gave an interesting account of the method of cutting them down 
and preparing them for shipment to Europe and the United States, for manufacture into 
chairs, baskets, etc. As the supply was hardly equal to the demand, the plant was now 
beginning to be cultivated, and a reasonable return might be expected with but very little 
expense. 
Coffee was cultivated over a large area of the Peninsula, and the large seeded Liberian 
had been found to grow there very well indeed, and better than the more valuable Arabian 
variety ; but, unfortunately of late, the price of Coffee had been so low that most of the planters 
were adding the valuable Para rubber tree to their estates. This tree, a native of the Amazon 
district in Brazil, had been introduced from Ceylon in 1SS4 to the Botanic Gardens in 
Singapore, where it has been found to grow with remarkable ease and rapidity, and to produce 
a very good yield of first-class rubber. 
While coffee had been in the ascendant, however, the planters had not troubled them- 
selves about rubber, but now, owing to the increased demand for the latter commodity, due in 
great measure to the rapid evolution of the bicycle and the motor-car, the attention of 
planters all over the world had been directed to this product. A large number of plants 
produced rubber, of one kind or another, but that from the Para tree was by far the best. 
Attempts had been made to cultivate this tree in many parts of the world, but with only 
partial success. In the constantly damp and warm climate of the Straits Settlements, 
however, it has grown with astonishing rapidity. A tree raised from seed attained its full 
height of 60 feet in five or six years, after which it continued to increase in girth to about 
4 feet, in twelve years. The expense of cultivation was very small, no manure being required, 
and the tree could he tapped when six years old, when it would produce about 2 lb. of rubber 
a year. Older trees produce more. The rubber was obtained by cutting first a narrow 
channel through the bark vertically, with slanting ones leading into it all the way down the 
trunk of the tree, at the foot of which a little box was placed with the lid so arranged that, 
although the rubber-milk could get in, dirt and rain-water could not. The trees were tapped 
in the afternoon and the rubber collected from the boxes on the following morning. Every 
day for a week, at 4 o’clock, a thin slice was cut off the edges of each slit, and more milk ran 
out until the tree was finally exhausted. The wounds were then left to heal, which usually 
took about one or two months. The trees could be tapped once or twice a year according to 
size, and the rubber thus obtained was worth from 4s. to 4s. 6d. a pound. Even at half that 
price the cultivation would be the most remunerative of any in the East, and thousands of trees 
were being planted all over the Peninsula as fast as the seeds could be procured. 
The india rubber, funs elastic a, so common in pots in English houses, was being 
cultivated by many planters. Its appearance, however, was very different when grown into 
a large tree with great roots. It was a native of the Peninsula, and throve well there, but its 
rubber was of less value than that of the Para. 
Another paying crop, which was cultivated wherever the soil was sufficiently sandy for 
its growth — generally along the sea-coast, was the cocoanut ; and large areas were devoted to 
its cultivation in Singapore, Penang, Province Wellesley, and elsewhere. In. some places 
the trees were severely attacked by two kinds of large beetles, which burrowed through the 
shoots and soon caused the death of the tree. The destruction of trees, at one time, had 
been enormous, until a law had been passed compelling owners to destroy badly affected 
trees, and also the rubbish heaps in which one of the beetles bred. This law had had very 
beneficial results. The nuts were sold either for food, for which there was always a large 
demand, or as copra — made by splitting the nuts in two and drying the halves, which were 
used for the manufacture of oil and stearine. 
The betelnut palm was also cultivated to a considerable extent, and although betel 
chewing had largely gone out of fashion in the Peninsula, there was still a considerable demand 
for the nut in India. It was also used to a small extent in European medicine. 
The most useful of the palms, however, was the sago, which was planted in a good 
many places in the Peninsula. Three sago plants would give more nourishment than one 
acre of wheat, and one acre of sago as much as 163 acres of wheat ; in fact sago gave a larger 
amount of food per acre than any plant in the world. The plant was grown from cuttings, 
or seeds, in wet swampy places, forming dense thickets, with its huge leaves 20 feet in length. 
The main stem crept along the ground and threw up great branch stems, about 40 feet high 
and I-J feet through, which eventually produced at the top great panicles of flowers and 
fruits. The plant took twelve years to produce its first stem, after which its growth was 
more rapid, and fresh stems appeared regularly, so that at most times of the year, in a big 
plantation, there were generally stems ready to cut. These were felled when full size, but 
before the appearance of the flowers, and cut into pieces about two feet long. They were 
then split in half, the bark and woody exterior removed, and the sago manufactured from the 
inside white pith, first into sago flour and then into granulated or pearl sago. A full size 
stem would produce as much as 600 or 700 lb. of flour, and about 30,000 tons were 
exported annually from Singapore. 
The tapioca plant was a tall, half-shrubby plant, resembling somewhat the castor oil. It 
was a native of South America, but had long been cultivated all over the East, and was very 
largely propagated from cuttings of the stem, which were just stuck into the ground, and, in a 
year or eighteen months, attained a height of about six feet, forming huge thick roots under 
ground. When these roots were of full size, the plant was cut down and the roots dug up 
and taken to the factory to be manufactured into flake or pearl tapioca. This plant was 
always cultivated by the Chinese. Only three crops were taken off the land. Its cultivation, 
often a very paying one, was said to injure the soil, and so was not one upon which the Govern- 
ment looked with much favour. Tapioca and sago were, of course, used for many other 
purposes than as food. 
Gambier, cultivated entirely by the Chinese, was a climbing shrub. It was always grown 
in the open field in the form of bushes, which were severely cut every year. The branches 
and leaves were then taken to the boiling sheds, and, after going through various processes, the 
gambier was shipped to Europe for the use of tanners. Another, a totally different plant, 
the mangrove, produced a tan-stuff which was now finding its way into our markets. The 
mangrove was a tree growing on the edges of tidal rivers and sea-shores, wherever they were 
muddy. This particular tan-stuff was also used in combination with indigo as a dye-stuff 
by the Chinese. Indigo, however, was not a large or important cultivation in the Peninsula. 
It was only grown to meet a small local demand. 
Pepper was another plant generally cultivated by the Chinese, usually by gambier planters. 
It was raised from cuttings and climbed up large stems or posts. Formerly it had been a 
highly priced article, but of late years had fallen off very much and its cultivation in the 
Straits had diminished. Now, however, the price had risen and the Chinese and Malays 
had recommenced planting. 
The Straits Settlements were famous both for nutmegs and cloves, which were also 
chiefly cultivated by the Chinese. The nutmeg, as grown in the Straits, was quite a small 
bushy tree with deep green leaves and fruit resembling a small peach. When ripe the husk 
split partly open, exposing a black seed, covered with a beautiful scarlet net-work. This net- 
work, the mace, was taken off when the fruit was ripe and dried in the sun. It was often 
more valuable than the nutmeg itself. 
This cultivation was an old established one. In 1848 Singapore alone supplied over 
four million nutmegs, but in i860 a disease was developed which entirely destroyed the 
cultivation in that place, and nearly did so in Penang. European planters had been ruined, 
and their estates and houses sold for very small sums. The Chinese then started the cultiva- 
tion in Penang, and had kept it up to the present time. 
Mr. Ridley, not long ago, had his attention called to what he considered the same 
disease, and on investigation he found it due to a minute beetle which burrowed into the 
bark of the tree, beneath the ground, so that its presence was not noticed until, by its 
burrows, the cambuim, or living layer of the bark of the tree, was destroyed and the tree 
appeared to die suddenly. Had this discovery been made in i860 the cultivation could easily 
have been saved. This was, he said, an excellent example of the importance of the 
entomologist to the planter. 
The most important native cultivation in Singapore was the pineapple, The plants 
grew from cuttings, placed close together, and completely covered the ground. The fruit, 
when ripe, was cut and brought into the town in cartloads to the preserving factories. The 
industry of tinning pines was a large and very remunerative one. By far the largest number 
of the best preserved pines in the markets of the world came from Singapore, where the price 
of a pine varied from Jd, to a penny a piece. The plants produced fruit nearly all the year 
round, were very easy to cultivate, grew in the worst of soils, and its only enemies were 
porcupines and wild pigs. 
From the leaves of the pine a very beautiful fibre was extracted. The leaves of the 
ordinary varieties, however, were too short to be used successfully for this purpose, the most 
suitable leaves being from plants in waste ground that had grown up with grass and scrub 
among them. 
The Malay Peninsula was remarkable, according to the mineralogist, for having given 
samples of almost all the known elements, but these were so sparsely and generally scattered 
over the whole region that the expense of collecting most of them would hardly repay the 
cost. Tellurium, wolfram, and titanium were comparatively common. Cold, silver, lead, zinc, 
copper, antimony, and other metals all occurred in small quantities widely scattered over the 
country ; but little mining had been done except for gold and tin. In former years the 
Peninsula produced a good quantity of gold; the yield, however, at the present time was but 
small. 
Tin was the mineral of the country, being found there in great abundance; in fact, more 
than one-half the world’s supply was derived from the Peninsula. The greater part of the 
