THE HISTORY ANJ) PRESENT CONDITION OF MALACCA. 735 
Assuming the above quoted statement to be correct and following 
those given by Newbold in his work, it may be interesting to see at 
a glance the various fortunes of the Malacca Exchequer ; 
Year. 
Revenue. 
Expenditim 
?. Overplus. 
Refill/. 
Nation. 
1779^142,000 
% 99,000 
% 43,000 % 
55 
Dutch. 
18.07 
182,000 
173,000 
9,000 
33 
English, 
1818 
165,000 
158,000 
7,000 
33 
Do. 
1821 
154,000 
unknown 
33 
33 
Dutch. 
1831 
48,000 
164,000 
3 ? 
135,000 
English. 
1847 
73,000 
141,000 
35 
68,000 
Do. 
The present revenue of Malacca consists almost wholly of what 
are called Excise Farms, which are nothing more than the monopo¬ 
ly of the retail of Opium, Arrack and Sere.e leaf, the two first 
turning the vices and the latter the luxury or rather necessity of the 
people to the account of the treasury. The lands which ought to 
yield something to the exchequer, have for the last 20 years, prov¬ 
ed a dead loss on our hands, owing to causes which will be explain¬ 
ed hereafter, but of late the duty derived from the collection of Tin, 
which may be called a produce of the land, has tended to place the 
balance of the land revenue account on the right side. 
The following is an abstract of the revenue for the past year s 
Excise Farms,.. ^ 52,950 
Land Revenue,. 2,060 
Tin Duty,. 10,802 
Court Fees,. 5,431 
Sundries,, .. 1,280 
73,129 
To the above sum must be added the amount collected during the 
year on account of assessment on houses, lands, horses, carriages, 
&c., for though nominally this fund is kept distinct, under the 
tittle of a Municipal Fund, vet to all intents and purposes it must 
he considered as a portion of the government revenue, for it is le¬ 
vied by authority of government and is disbursed by government 
officers. The amount for the past year was Drs. 15,820 which 
added to the other items of revenue gives a grand total of 88,949 
Dollars. 
The amount given in the preceding statement as that of the ex? 
f 3 
