The Import And Export Trade Is Carried On Mainly
With Pinang, And At This Time One Of Several Small Steamers Leaves
Larut For That Port Daily.
A steamer calls at Teluk Anson once a
fortnight on her voyage from and to Singapore and Pinang, and another
calls at the same port every fourth day, as well as at the Dindings and
the Bernam river.
Trade is rapidly advancing. The exports of the State, which were valued
at 147,993 pounds in 1876, amounted to 513,317 pounds in 1881; and the
imports which amounted to 166,275 pounds in 1876, had reached 488,706
pounds in 1881, the whole import and export trade of that year
amounting to 1,002,023 pounds. The free population of Perak is now
estimated at
Malays 56,000
Chinese 40,000
Other Asiatics 850
Europeans 90
Aborigines 1,000
- - -
97,940
To which may be added a slave and bond debtor population of nearly four
thousand souls.
The revenue of Perak has risen from 42,683 pounds in 1876 to 138,572
pounds in 1881; and the expenditure, keeping pace with it, has risen
from 45,277 pounds in 1876 to 130,587 pounds in 1881. The chief sources
of the Perak revenue are customs duties, opium and other farms and
licenses, and land revenue; and the chief items of expenditure are for
civil and police establishments, roads and bridges, and allowances and
pensions to chiefs. It is worthy of remark that the military
establishment - for so the magnificent Sikh armed police force may be
called - costs more than the civil establishment. It may also be
remarked that the revenue of Perak, thanks to the financial sagacity
and wise discrimination of the Resident, is collected with little
difficulty, and without inflicting any real vexations or hardships on
the taxpayers.
Public works, such as the construction of good cart roads and bridges,
the making of canals, the clearing rivers from impediments to
navigation, the enlargement of experimental gardens, the introduction
and breeding of sheep, cattle, and improved breeds of poultry,
surveying wild land, and rebuilding and draining mining towns, are
being carried on energetically. It has been found, after long and
carefully-conducted experiments, that the lower mountains of Perak are
admirably suited for the growth of tea, cinchona, and Arabian coffee,
while Liberian coffee grows equally well on the lower lands. Coffee
appears to be so nearly "played out" in Ceylon, that many
coffee-planters have been "prospecting" in Perak; and now that the
Government of India has consented to the importation of Indian coolie
labor into the State, under certain restrictions, as an experimental
measure, a future of coffee may be predicted with tolerable certainty.
One of the causes for satisfaction in connection with this State is
that the Malays themselves are undoubtedly contented with British rule,
and are prospering under it. Crime of any kind in the Malay districts
is very rare. The "village system" works well, and the courts of law
conduct their business with an efficiency and economy which compare
favorably with the transactions of our colonial courts; English law is
being gradually introduced and gives general satisfaction, and the
native Rajahs are being trained to administer even-handed justice
according to its provisions, and at the same time without trenching
upon Malay religion and custom.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 158 of 229
Words from 82582 to 83137
of 120530
