Whatever
Enterprise I Hear Of In The Interior Is Always In The Hands Of
Chinamen.
Klang looks as if an incubus oppressed it, and possibly the
Chinese are glad to be as far as possible from the seat of what
impresses me as a fussy Government.
At all events, Klang, from whatever
cause, has a blighted look; and deserted houses rapidly falling into
decay, overgrown roads, fields choked with weeds, and an absence of
life and traffic in the melancholy streets, have a depressing
influence. The people are harassed by a vexatious and uncertain system
of fees and taxes, calculated to engender ill feeling, and things
connected with the administration seem somewhat "mixed."
You will be almost tired of the Chinese, but the more I see of them the
more I am impressed by them. These States, as well as Malacca, would be
jungles with a few rice clearings among them were it not for their
energy and industry. Actually the leading man, not only at Kwala
Lumpor (now the seat of government), but in Selangor, is Ah Loi, a
Chinaman! During the disturbances before we "advised" the State, the
Malays burned the town of Kwala Lumpor three times, and he rebuilt it,
and, in spite of many disasters stuck to it at the earnest request of
the native government. He has made long roads for the purpose of
connecting the most important of the tin mines with the town. His
countrymen place implicit confidence in him, and Mr. Syers, the
admirable superintendent of police, tells me that by his influence and
exertions he has so successfully secured peace and order in his town
and district that during many years not a single serious crime has been
committed.
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