ARCADIA IN 1932

Franklin Times, Volume XXII, Issue 58, 20 May 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

ARCADIA IN 1932

NO LABOUR OR HOUSING PROBLEM. Cynics who declare that there is no Arcadia have evidently not heard of Trengganu, the Unfederated State on the eastern coast o 3 the Malay Peninsula, where the Sultan's adviser is Mr G. L. Ham. There is no housing problem throughout the State, says Mr Ham in his annual report, and not likely to be one for many years. Permanent buildings, even in urban centres, are few, and the majority would not be reckoned as of permanent construction. So far as the ordinary peasant outside the towns is concerned, he lacks neither site nor building material. The material required can be obtained in most cases merely by the cost; of labour. Labour in the construction of houses is obtained by the man calling on his friends and neighbours and giving them a feast at the conclusion of the operations. There is no labour market in the European sense of the term, but the local Malays, who form ninety per cent of the population, work as and when they choose, except on the rare occasions when in any particular district the crops fail and relief work has to be instituted.

In one part of Trengganu, where a Government officer recently penetrated up river, the Malays were using flints to kindle fires. Salt was badly needed, and the rate of exchange was eight fowls for two pounds of salt._ For two boxes oi* matches the natives offered five eggs. Money in coin did not attract them, and the single native persuaded to visit the capital of the State of Trengganu hurriedly returned, saying that the high life there did not appeal to him. The capital of Trengganu, where Mr Ham resides, is the seat of the Government, of the Sultan's Palace, and the principal port of call. About five Europeans live there.