RICH MALAY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 7554, 18 April 1914, Page 6

RICH MALAY.

LAND OF GOLD AND SUNSHINE. With many stories of strange customs and commercial progress in the Federated Malay States, and contiguous islands, Mr. Cecil Rae, who has been following the occupation of a mining-en-gineer at, Tpoh. for five years, lias returned to Melbourne for a holiday of six .months.

The enervating climate in that country makes a sojourn in other lands necessary every five or six years, in order to avoid malarial fever and other diseases often contracted on tho islands. Mr. Rao is a member of the firm or Edgar and Rae, which controls many industrial and mining ventures, and his own success, combined with his observation, makes Jiim optimistic as to the future of the Malay States. MALAY DISLIKES MINING. "Tho Malay," Mr. Rae explains, "dislikes hard work connected with tin mining and such industries. He regards himself as a refined worker, and, while he will gladly give his services on the river or in the jungle, ho is content to leavo the collie work entirely to the Southern Indians and Chinese. There are thousands of these in the States, so that there is no difficulty in securing sueiont kbour for the fast-developing-industries.

" Unfortunately, most of the mining is in the hands of wealthy Chinese, and it is a common thing to see ono with 3000 coolies in his employ. One Chinese I know has 10,000. Their methods are primitivefor the most part, though machinery is now being introduced, but huge profits aro made, owing to tlio fact that the Chinese have the coolies entirely at their mercy. When work is in full swing on a mine, tho proprietor -introduces'tho truck system. He supplies the coolies with all their needs, advances them money at high rates of interest, and often at tho end l of the month they have no wages to draw. That does not seem to worry them much. They go on borrowing, and are never deterred by the high rates of interest charged by the proprietor. CHINESE HOLD MONOPOLY.

"The question is frequently asked: 'Why have the Chines© a monopoly of the mining in the Malay States ' "The answer is that the Chinese have tho coolios at their hands, and most of the mining propositions there can be worked only' by the coolies. They are unsuitable for dredging, because the tin deposits have a limestone bedrock, and the bottom is so uneven in consequence that it is impossible .to apply it to any system of labour-saving machinery such as dredging. NO PUBLIC DEBT. "It may interest Victorian politicians to know that there is no public debt in the'Malay States. The reason is that in the last five years there have been prosperous times. There has been an enormous boom in rubber, and for three, years the price of tin has been high. Perak and Selangor produce about twothirds of tho world's tin. The Government imposes a tax of from 10 to 14 per cent, on the gross amount of tin won, and 2J- per cent, on the gross amount of rubber produced, so that it has fine sources of revenue.

"Large sums are also derived from the land. AH the land is leased, so that it is a continual source of revenue. For rubber estates one dollar (2s 4d) an acre rental is charged for the first five years, and after that the rental is five dollars ((Is 8d) an acre. Rubber begins to yield profitable returns at theiend of about four years. In the.last five years wonderful, progress has been made in the production of rubber. When I went there hardly a rubber plantation could be seen. Nl.iv everybody is interested to somo extent in rubber. RUBBER OUTPUT GROWS. "It is generally believed that the Malay States will be the largest producer of Tubber in the world. Wellmauaged estates can land it in London for lOd a pound, while rubber from Brazil cost about 3s a pound. At present Brazil places about 40,000 tons a year on tho market, so that it is easy to calculate the benefits to the Malay States if Brazil ceased to be a ..competitor. "Talking of trees, a feature of Malayan vegetation is the Nipa palm, the leaves of which are used in thatching houses. The tree attains a height of loft., and grows as much as 2ft. in n night. Each palm bears extremely large leaves. SULTANS GIVE DREADNOUGHT. "Another evidence of prosperity was the gift of*a. Dreadnought to Great Britain by the four Sultans of the Federated States. The vessel is to be known as the Malaya, and will be completed at the end of this year. When the offer was first made and accepted it was much discussed, and it was freely stated that the gift bad been suggested to the Sul tans, but I do not belicvo that for a moment. It was really a spontaneous act on their part. The Malays warmly appreciate British rule, and they looked upon this as an excellent opportunity of proving it. Tho Dreadnought is to ceived tho Grand Cross of St. Michael cost £1,800,000. One of the Sultans ream! St. George, and honours were also conferred on the other three. RAILWAYS OUT OF REVENUE. "So much revenue has been obtained from the taxes on tin and rubber that tho wihole of the State's railways have been built out of revenue, and it is probably the finest narrow-gauge railway system in the world. The gauge is 3ft. 3in., and miniature Pullman cars are used throughout. In the last 10 .years about 600 miles of railway has boon constructed out of revenue. Good profits are shown, and at presont the railways are returning 7 per cent, on their capital value. Not only have the Federated States done this," but they have loaned £4,000,000 to Siam to continue,her railway system, and link up with that of the Malay States. iMr. J. M. Sinclair, formerly of Victoria-, is tbe constructing engineer on this work. "In addition to this we have a road system which probably could not bo equalled outside of Great Britain. Large sums are spent annually in order to keep the roads in good repair. My firm is interested in a motor-bus service at Ipoh, and just before I left wo received notice that we were to bo taxed at the rate of two dollars (4s Sd) a passenger a month. That means about £7 10s on each bus every month. But there is no doubt that the buses destroy the roads. RUNNING AMOK POPULAR. "The popular idea of the Malay Is that he is continually running amok. Many years ago that was so. The Malay ran amok, killed a number of people, and then committed suicide. Now he is caught before he completes his task and is hanged. That is not regarded with much favour, and in the five years I have spent among them I have known of only two cases of Malays running amok. By the way. that word is pronounced 'amoh'—tho final *jonsonaut being silent. "Latah is another form of hysteria, but is not dangerous. It usually arises from shock, and the affected person mimics everyone he or «he sees, Some

women are in. a constant Btate of la tali. If they see a person danco, they dance. If a finger is pointed at them they immediately point theirs at somebody olse, and the effect is often amusing. But latah rarely lends to serious consequonces. MONEY FOR REVOLUTION. One of the most influential Chinese in the States is Foo Choo Choon, a mining magnate, and he recently collected large sums of money for the Chines© revolution. His countrymen contributed j liberally. Many of them deprived themselves of necessaries in order to assist financially in the .revolution. Foo Choo Choon is now cntoi'taming tho Viceroy of Canton, who took a prominent part in the trouble and threatened to be the Napoleon of China. BANISHED WITHOUT TRIAL. "lu view of the South African Government having deported a number of strike leaders, it is interesting to note what is done in tho Malay States in such cases. The Federated Goveirnment has a most salutary law which applies to all secret societies. With the advice of the British Resident, tho Sultan has the power to order the arrest of anybody suspected of being connected 1 with a secret society, and the prisoner may be banished without a trial. The only alternative if he returns is imprisonment for life.

"A secret society was formed among the Hilams, from which caste the house servants are drawn. They wished to force up tho wages of servants and tho price of food in tho markets. Thoy could have done it easily, as practically the whole of the food supply is in the hands of the Chinese. About 200 of them were arrested,and 50 were deported. It is a drastic law, but where thero is euoh a largo native population a drastic law is necessary. FINEST INFANTRY IN THE WORLD. "In accordance with the treaties tui" dor which the Federated States came under British rule, the Sultans are bound to maintain a military establishment, and the regiment is known as the Malay States Guides. They are recruit-' ed from the Punjab in India, and Lord Kitchener declared them to be one of tho finest infantry regiments in _ tho world. It is 1000 strong, with British and native officers. Every man is at least 6ft. in height. The cost of recruiting is enormous, and' Lord Kitchener might have added that it was also the most expensive regiment in the world; uniforms are gorgeous, and on parade the men make an imposing show. POISpNED BLOWPIPES.

"Tho the island areknown as tho Sakak. They still exist in large numbers in t&e mountainous parts, and their chief weapons of offence and defonce are blowpipes, through which poisoned darts nr© sent, which will kill at 40 yards. The blowpipes are about Bft. long, and with deadly accuracy the Sakais blow poisoned darts, about Sin. long, at the enemy. To kill a man, of course, it must strike him on the face. The dart will- not pierce his clothes. The poison is provided by the upas tree. FINE COLLECTION OF CHINA.

"Before coming to Australia I had to visit China, and had the privilege of calling on Sir Oatchick Paul Chater, who possesses one of the finest collections of china in the world. Pierpont Morgan's representative valued it at £350,000, but many pieces are priceless, as no duplicates are in existence. They date back to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and for one vase of the Red Hawtiliorn pattern Sir Paul has refused £7500. He asked mo to hold the vaso in order to examine it—but I preferred not to risk smashing a small fortune should I drop it. "I came down through the Philippines, and at Manila the Church, seems to have solved the problem of empty pews. After the services cock-fights are held, and great interest is taken in theso events. At any rate, they have immeasurably increased the size of th© congregations. That is only one of tho many curious customs one sees jn these interesting islands so close to Northern Australia."