MALAY STATE FINANCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 188, 11 August 1931, Page 8

MALAY STATE FINANCE

SURVEY RETRENCHMENT NEW ZEALANDERS AFFECTED A number of New Zealanders who in recent years have found positions on the staff of the Survey Department of the Federated Malay States have had reason to regret their enterprise, as the financial depression there has led to their dismissal. Most of these men received their training with the Public Works Department, and among the victims of the present retrenchment are two married men who left New Zealand as recently as July of last year. The finances of the country have been severely affected by the extraordinarily low prices of rubber and tin, and there is a suggestion by those on the spot that the Government has been thrown into a panic. All departments are being cut to a minimum, and in the Survey Department no fewer than 31 out of a total of 91 Europeans have received notice. Some of the New Zealanders affected had four-year contracts, and the Government is seeking to soften the blow for them by offering a year’s pay as compensation, and by undertaking that if conditions improve they will be re-engaged in order of sonority at any time up to the end of 1936. The Straits Times says that the revenue of the Malay States in 1930 was £3,000,000 below the estimate, and that this year the figure is expected to be £2,760,000 below the estimate.