RICH MALAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 21, 13 June 1914, Page 9

RICH MALAY.

J 1-AXD OF (JOLD AND SUNSHINE. 1 AUSTRALIANS DOMINATE j INDUSTRIES. | ( ( )t' Kl- ■11 l'K ATTRACT TO CHURCH. j With many .stories of strange customs and commercial progress in the Ala lay States ami contiguous islands, Mr. Cecil | l!ae, who has been following the occui pation of a mining engineer at 1 poll tni' live years, lias l'oturned to Melbourne on a holiday of six months, j Ihe enervating climate in that coun- : try makes a sojourn in other lamls necessary every five or six years in order |to avoid malaria fever and other di- . seases often contracted in the islands | Mr R»e is a member of the firm of Edgar and Rae, which controls many industrial, and mining ventures, and his owii success, with his observations, makes 'him optimistic as to the future of the .Ualav States.

| MALAY DISLIKES MINING. ''The Malay," .Mr liae explains, ''dislikes the hard work connected witli tin mining and such industries. He regards himself as a refined worker, and, while he will gladly give liis services on the river or in tile jungle, lie is content to leave the coolie work entirely to the Southern Indians and Chinese. Tncre are thousands of these in the states, so that there is no dilVieultv in securing sufficient labor for the fastdevdoping industries. "Unfortunately, most of the mining is in the hands of wealthy Chinese, and it is a common tiling to' see one with .'iODO coolies in his employ. . One Chinese I know .has 10.000 in his employ. Their methods are primitive for the niost part, though machinery is being introduced, lint large profits are made, owing to the fact that the Chinese have the coolies entirely at their mercy. When work is in full swing in a mine the proprietor introduces the truck system. He supplies the coolies with all their needs, advances them money at high rates of interest, and often at the end of the month they have 110 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

CHIXKSK HOLD .MONOPOLY. TI!o question frequestly linked: — "\V)iv liiive 1 lio Chinese a monopoly of 1 lie mining' in the Malay States';'' 'The answer is that the Oliinesp have the fcoolies in their hands, and inost of the l mining propositions there can only Inworked 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 labor saving machinery, such as drudging • XO PUBLIC DEFT. ''lt may interest Victorian politicians to know that there is no public debt in the Malay States. The reason is that in the last live years there have been prosperous limes. There has been a tremendous boom ill rubber and for j three years the price of tin has been I high. Perak and Selangoi produce ; all. :it two-thirds of the world's tin. j The Ooverntucut imposes a tax of from : 10 lo 14 per cent on the. gross amount [ of rubber produced, so that it lias line j sources of revenue. | "Liirge sums are also derived from j the land. All the land is leased, so that iit is a continual source of revenue. For j rubber estates one dollar (2s 4d) per acre I rental is charged for the first live years. : and aflfl- that the rental is live dollars ; (lis Sd) per* acre. Kubbcr begins to yield profitable returns at the end of I about four years. In the last live years j wonderful progress has been made in the production of rubber. Wlien I went ' there hardly a rubber plantation could ,be seen. Now everybody is interested to some CNtciit in rubber. ! uup.p.kr output taiows.

! "It is generally believed that llie Malay States will be the largest producer 'of rubber in tile world. Well-managed . estates can land it ill London for Kid. a i pound while rubber from Jirß7.il costs about :is a pound. At present Brazil . places about 4(1,1100 tons a year on the market, so that it is easy to calculate the benefits to the Malay States if Brazil . ceases to be a competitor. "Talking of trees, a feature of Malay vegetation is the Xipa palm, the leaves ' of which arc used in thatching houses. Thr tree attains a height of 13 feet., and grows as much as i feet in n night. K-jeh pa'm has extremely large leaves. | SI'LTANS (JIVK DRKADXOt (iHT. | "Another evidence of prosperity was the gift of a Dreadnought to < J resit j ISritsiin by the four Sultans of the } J-'eili rated S|at:s. The vessel is to be : known as ilic Malaya, affd will be completed at the end of this year. When tlie oiler wsi< first made anil 'accepted it was much discussed.' and it was freely slated that the L'ift had been, suggested t.i the Sultans, hut I do not believe that for a moment. It was really a spontaneous act on their part. The .Malays warmly appreciate British rule, and t hey looked upon this as an excellent opportunity of proving it. The Dreadnought is to cost fI.SI-KI.IHMt. One of the Sultans received the (Jrsind Cross of St. Michael and St. <ieorge,and honors were also ebjifen-ed tin the other three.

RAILWAYS ni'T OK UKYKNIT... "So much revenue has been obtain si from the ta\es mi tin and nil>l it»v that - till' whole of tlk- St-nKs railways have ln'i'ii built out nl' revenue. anil it is ]i 10bably till' finest narrow "aiie;- system iii tlif .wnvM. Tbo is :tfl. llin.. ami miniature I'nllniaii cars are used 1 hroui:hoiit. In tlii' last ti'n years abiniL liUI) milts tit' railway has been constructed tint of i-i'\.-line. (liiotl prolits art' shown, iiii:l at prc-ciit the railways art- rcturuini; 7 JH']■ cut. mi llu'ir capital value. Not onlv have tin- Federated States ,|nn,lies. Irat llicy liavf loam .I f-I.Ull(l.nii;) t.» S::un to i-ontinn • her railway system, an.l to link up with that of the Malav Siafi's. Mr. .1. N. Sinclair, formerly of Victoria. is the constructine' engineer mi this work. "In aihlition to this we have a l'oail s\stein whii-li probably coultl not he equalled outside of' Creat llritaiii. I.an;e -uni- are -pent annually in order to kep the roads ill (joml repair. My linn i~ iut re-tetl in a inotor 'bus service at Iptih. anil just before I left we received notice that we were to be taxed the rate of two dollars (4s Sd) a, a mouth. That means about £7 Uls 'on each 'bus every month, lint there is no doubt that the 'buses destroy the roads. JU'NNIN'i; AMOK I'OI'U.AIS. "The popular idea of tile Malay he is (untinuallv runuimr amok. Many Years that was so. Tlii! Malay ran ■unci;, killed a number of people, and then committed suicide; now lie is n iujrht before he completes bis tusk anil is banned. That is not regarded with much favor, and in the live years I liave spent Simon# tlieni 1 have known only two discs- oCMalays running amok. By tlic win tliat is pionoujiced ■ r (i„.i llClllg,Biient.

"Latah is another form of hysteria, but is not dangerous. It usually arises from shock, and the affected |>erson mimics everyone he or she sees. Some women are in a continual state of latafo. If they see a person dance, they ilance. If a finger is pointed at them they immediately point theirs at somebody else, and the effect is often amusing. Biu latali rarely leads to serious consequences. MONEY EOll REVOLUTION.. "One of the most influential Chinese in the States is Foo Choo Clioon, a 'mining magnate, and he recently collected large sums of money for the Chinese revolution. His countrymen contributed liberally. Many of 'them deprived themselves of necessaries in order to assist -financially in the revolution. Foo Choo Clioon is now entertaining the Viceroy of Canton, who took a prominent part in the trouble, mid threatened to be the Napoleon of China. BANISHED WITHOUT TRIAL. "In view of the South African Government having departed a number of strike leaders, it is interesting to note what is done in the .Malay States in such cases. The Federated Government has a most salutary law which applies to all seere.t societies. With the adj vice of the British Resident the Sultan has the power to order the arre-t of anybody suspected of being connected with a secret society, and the prisoner may be banished without a trial. The only alternative if lie returns is imprisonment for life. . I "A secret society was formed among j I the llilanis, from which ca*te the. house servants are drawn. They wished to i force up the price of food in the mar- | kcts. They could have done it esisilv. j as practically the whole of the I'oo.l supply is. in the Hands of the Chinese. About 200 of them were arrested, and ' lifty were deported. It is a drastic law. ! but where there is such a large native | population a drastic law is necessary. j

FINEST IXKAXTRY IX THE WOULD. "In accordance will. the treaties miiloy which tlie Federated States came under British nilc. tlie Sultans are lioiiiul to maintaiu u military establishment. am! Die regiment is known as the Malay States OuhUs. Tliey are recruited from tile Punjab 01 India, and Lord Kitchener declared tiiom to lie one of tlie finest infantry regiments ill the world. It is 10.000 stroii*:, with British and native officers. Kvcrv man is at least lilt in •height. The cos|t of recruiting is enormous, and Lord Kitchener might have added that it was also the most expensive regiment in the world; uniforms arc gorgeous and on parade the men make an imposing show. I'TXE COLLEI T.IOX OK CHINA. "Before coming to Australia 1 had to visit China., and had the privilege of calling on Sir C'athick Paul Chater, wlio possesses one of the finest collections of china in the world. Pierpont Morgan's representative valued,it at £ioo,,000, but many piecef are priceless, as no duplicates are in existence. Tliey date back to the thirteenth ami fourteenth centuries, and for one vase of the, lied Hawthorn pattern Sir Paul has refused £7,500. He asked me to* hold the vase 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 serins to have solved the problem of eijipty pews.. After the service cockfights are held, Kind great interest is taken in these events. At any rate, they have immeasurably increased the size of the congregations. That is only one of the many curious customs one sees in those interesting islands so close to Xortliern Australia"