THE EMPIRE'S LATEST ADDITION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3190, 15 May 1909, Page 7

THE EMPIRE'S LATEST ADDITION.

The new treaty between Great Britain and Siam, by which 15,000 square miles of ["territory comes under the British flag, was signed recently at Bangkok. The territory, which thus comes under British suzerainty, v includes the following States: —' Trengganu, Kelantan, Kedah, and part of Rahman, as well as part of Legeh. One effect of the treaty will be to bnng almost the whole of the Mahomedan population of the Malay Peninsula under British rule. Another effect will be to settle the countries, which will presumsbly be grouped with the Federated Malay Slates, on the borders of which they are situated. Hitherto there has been little or no security for life or property, and the unsettled state of affairs in the territory not being ceded by Siam has given rise in the past to considerable jealousy on the part of the natives, who have seen and envied the prosperity of the Southern States. Railway developn ent will also benefit by the treaty, as the lines from the south, which 1o v extend from Singapore to Penang, will in all probability, be built by tha Federated Malay" Sates through the new territory. Provision is at the same time made for safe-guarding British commercial interests in the northern part of the Peninsula, which remains Siamsce by the agreement, that any railway which ritay be cons'ructed from Bangkok southwards will be built by the Siamese Government with capital provided by tha Federated Malay States. They will he under the control of a department which will be separate from the existing railway department of Siam, which is under German administration. About £4,000,000 will thus be , found or guaranteed by the Federal Malay States. Tha wealth of the I Federated Malay States has shown an extraordinary growth in the last thirty years. There is not only no debt, but the whole of the railways, now some 400 miles in length, as well as many thousand miles of roadr, have been constructed entirely out of revenue. The revenue in 1907 amounted to nearly 29 millions dollars, whf-.reas ! the total revenue of Perak, Selar.gor, j and Negri Sembilan in 1875, which J was the first year after these States J were taken under British protection,' | was only just under 400, OOOdol. }' Moreover, the estimated value ut the 1 end 0f.1907 of the investments and -j loans in the nature of investments .was nearly 24,000,000 d. 1, which with \ other loans, etc., would probably | bring the figure actually to nearly i 40,000.000d01. It will thus be seen that the Federated Malay States arc well able to help the newly-acquired territory financially. In mineral wealth it is estimated that the new States are as rich as the Federated Malay States.