Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/521

 SltlPPlNO AND NAVIGATION— MONEY, c^^C.

177

The following table shows, according to the Board of Trade Returns, the Value of the trade between the Straits Settlements and Great Britain for five years. The imports, however, include produce from Borneo, Sarawak, and other eastern places, transliipped at Singapore Avhich is thus entered as the place of export : —

—

1893

lt>94

I89a

1896

1897

Imports into U.K.

from the Straits. Exports of British

produce to the

Sti-aits

£ 4,518,387

1,780,799

£ 4,584,783

2,352,259

£ 4,045,446

1,995,906

£ 4,309,847

2,019,874

£ 3,643,224

2,496,895

The principal imports into the United Kingdom are (1897) tin, 1,217, 178Z. ; spices, 421,707/. ; cutch and gambler, 292,879/. ; gutta percha, 269,462/. ; caoutchouc, 126,177/.; raw hides, 153,123/.; leather, 118,059/.; sago and sago flour, 155,376/. ; the principal exports from the United Kingdom, cottons, 1,120,002/. ; iron, 328,349/. ; machinery, 87,314/.

Shipping and Navigation.

The total number of vessels entered at the ports of the colony during 1897, exclusive of native craft, was 8,872, with a tonnage of 6,148,194 tons. The number of native craft was 15,857, with a tonnage of 588,459 tons. The number of vessels cleared at the ports of the colony was 8,932, with a tonnage of 6,058,588 tons, and the total number of native craft was 15,964, with a tonnage of 594,811 tons.

Communications.

There are no railways within the colony itself, but in Penang there are over 4 miles of tramway open, constructed and worked by a private firm. The motive power is steam. In Perak there is a railway from Port Weld to Taiping, 8 miles in length, from Taiping to Ulu Sapetang, 9 miles, from Teluk Anson via Tapah and Kampar to Enggor on the Perak River, 79 miles. In Selangor a railway, 22 miles long, connects the capital, Kwala Lumpor, with the port of Klang. Kwala Lumpor is also connected with Serendah and Kwala Kubu, important mining centres, by a line 38^ miles long, and with Pudoh and Sungei Besi mining centres, by a line 10;} miles long. In Sungei Ujong a railway of 23 miles has been constructed by a private company from Port Dickson on the coast to the capital, Seremban. The following lines are under construction : in Perak from Enggor to Taiping about 24 miles, and from Ulu Sapetang to Kuala Prai in Province Wellesley 50 miles (23 miles of this line runs through British territory, but the Federated Malay States are constructing it at their own cost) ; in Selangor from Sungei Besi to Kajang, 8^ miles, and from Klang to Tanjong Kubu, 5^ miles.

In 1897, 2,990,720 letters and articles of all kinds were received at the Post Office, and 3,040,416 despatched.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

There are three banks with establishments in the colony. The amount of deposits in the Government Savings Bank on December 31, 1897, was 363,544 dollars.

By an Order of the Queen in Council dated Febmary 2, 1895, the silver Mexican dollar, weighing 417 74 grains (or 27-070 grammes), '9027 fine, is the standard coin. The British dollar, the Hong Kong dollar, and the

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