Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/284

 162 THE BRITISH EMPIRE: — STRAITS SETTLEMENTS

The administration of the colony is in the hands of a Governor, aided by an Executive Council, composed of the general officer commanding the troops, the Colonial Secretary, the Resident Councillor of Penang, the Attorney-General, the Treasurer, and the Colonial Engineer. There is a Legislative Council, presided over by the Governor, of ten official and eight unofficial members, six nominated by the Crown and tAvo by the Chambers of Commerce of Singapore and Penang, but confirmed by the Crown.

Governor. — Sir Arthur Henderson Young, K.C.M.G.

The governor is also High Commissioner for the Federated Malay States of Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, and Pahang, High Commissioner of Brunei, and British Agent for British North Borneo and Sarawak,

There are municipal bodies in each settlement, the members of which are partly elected by the ratepayers, and partly appointed by the Governor.

Area and Population.

Singapore is an island about twenty-seven miles long by fourteen wide, with an area of 217 square miles, separated from the southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula by a strait three-quarters of a mile in width. A number of small islands adjacent form part of the settlement. The seat of government is the town of Singapore, at the south-eastern point of the island. Penang is an island of 108 square miles, off the west coast of the Malayan Peninsula, and at the northern entrance of the Straits of Malacca. On the opposite shore of the mainland, distant from two to ten miles, is Province Wellesley, a strip of territory forming part of the Settlement of Penang, averaging eight miles in width, and extending forty-five miles along the coast, including ten miles of territory to the south of the Krian ; total area 280 square miles. The chief town of Penang is George Town. Off the coast of Perak is the small island of Pangkor, which, together with a strip of the mainland, is British territory, the whole being known as the Bindings. Malacca is on the western coast of the peninsula between Singapore and Penang — about 110 miles from the former and 240 from the latter ; it is a strip of territory 42 miles in length, and from eight to 24 miles in breadth.

The population, inclusive of the military, according to the census of 1911, is as follows : —

Europeans and ") Americans . J Eurasians . . Asiatics . ..

Totals (1911)

Totals (1912) Estimated

Singapore

Males

Females

4,166

2,273 214,451

1,637

2,439 87,019

220,890

91,095

311,985 328,373

228,952 I 94,421

Penang -

Males Females

792

826 169,983

171,601

470

948 104,984

106,402

278,003 281,341

Malacca

Males

221 739

Totals

Females Males

82 847

73,923 ; 48,269

5,179

3,838 458,357

74,883 49,198 467,874

Females

2,189

4,234 240,272

246,695

124,081

127,796

173,0611107,680 77,125 | 50,671

ri4,069 r32,510

479,738 I 252,772

1 Inclusive of Cliri&tmas Island, Cocns-Keeling, and Labuan Islands. ■J Inclusive of Province Wellesley and Dindings.

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