Straits Settlements

Straits Settlements, THE, include the British possessions on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, and some native states under the protection or the British Government, comprising in all about 25,000 square miles, of which the Straits Settlements proper occupy 1,472 square miles. These latter consist or Malacca, Penang, Singapore (q.v.), Wellesley Province on the Malay Peninsula, Cocos Islands on the route from Ceylon to Australia, and the Christmas Islands, and they are among the most important of Crown colonies for revenue, trade, etc. Singapore is the seat of the central Government which is composed of a Governor, assisted by an Executive Council of eight and a Legislative Council of fifteen. The system of law is formed by the Indian Acts, and local laws based upon the law or England, and is administered by a Chief Justice and three Puisne Judges, and there are two subordinate Courts of Admiralty in the Settlements. The climate is uniform, and the vegetation evergreen, and most parts of the Colony are favourable as a residence to Europeans, but the population is principally Chinese or Malay. The exports amount to more than £140,000,000 annually, and consist chiefly of guttapercha, gambier, india-rubber, pepper, horns, hides, canes, sugar, rice, sago, tapioca, spices, tea, coffee and tobacco, whlle the imports exceed £150,000,000. Malacca is the largest and oldest of the Settlements, and was first taken, by the Portuguese, then by the Dutch, from whom it fmally passed in exchange to the English in 1824. Up to 1867 the Colony was in the hands of the Indian Government.