The population, which in 1867 was 283,384, was estimated at 1,058,991 in 1934. The birth-rate in 1926 was highest among the Chinese. The total death-rate, 27.26 per 1,000 in 1925, was the lowest on record, increasing slightly with hard times to 28.7 in 1930. Malaria remains a prolific, though diminishing, cause of death; as for beri-beri, the deaths were reduced from 2,056 (with a total population of 705,405) in 1911, to 910 in 1924 and 1,098 in 1926, owing probably, in part, to a better understanding of dietary requirements. Chinese immigrants reached maximum numbers in 1926 (348,593) exceeding emigrants by 228,285; 95,715 were women and children, a record number, and their coming commonly implies intention to settle permanently. An increase of immigration in recent years is due partly to improve ment in commerce, but partly also to the disturbed conditions in southern China. Immigrant Indians arrived at Penang to an average yearly number of 54,00o in 1921-24; the numbers fluctu ate with the conditions of trade. In 1926 they numbered 174, 795 (see MALAY STATES, FEDERATED).
There was an increase in the gross value of trade from .163, 600,00o in 1914 to £148,200,000 in 1917. The Chinese com munity was prosperous during the World War, and while the increased cost of living and the high rate of exchange with China bore hardly upon the poorer classes, the increase of wages counterbalanced these disadvantages. The Chinese freely sup ported patriotic and charitable funds, and after some demur, before its purpose was fully understood, recognized without fur ther difficulty the War tax ordinance of 1917. The War produced The centenary of the modern foundation of Singapore by Sir Stamford Raffles was the occasion for local celebrations in Feb. 1919, and by way of commemoration it was decided to found a Raffles college for higher education. Evidence of the general enthusiasm for this scheme was given by the prompt subscrip tions which ensured its success. The Straits Settlement Govern ment promised a donation of $1,000,000 and a site; the same Government and those of Johore and Kelantan guaranteed annui ties in perpetuity amounting to $63,000, and by the Governments of the Federated Malay States and Kedah, and from various private sources, annuities for a term of years, amounting to $655,o0o, were promised. Designs for the new buildings were adopted in 1924, and the erection of science and administrative blocks, a hostel and staff quarters is nearly completed. The
Rockefeller Foundation in 1924 granted an endowment of $350, 000 for chairs of bacteriology and biochemistry in King Edward VII. College of Medicine at Singapore, the Government under taking to bring the provision for these chairs up to the level of others in the college.
The Dindings and Province Wellesley.—The various settle ments of which the colony of the Straits Settlements is composed, and the protectorates named in this article, are dealt with sepa rately, except the Dindings and Province Wellesley. The Dindings are sparsely inhabited and unimportant politically.
Province Wellesley, which is situated on the mainland opposite to the island of Penang, was ceded to Great Britain by the sultan of Kedah in 1798. It marches with Perak on the south. It is administered by a district officer, with some assistants, who is responsible to the resident councillor of Penang. The country consists of fertile plain, thickly populated by Malays, and occupied largely by rubber planters employing Chinese and Tamil labour. About a tenth of the whole area is covered by low hills. Large quantities of rice are grown, and between October and February there is excellent snipe-shooting to be had in the rice fields. A railway from Prai, opposite to Penang, runs through Province Wellesley into Perak, and thence via Selangor and Negri Sembilan to Malacca, and through Johore to Singapore.
BD3LIOGRAPHY.-Straits Settlements Blue Book, 1927; Straits Direc tory, 1927; Journal of the Straits (now Malayan) branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Singapore) ; Sir F. Weld and Sir W. Maxwell, severally, on the Straits Settlements in the Journal of the Royal Colonial Institute (1884 and 1892) ; H. Norman, The Far East A. Ireland, The Far Eastern Tropics (1904) Sir F. Swettenham, British Malaya (1906) ; Life of Sir Stamford Raffles (1856, 1898) ; Courtland, Sir Stamford (1926), One Hundred Years of Singa pore (1921) ; R. St. J. Braddell, The Law of the Straits Settlements (Singapore, 1915) ; R. 0. Winstedt, Shaman, Saiva and Sufi (1925) ; P. C. Coote, The Malay States (1923) ; R. J. Wilkinson, A History of the Peninsular Malays (1923) ; R. 0. Winstedt, Malaya. The Straits Settlements and the Federated and tinfederated Malay States (1923) ; H. M. Tomlinson, Tidemarks (1924) ; C. Wells, Six Years in the Malay Jungle (1925) ; V. W. Purcell, Early Penang (Penang, 1928) . See also articles On MALAY PENINSULA, SINGAPORE, PENANG and MALACCA,