The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-30 00:00:00

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MALACCA—ITS MINE
AGRICULTURAL RES°.
(From the Singapore Free
The re-discovery of Malacca by
such in reality was the recent movemek Enc";./Stabi
land) appears to have awakened a new spirit or end
terprise amongst the inhabitants, and to have opened
their eyes to the value of the treasures which they
have so long neglected. The Chinese miners, as if
already feeling the presence of their great rivals fro?
the west, and foreseeing that their monopoly must fail
before their skill and combination, are eagerly extend-
ing their works. Four new mines have been opened
within the last three months, and unless English capi-
talists bestir themselves in time, they may find t3l the
best stanniferous vallies preoccupied. We believe
the great mining associations of England have, tjri,
some time, had their eyes upon the peninsula.
they deliberate too long, they will find the prise
snatched from them. An American La•entleman
lately visited all the mines in Malacca ard in the
Malayan states to the north and south, and as his
report upon some of the localities where tin is' nog;"
worked is very favourable, it cannot he doubted that
the information which he has olitainad will be dOIS
appreciated by his enterprising countrymen, whossß
habit it to plun.!e in in Bias ?es, while we Sit,
weighing the prose and e,ans. It may give our
Cornish readers scme idea of the metallic fertility of
-Malacca if we state that in or., valley there are at
this moment thirty mines in opention. Can it be
doubted that the gigantic hills at head of this
valley, the waters from which have stee wed its whvle
length with tin sand, hold numerous rich veins
In one locality, where the ground was broken so
recently as October last, there are now tw., ve hun-
dred Chinese employed, and recent visitors state the
ore to be so abundant, that the miners have no vet
s':
had occasion to dig six feet below the surface. ahe
Chinese capitalists, who have farmed the right ,of
working mines in this locality from Government, haafe
hired a considerable number of Chinese immigrants
who lately arrived to Malacca. The energy which
they are now displaying is sure to be rewarded by a
handsome profit on their contract with Government.
The revenue from tin is increasing so rapidly that
there is little doubt that ere long the entire loss upon
the purchase of the proprietary rights of the 'eld
Dutch landholders will be made up from this source
alone. What has been considered an improvident
measure will probably prove the means of placing
Malacca in a position which she could not have
attained if the avarice of numerous parties,
local owners, had been interposed between her re-
sources and the enterprise of English capitalists. As
it is, there are numerous tracts entirely at the disposal
of government, and the very great encouragement
which they have given to the intending sugar planters,
and the promptitude with which the ground applied
for by the Malacca Sugar Company has been exa-
mined and surveyed, afford an ample guarantee that
every well-considered and substantial project tending-
to the improvement of the country will be most favour-
ably and liberally countenanced. If any additional
motive were wanting for speedy and decided measures
being taken by all who have any intention of entering
on this new field, whether for the cultivation of the
sugar cane, or to working of tin, it may be found in
the fact that our present governor, Colonel Butter-
wcrth, is animated by a cordial zeal for the advance-
ment of these settlements, and would, we are sure,
give the most effective support to any association of
respectability that may be organised for either of these
purposes.
So much ignorance and misconception continue to
prevail regarding these settlements, and Malacca in
particular, that we shall make a few remarks on the
latter for the benefit of our English readers.
Those who may be deterred from coming to
Malacca from the associations connected with tropical
jungles, and the difficulties and miseries of new set-

tleMents, must at once rid their minds of all im-
pressions of the kind. So far from there being any
room for such ideas, we can assure them that if they
will give the reins to their imagination, and picture
to themselves in the most attractive colours a great
tropical garden, in which plains and valleys are sur-
rounded and intersected by hills covered with an assem-
blage of fruit bearing trees, which is literally without a
parallel in the world ; and in front of this, and stretch-
ing along a mediterranean sea, a long dark green
zone formed of similar trees and a vast abundance
of cocoanuts, beneath which thousands of cottages
and houses are scattered; and, finally, steep the
whole in a pure atmosphere, and ventilate it with
refreshing and salubrious breezes, they may ap-
proach, but cannot overstep, the reality. It is a
sober scientific fact that Malacca presents within
itself an assemblage of natural and acquired advan-
tages which no other country within the tropics pos-
sesses for the European colonist. For it has not only
the essential requisites of a sufficient and most desir-
able field, hardly occupied at all, for the investment
of capital in its vegetable fertility and mineral wealth,
with the adjuncts of proximity to the sea and nume-
rous streams and rivers, but has also all the amenities
and facilities, and far more than the beauty of an old
Eur,pean country.
Six centuries have passed_oyer Malacca sim.:e it was.
found ft jungle by the Ilindu Malay emigrant's -frO.m.
Singapore. Malayan civilisation during the succeed-
ing two centuries and a half flourished and advanced
under a strong Government ; and while the country
behind grail ually assumed the aspect of antiquity, the
coast for many miles was converted into one conti-
nuous market-place, where a trading population of
nearly 200,000 persons were established, and to which
vessels resorted from India, Arabia, China, and all
parts of the Indian archipelago. During the next
130 years Portugal, in its palmiest time, impressed
an European character on Malacca ; and then for a
still longer period a more kindred nation, the Dutch,
prepared it for the reception of English residents,
This successive infusion of new ideas and new habits
has given to Malacca a very peculiar and very attrac-
tive character. At this day all the races who have
one after another predominated, as well as many
others who, without possessing authority, have played
the most important parts in its history, exist not only
distinct but commixed. Prejudices of blood and re-
ligion have been broken down or subdued. Each
tribe, more or less cut off from the powerful segre-
gating influences that reign in its native land, and
subjected to the fraternizing force of common pursuits
and constant intercourse, has found nature stronger
than prejudice, and christian and heathen, baptist and
heretic, islamite and unbeliever, men of every tongue,
and race, and colour, from the Ultima Thule to
the Golden Chersonese and further still, not only
live in perfect harmony, but mingle their blood
without any misgivings. It would have been a sin
against nature, here so gracious and so bounteous, had
humanity proved more stubborn. This harmonious
diversity which marks the people themselves extends
to their architecture and all their habits of life. The
great cause of this peculiar character of Malacca is
the fertility and beauty of the country and the re-
markable purity and salubrity of the air. These cir-
cumstances have wedded the inhabitants from differ-
ent nations to the place, so that instead of hastily ga-
thering what wealth they could (as generally happens
elsewhere in the Archipelago, as at Singapore), and
returning to their native countries, they have found
themselves unable to break their attachment to Ma-
lacca, and it has become their adopted home.
The very liberality of nature has, to our utilitarian
notions, had its drawbacks. Men who find that their
own country possesses almost everything which they
can desire, and merely to live in which is pleasure,
had no adequate motive for exertion. Nature has
been so kind that her children are necessarily indo-
lent, and more prone to enjoyment than labour
Hence it happens that while, on the one hand, the
comforts and luxuries of civilised existence may be
found in all their fulness and at a cheap cost at Ma-
lacca, on the other hand, civilisation has left a wide
economical field almost untouched. On the sea shore
you have a mixture of the oldest European and the
oldest Asiatic civilisations, with everything that can
please the eye and satisfy the desires of man. Go a
few miles into the interior, and you have backwoods
rich in virgin soil, and hollows secreting valuable
metals—in a word, everything that can excite the
cupidity of the utilitarian sons of the West.

VENTILATION.—Mr. Toynbee has submitted the
following proposition for the adoption of Government, to
the consideration of the Royal Institute of Architects:-
1. That no living, sleeping, or work room shall contain
less than 144 superficial feet, or shall be less than eight
feet high. 2. That such room shall have one window at
least opening at top. 3. Also an open fire-place.
That in every living, sleeping, or work-room, erected in
erectedupper part
future, of s theh al l
have room %
That
60m
future, some method shall be adopted of allowing the
foul air
everyto escapesueh
room,ffrom
the upr
in
means of continually admitting fresh air. C. In every
public building in which gas is used, to insist on the use
of plans to carry off the products of combustion, and not
to allow them to escape in a room. 7. That all churches,
schools, theatres, workshops, workhouses, and other
public buildings shall adopt such methods of ventilation
as are approved of by the medical officer of health.
Dr. Burnaby, the Vicar-General; Francis Hart Dyke,
Esq., the Registrar; Christopher Hodgson, Esq., Seore-
tary to the Archbishop; and Mr. James Barber, as
Apparitor, attended the ceremony.
SIR HARRY SMITE.—The arrangements for the
dinner are progressing most satisfactorily. Sir Hrzry is
to be met at the railway station, at Whittlesey, by the
(commanded by his brother, Major Smith)
yeomanry
conductedtheofchild-
hood.-
'nhabitants, and to home his and
The tentf r the dinner is erected in a convenient
paddock belonging to Henry Haynes, Esq., and the
table arrangements will be similar to those on a recent
occasion at St. Ives. The poor will not be forgotten,
but are to have tickets for meat and ale at home.—Casv.
bridge Independent Press.
ACCIDENT ON THE LANCASTER SANDS.—OD TII08•
day week an accident befel the Over Sands coach, on,
its way to Lancaster, the vehicle having unexpectedly
fallen upon a quicksand. The passengers got off and
walked to Hest Bank, but the coach could not be moved,
and was left. The flow of the tide subsequently released
it, and it was recovered next day somewhere at the foot
of Warton Crag.

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