This collection focuses on the economic development of the areas of SE Asia with which Britain had a trading relationship. Covering 1880–1939, the economic growth of the region is revealed through a selection of rare primary resources organized thematically with sections dedicated to agriculture, mining, trade, labour, finance and infrastructure.

Table of Contents:
Volume 1: Agriculture The abundant nature of South East Asian agriculture offered many opportunities for exploitation by the British. During the period of British involvement in the region agriculture went from a system of subsistence farming to one of highly developed cash crops destined for an international market. Production methods and the economics of agriculture went through a period of exponential change which still has legacies today. This volume collates documents surveying and assessing the potential of rice, timber, rubber and opium amongst other crops. Sources cover both methods of agricultural production and marketing. Editorial matter explores the reasons each crop was cultivated and the differences between indigenous and Western production methods. General Introduction Editorial Selection and Textual Principles Agriculture R G Watson, The Land Laws and Land Administration of the Federated Malay States (1908); D H Grist, Malaya: Agriculture, 'Land Tenure' (1929), extract; Anon., The Land Regulations of British North Borneo, 1894: Approved by the Court of Directors of the British North Borneo Company, on the 5th Day of June, 1894 (1894); L Wray Jr, Notes on Perak with a Sketch of its Vegetable, Animal and Mineral Products (1886), extract; Anon., General Cultivation (1924); G E Shaw, Malay Industries. Part 3. Rice Planting (1911), extract; Anon., 'Report of the Rice Cultivation Committee, 1931. Volume 1' (1931), extract; A B Jordan, 'Memorandum. Rice Cultivation by Chinese in Malaya, 11th October, 1930' (1930), extract; F Noel-Paton, Burma Rice (1912); E Macfadyen, Rubber Planting in Malaya (1924), extract; D H Grist, Nationality of Ownership and Nature of Constitution of Rubber Estates in Malaya (1933); Anon., Report of the Commission Appointed by His Excellency the High Commissioner for the Malay States to Enquire Whether Any Action Should be Taken by the Government to Give Protection or Assistance to the Rubber Industry (1918); Anon., Economic Survey of the Sugarcane Industry in the East Central, Tenasseria and Northern Agricultural Circles (1926); D H Grist, Malaya: Agriculture, 'Oil Palms' (1929), extract; H L Coghlan, Coconut Industry in Malaya (1924), extract; Anon., Report of a Committee ... to Investigate and Report on the Present Economic Condition of the Coconut and Other Vegetable Oil Producing Industries in Malaya (1934), extract; G E S Cubitt, Wood in the Federated Malay States: Its Use, Misuse and Future Provision (1920), extract; J P Mead, Annual Report on Forest Administration in Malaya including Brunei, 1939 (1939); 'Notes on Forest Exploitation and the Forestry Service in British North Borneo and Dutch N.E Borneo' ([1937]), extract; Anon., Forestry in Brunei: A Statement Prepared for the British Empire Forestry Conference, South Africa, 1935 (1935); Anon., Burma Teak (1935), extract; R L German, Handbook to British Malaya (1927), extract; R Winstedt, Malay Industries. Part 2. Fishing, Hunting and Trapping (1909), extract; C Maxwell, Preliminary Report on the Economic Position of the Fishing Industry of the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States (1919), extract Editorial Notes List of Sources Volume 2: Mining, Trade and Industry One of the driving forces of colonialism was the need for raw materials and traded goods for Western industry and consumer markets. The South East Asian mining sector was governed by British demand as well as the techniques that were available, whilst indigenous industries were substantially undermined by cheap Western imports. Manufacturing was gradually replaced by the processing of primary exports and the beginnings of service industries. Sources cover the major mined minerals, the extraction methods used, patterns of ownership and legislation, the business landscape and the major industries. Trade between the regions had a major effect on the economic growth of Britain, India and South East Asia. The types of goods that were traded evolved over time, as did the methods of exchange and the commercial relationships that developed across ethnic groups. Treaties were drawn up to facilitate exchange, and the monopolistic operations of the shipping companies arguably increased trading costs. Documents cover all forms of exchange and a wide variety of goods as well as information on treaties and trading agreements. Mining L Wray Jr, Notes on Perak with a Sketch of its Vegetable, Animal and Mineral Products (1886), extract; Anon., Golden Raub: A Series of Articles on the Raub Gold Mines and their Prospects (1897), extract; G E Greig, Mining in Malaya (1924), extract; Anon., 'Report on Mining in Malaya, 1939' (1939), extract; F Noetling, Report on the Petroleum Industry in Upper Burma from the End of the Last Century up to the Beginning of 1891 (1892), Extract; Anon., Report on the Mineral Production of Burma 1939 (1939), extract; H L Chhibber, 'The Salt Industry of Amherst District', Journal of the Burma Research Society (1929); Cowie Harbour Coal Co. Ltd, 'Report on the Silimpopon Coal Mines and Property, 1926' (1926), extract; 'Labuan. Lease of Coal Mines in the Island of Labuan dated 14th November, 1889' (1889) Trade Anon., Return of Imports and Exports, Straits Settlements, 1889 (1890), extract; C S Alexander, British Malaya: Malayan Statistics (1928), extract; Anon., Report of Sub-Committee with respect to Exports to Germany and Austria from the Straits Settlements (1914), extract; G D Kirsepp and C A Bartlett, Report of a Mission Appointed to Investigate the Clove Trade in India and Burma, Ceylon, British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies (1933), extract; Anon., 'A Short History of the Port of Singapore', in Anon., The Singapore Manufacturers Exhibition (1932); Anon., Memorandum on the Proposed Singapore Harbour Improvement Scheme Drawn up by a Member of the Committee of the Singapore Chamber of Commerce (1904), extract; Anon., Report on the Maritime Trade and Customs Administration of Burma for the Official Year 1924/5 (1925); Anon., Foreign Trade and Navigation of the Port of Bangkok for the Years 1918/9 (1919), extract; P K Maitri (ed.), Siam: Treaties with Foreign Powers, 1920-1927 (1928), extract Industry R Winstedt, Malay Industries. Part 1. Arts and Crafts (1909), extract; H N Carvalho, The Manufacturing Industries of the British Empire Overseas. Part 5, Newfoundland, West Indies, Ceylon, Malaya, Hong Kong, Sarawak, Drunci, Borneo (1931/2), extract; W B J Johnson, 'Preliminary Memorandum on Conditions in Pineapple Factories in Malaya'; Anon., 'Minutes of a Meeting Held at the Gardens Club, Singapore, at 2.30 p.m. on April 17th, 1936, between Pineapple Packers and Officers of the Agricultural Department' (1936); Anon., 'Quality Products of the Ho Hong Mills', Malayan Tribune Memento, 2-9 June 1932 (1932); Anon., 'World's Biggest Tin Smelters. Growth of Straits Trading Co.', The Singapore Free Press Exhibition Supplement, 2 January 1932 (1932); Anon., 'Tampenis Cement Tile Works', Malayan Tribune Memento, 2-9 June 1932 (1932); Anon., 'Steel Castings for all Purposes. Machinery Making in the Tropics', The Singapore Free Press Exhibition Supplement, 2 January 1932 (1932); G F Arnold, On Cotton Fabrics and the Cotton Industry of Burma (1897), extract; A P Morris, 'The Lacquerware Industry of Burma', Journal of the Burma Research Society (1919); Anon., Memorandum on Business Methods and Trading Regulations in Siam (1917), extract Editorial Notes List of Sources Volume 3: The Building Blocks of Development: Governance, Transport and Communications, and Human and Financial Capital A variety of systems of governance were applied to South East Asia during its time under colonial influence: direct rule, crown colony, federated and unfederated state, chartered company rule and informal rule. This volume presents sources on the infrastructure of government. Transport formed a vital part of British imperial governance. Rail, road, sea and air were all utilized for travel and communication networks. Sources reveal the planning, construction, operation and limitations of the railways, the arrival of the automobile and road system, the construction of ports, the appearance of civil aviation and the development of telegraph and postal services. Labour was also of paramount importance in operating the new mines and plantations. New opportunities for work created economic migration, and these immigrant communities were kept apart from the native workers through occupational, institutional and geographical segregation. Sources reflect the daily lives of native and migrant workers, their working conditions, pay and health. Development of these colonies was facilitated through the creation of banking and currency systems and financed by taxation, state loans issued on the London market, government, cooperative and private sector credit schemes and private investment. Governance Anon., Report on the Working of the Municipalities of British Burma for the Year 1882-83 (1883) Transport and Communications L Wray Jr, Notes on Perak with a Sketch of its Vegetable, Animal and Mineral Products (1886), extract; Anon., Fifty Years of Railways in Malaya, 1885-1935 (1935), extract; C S Alexander, British Malaya: Malayan Statistics (1928), extract; K Nankivell, A Report on Highways (1936), extract; Anon., 'A Pioneer Shipping Agency. History of Mansfield & Co.', The Singapore Free Press Exhibition Supplement, 2 January 1932 (1932), extract; Anon., 'The British India Steam Navigation Company Mail and Indian Immigration Contract, 1923' (1923), extract; Anon., Report of the Commission on the Eastern Shipping or Straits Homeward Conference as Affecting the Trade of the Colony (1902), extract; Anon., 'Report on the Development and Progress of Civil Aviation in Malaya up to and including the Year 1937' (1937), extract; Anon., 'Growth of the Postal Service. Illuminating Facts and Figures', The Singapore Free Press Exhibition Supplement, 2 January 1932 (1932), extract Human Capital C A Vlieland, British Malaya: A Report on the 1931 Census (1932), extract; C S Alexander, British Malaya: Malayan Statistics (1928), extract; P N Gerrard, On the Hygienic Management of Labour in the Tropics. An Essay (1913), extract; N E Marjoribanks and A K G Marakkayar, Report on Indian Labour Emigrating to Ceylon and Malaya (1917), extract; Anon., 'Indians in Malaya' (1926), extract; W L Blythe, Methods and Conditions of Employment of Chinese Labour in the Federated Malay States (1938), extract; Governor to British North Borneo Company, 21 December 1923 (1923), extract; Anon., Proceedings and Report of the Commission Appointed to Inquire into the Cause of the Present Housing Difficulties in Singapore, Volume 1 (1918), extract; Anon., 'Memorandum Regarding the Provision of Housing and Hospital Accommodation for Labour in Burma' (1920), extract Financial Capital Straits Settlements Government Loan. Issue of GBP4 per cent. Five Year Convertible Bonds Sufficient to Raise GBP5,000,000. Authorised by Ordinance No. 4 of 1907 (1907); Anon., Average Prices, Declared Trade Values, Exchange and Currency, Volume and Average Volume of Imports and Exports, Market Prices and Cost of Living (1930), extract; Anon., Average Prices, Declared Trade Values, Exchange and Currency, Volume and Average Volume of Imports and Exports, Market Prices and Cost of Living (1939), extract; J O Anthonisz, Currency Reform in the Straits Settlements (1915), extract; R L German, Handbook to British Malaya (1927), extract; W T Cherry, Elementary Business Practice in the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States. With Questions and Examples (1915), extract; C S Alexander, British Malaya: Malayan Statistics (1928), extract; C F Strickland, Report on Co-operation in Malaya (1929), extract Editorial Notes List of Sources Index