[26]
" Lo, as the bark that hath discharged her
fraught
Returns’ with "precious”lading to the
bay
From whence at first she weigh'd her
anchorage."
Tituti Andronicus.
Having described
the internal communications by road and rail, a few words on the Ports and
Waterways of Perak will not be out of place.
Beginning from
the northern boundary o£ the State, there are eleven navigable rivers used by
coasting steamers and native craft trading with Perak. First, there is the
Krian river, in its upper course dividing Perak from the Malay State of Kedah;
but, for the last few miles before it reaches the sea, wholly in British
Territory. This considerable stream is only navigable for native boats in the
upper reaches, practically as far as Selama, while nothing larger than a steam
launch can cross the bar except at high water. There are only seven feet on the
bar at the top of spring tides. Nevertheless, there is a daily steam launch
service from Penang to Nibong Tebal in Province Wellesley ; and, before the
pontoon bridge was constructed, these launches ascended to Parit Buntar, the
principal station of the Krian District of Perak and a place of some importance
as the centre of a large rice and sugar producing country. There is a very
considerable trade carried by native craft between Parit Buntar and Penang. A
little further south, is the Gula river giving access to the large sugar estate
of that name; and, further south, yet, is the Kurau river, navigable for steam
launches
PORTS AND WATERWAYS |
About Perak
[27]
and native craft. But, here
again, the shallowness of the water on the bar is a difficulty. There is a
large fishing village at the mouth of the Kurau river and, higher up, are
Sungei Siakap and Bagan Serai, both thriving places, while the banks of the
river are covered with splendid sugar canes as far as the eye can reach. This
river is fringed by the nipah palm of which 'atap' (thatch) is made; and, from the head waters, are floated down
quantities of valuable timber that find their way to Penang.
Still going
southward, there are the Silensing and Larut rivers, by either of which vessels
can reach Port Weld and Matang—the former the terminus of the Larut Railway,
the latter the terminus of the Taipeng-Matang road.
Between Port
Weld and Penang, there is daily communication by coasting vessels of small
draught, while Matang is much patronised by native sailing craft. From Port
Weld to Taipeng, the principal town of Larut and also of the State, there is no
cart road,—only a railway and bridle road. But, by taking their goods to Matang
and loading them in bullock carts. Native traders find that they can get them
more cheaply and, sometimes with less breakage, to their own doors in Taipeng,
Kuala Kangsar, orKinta, than by shipping in
steamers, discharging into the railway at Port Weld and then having to resort to
the bullock cart to get them to their destination.
Port Weld is
interesting from the fact that, in spite of its position as the spot where 'wheel
meets keel'; in spite of its comparative proximity to Penang (40 miles); its
daily arrival and de-
PORTS AND WATERWAYS |
About Perak
[28]
parture of steamers and its fresh
water supply from the Larut hills, it remains an absolute failure as a
Settlement. The inhabitants of Port Weld are Government employes and half a
dozen petty shopkeepers to supply their wants and those of a neighbouring
fishing village. The lesson taught is one that should not be thrown away, for
the Government has spent very considerable sums in building good wharves,
bunding out the sea, making roads, and laving on pure water. The fact is,
however, that Port Weld is simply a place of transit, a station at which to
walk from ship to train or vice versa, and everything that has to be done there
can be done perfectly without the presence of the people who find it pleasanter
and more profitable to live in Taipeng or elsewhere. The very facilities
afforded by the Government, a few yards of planking dividing train from
steamer, conduce to this result. And if a business man thinks it necessary to
go to Port Weld to superintend the discharge of shipping of goods, if he will
not trust the railway or steamer people, or has no one to send, why should he
stay at a disagreeable place when twenty minutes, training will take him home
again ? No, Port Weld is a type of such places ; and none of them will develop
into the Singapores and Hongkongs of the future—because the circumstances are
totally different.
Between the
Larut and Perak Rivers there are the Trong, Jarum Mas, Bruas, and Dinding ;
but, though each is frequented by a few native craft, they are, none of them,
worth more than passing mention.
PORTS AND WATERWAYS |
About Perak
[29]
The Perak River,
has, for years, been of importance ; because, by this river and its tributary,
the Kinta, was, until recently, the only access to the Districts of Kinta,
Batang Padang, and Lower Perak. Kinta is the greatest tin-producing District in
Perak. Batang Padang promises to follow in its footsteps, and Lower Perak is a
country capable of great agricultural development which, until two years ago,
did a large trade in atap nipa with
Sumatra ; and, since the prospects of tobacco are reviving, may do so again.
But, now, on the
Perak River, forty miles from its mouth, has grown out of the jungle an important
and prosperous town called Teluk Anson. This town is the terminus of the Kinta
Valley Railway, the value of which undertaking has already been explained. The
entrance to the Perak River is well lighted, the bar offers no difficulties to
coasting steamers, the river as far as Teluk Anson is wide and deep ; and,
while there is a daily steamer service to Penang, there is communication every
other day with the coast ports to the southward ending with Singapore, Teluk
Anson is the market of the Lower Perak District and, as such, occupies a very
different position from a port without trade of its own; moreover, it has no
rival to fear ; for, if, as seems unlikely, a railway should be constructed
from Kinta to the Dinding River, Teluk Anson would still remain the port of
Lower Perak, Batang Padang, and the wide stretch of country between these
places and the boundary with Selangor.
The Bernam
River, from source to mouth, forms the southern boundary of Perak. Once the bar
is crossed, and that can be done
PORTS AND WATERWAYS |
About Perak
[30]
at half-tide, the river is
navigable for steamers for about seventy miles, but at present the population
is very small, and their needs are supplied by native vessels.
Practically,
then, the trade of Perak with the outside world is carried on through two
ports—Teluk Anson and Port Weld; and, when it is considered that the trade is
worth roughly twenty millions of dollars annually, and that almost all
passengers are dependent on the steamers which carry it, something more than a
mild surprise may be expressed at the character of the accommodation which is
offered. From Port Weld to Penang is forty miles, and from Teluk Anson to
Penang 130 miles. But. during the south-west monsoon, the weather, though not
quite what is met with in the English Channel, is still sufficiently unpleasant
to make anyone hesitate to attempt even so short a journey on vessels, whose
owners seem fully satisfied if they can get safely from port to port in any
length of time, carrying as heavy a cargo and as many deck passengers as
possible; neither cargo nor passengers being the pleasantest of companions in
even the calmest weather. The vessels are said to be all owned in Singapore or
Penang, where some of them were built, when and by whom would probably puzzle
the ‘oldest inhabitant’ to tell.
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