STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.

£2,250 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Annual Departmental Reports for the Year 1920 (As Laid Before the Legislative Council). First edition, rare in commerce, of this collection of over two dozen reports on governance, economics, healthcare, immigration, crime, and education, supported with a wealth of statistical data.In his summation, Frederick Seton James (1870-1934), the colonial secretary between 1916 and 1924, describes the impact of post-war economic and geopolitical readjustments on the Straits Settlements. "The year 1920... will long be remembered for its bright beginning and its gloomy end. Singapore, as the meeting place of the Eastern commerce of all nations, is naturally very sensitive to world conditions of trade. The brisk demand of the opening months and the slowness of delivery of goods caused prices to mount to unprecedented heights... The part of this Colony is perforce that of a deeply interested observer. The raw materials of the country, the tin and rubber and copra, await the certainty of industrial recovery in Europe, and it is for us to conserve our resources in confident expectation to be ready to rise on the floodtide of a world revival" (pp. 147-149).

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