ABSTRACT
Malaya’s three ocean going ports were Port Swettenham at the mouth of the Klang River, Penang, lying at the north end of the Malacca straits, and Singapore, which by 1914 in terms of shipping tonnage handled was the seventh busiest in the world. Although Port Swettenham possessed a landlocked harbour and both it and Penang had good wharves and warehouses and railway connections, they were not on world shipping routes. ey thus largely acted as a landing place for Indian immigrants and as entrepôts, sending local produce to Singapore, where it was sometimes processed and shipped to the West, Japan and East Asia. As for the lesser ports, those on the east coast were almost inaccessible during the north-east monsoon season and were constrained by sand bars, which made navigation dif- cult. Nonetheless, much local produce was moved through Kelantan, Tumpat, Bachok, Semark, Kuala Trengganu, Chuckai, Kuantan, Pekan, Endau and Mersing. On the south and west coasts, Johore possessed Muar and Batu Pahat, the port through which Japanese miners exported iron ore; Perak had Teluk Anson, Sitiawan, Port Weld and Kuala Kurau; Negri Sembilan had Port Dickson; Selanger had Kuala Selangor; and Kedah had Sungei Patani and Alor Star.1
