MALAYA
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a market t( ftivate
says Harold Champion
THE Federation of Malaya is fortunate in one thing at least : she has an enormous amount of money to spend. Indeed, if one economic worry looms larger than another, it is that she may not be able to spend the large balances of sterling and dollars that now stand to her credit in the U.S.A. and Britain.
The fact is, of course, that Malaya has something which the whole Western hemisphere wants—rubber. Vast though her production of this precious material is, she has a hard job to satisfy the demands of the stockpiling re-arming nations this side of the Iron Curtain.
Malaya's export figures for 1950 look like an astronomical table. In November alone she sent material to the value of $541m. abroad and imported $367m. worth. At the end of the same month the favourable trade balance was $846m. Exports kr the U.S. increased to $155m. and imports from the U.K. rose to $42m.
What is abundantly clear to the Malayan Government now is that the very rearmament to which in large part this prosperity is owed bids fair to hinder essential imports from the U.K. Moreover, what is important in the present context, our ability to sell motor vehicles to her is likely to suffer seriously because of the increasing tempo of our defence programme. Business will be anything but as usual in 1951, and even less so in 1952 and 1953, says the President of the Board of Trade.
If we do not ship to Malaya all the vehicles ordered, it will not be the fault of British industry, which is by no means likely to neglect so good a customer. When it is remembered that during 1950 the Federation of Malaya bought from the U.K. 1,823 units to the value of more than Elm., as compared with £235,451 in 1949 and £332,204 in 1948, it is clear that here is a customer to foster.
Favourably disposed although she is for sentimental and political reasons to the U.K., there is little doubt that if she cannot buy what she requires from us, Malaya will turn to America and other hard-currency suppliers. This she is well able to do, because of her strong position as a dollar. earner.
One of the worst problems at present is the scarcity of shipping space. Trade interests here and in the Far East regards the situation with increasing anxiety.
Road transport in the Federation is controlled by the Road Transport Department. which is responsible for the registration and licensing of vehicles, the testing of drivers, the control of passenger and goods transport, the examination of all motor vehicles, and the enforcement of the code of construction and equipment. Before the Japanese invasion in 1941, these controls were rather sketchily applied, but since liberation they have been tightened up.
The control. of commercial road transport is based on the British pattern. Buses are operated under licence, the conditions of which govern timetables and fares. Special licences have to be obtained to run hackney carriages. The goodsvehicle licensing system is almost a replica of the British plan and under it, A, B, and C licences are granted, is in this country. The main difference is that maximum -ates are prescribed for the transport of goods for hire 3r. reward, and the points between which hauliers and =Wary users may operate are laid down.
Operators in Malaya are highly satisfied customers. British manufacturers have studied local regulations and :onditions imaginatively and seriously, with the result hat a large percentage of all vehicles now in use is 3f British origin. Complaints heard some time ago • hat chassis from the U.K. could not be used because their excessive overall width and weight have now argely been met.
The standard of buses operating in Malaya has greatly mproved. Bodies are for the most part locally built ind have been standardized by types and seating :apacity. The result is that prefabrication has 1eveloped rapidly and full use is made of local products, .uch as sponge and rubber.
Two years ago British double-deck buses ,were ntroduced for the first time. They were Guy 56eaters with Park Royal bodies and operated between (Ayala Lumpur and Cheras.. Unfortunately one of them iet an untimely end. After only three months it was :stroyed by bandits. Nevertheless, early in 1950, three lore double-deckers were carrying the admiring )pulace of Kuala Lumpur.
Bus services run everywhere the roads allow and issengers exist. They cover about 6,685 mites. During )49, the latest year for which figures are extant, they irried 120m. passengers and covered 57m, miles. 1.1ring that year, 365 new buses, including 32 oilers, ere put into service.
The Motor Vehicle (Construction and Use) Regolams, 1948, provide standards and dimensions to which buses are constructed. Operators are required to submit a plan and elevation drawing of the bodies they propose to use before construction.
On some highways the weight of vehicles is restricted to 5 tons. Other roads themselves restrict the width and length of buses, and make it difficult for operators to find a type of chassis for these routes which complies with the regulations. Where conditions permit, buses are authorized with a maximum overall length of 28 ft. and an overall width of 7 ft. 6 ins.
The usual complement is 38 passengers, but on some express services, seating capacity is reduced for greater comfort.
Although the companies have done their best to operate normal timetables, bus .services in the remoter rural areas have suffered badly from banditry. Road transport is specially vulnerable to the kind of attack practised by the terrorists and, of course, it is impracticable to give each vehicle an armed escort. Many buses have been ambushed and destroyed, although death and injury to passengers and crews have been rare. The Government speaks in thc highest possible terms of the courage of bus employees, who stubbornly refuse to be intimidated.
A sadder story, alas, must be told about goods vehicles. Estate lorries and timber and food-carrying vehicles have been subjected to numerous and vicious attacks. Casualties have been high and damage to material extensive.
The Malayan market for motor vehicles will pay for further study and enterprise. Apart from the demand for bus chassis and lorries a new market could be developed for " trishaws "—motor-driven tircycles of the type made by the Dot Cycle and Motor Manufacturin,,c, Co., Ltd. The Japanese are working hard to develop this kind of vehicle and may be depended upon to try to get them into Malaya in a big way later on.
Despite early caution about these machines, the authorities are becoming more amenable to their use. They could be employed in almost the whole field of light road transport and would justify themselves if only by displacing the thousands of pedal trishaws which are a menace in the streets of Malayan towns. Last year the municipal commissioners of Kuala Lumpur tested a vehicle of this kind and in Penang the registrar of vehicles is prepared to license its use.