Port Weld

Port Weld
Author(s): M. E. Wayte
Source: Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 32, No. 1 (185)
(May, 1959), pp. 154-167
Published by: Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41503151
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Port Weld
by M. E. Wayte
( Received December 19 57)
Port Weld lies on the coast of Perak, some fifty miles south
of the port of Georgetown (on Penang Island) and about the
same distance north of Pulau Pangkor, at the mouth of the
Dindings River. All along this seaboard of the peninsula the
inshore waters are silting up rapidly. Their shallowness, low
salinity and sheltered position encourage the development of
stands, and later forests, of mangrove trees.1 Once the latter
become established, the multiple stilt-roots in turn impede the
debouchment of the rivers and the free ebb and flow of the tides.
Most of the rivers on the west side of Malaya carry an unduly
high amount of sediment, and any interference with the free
movement of the water results in its liberal deposition. As the
mangrove forest matures, it in itself increases the rate of sedi-
mentation still further, and as the mud spreads and thickens
among the clustered roots, the nominal coast-line moves slowly
seawards.
On the west coast of Malaya the mangrove zone varies in

width from a few yards to more than ten miles. At low tide the
more open sections consist of endless stretches of soft, malodorous
mud, fairly thickly beset with medium-sized trees supported on
long stilt-roots:2 at high tide the mud is usually covered by two
or three feet of water, and all but the nigher roots are
1. See J. G. Watson, 'Mangrove Forests of the Malay Peninsula', Malayan
Forest Records, 6, 1928. The pioneers of the forests as they extend
into the sea are medium-sized trees of the genus Avicennia Linn., of
which four species are recognised as occurring in Malaya, Avicennia
alba, A. lanata. A. intermedia & A. officinalis . These are followed by the
trees of the genus Rhizopho ra, two species of which occur in Malaya,
Rhizophora candelaria & R. mucronata : together these two species
make up seventy to ninety percent of the trees in any Malayan man-
grove forest. With them may be found examples of one or more
of four species of Bruguiera Lam.: of these one, B. sexangula has stilt-
roots, but only occasionally, and it prefers the parts of the forest
which are infrequently submerged. So do two other local represent-
atives of this genus, B. conjugata & B. cylindňca. The fourth species
of Bruguiera occurring in Malaya, B. parvifío ra, is found most fre-
quently growing in company with R. candelaria.
2. See note 1, above. The Malayan species with stilt-roots are the four
members of the genus Avicennia Linn, and the two members of
Rhizophora Linn. Bruguiera sexangula is occasionally found support-
ed on stilt-roots.
Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. XXXII, Pt. 1,
M. E. Wayte 155
hidden. A mangrove forest grows dense

cut it regenerates its own kind, the new fores
able from the earlier one. Most of the for
hood of Port Weld is mature, and tidal mu
are found only on its seaward border.
intersected by shallow channels represe
courses of the rivers to the open sea, togeth
by the tides and connecting each effluen
neighbours. These cross-channels are almos
the tops of the trees meeting over them
network of intercommunicating tunnel
volume of water on the move is sufficient
broad, as in most of the main waterways,
sky above. In the region of Port Weld the
some seven miles wide - and growing seaw
long in every twelve to fourteen years4
Besar, which connects the port with the s
Straits, is barely eight feet deep at high water
at the ebb.
From the landward side Port Weld is approached along a

narrow, grass-edged road which at high tide is less than three
feet above the level of the water in the surrounding swamp. For
the last two miles it is almost dead straight, with the railway
along one side and a continuous succession of nipah palms on
the other. The town is small, and though nearly eighty years
old, it still boasts only four metalled streets but partly built
up with brick and plaster shop-houses. The streets huddle close
together, two parallel to each other, with the other two crossing
them at right angles. Within the narrow confines of this 'urban'
clearing are two schools and a police-station. At the water's edge
beyond it, where the Sangga Besar ebbs and flows sluggishly past
the small, marshy islet on which the town stands, is an L-snaped
wharf, backed by a shunting line and two godowns. Here the
3. The cross-channels, which usually have at least a depth of two to
three feet at low tide, are a great help to the men who cut
mangrove wood, and no doubt would soon be made if they did not
occur naturally. But they also contribute to the silting up of the
main channels, partly by taking off some of the water, and thus
reducing the rate of flow at the ebb; and partly from the back eddies
which they produce when the tide is rising.
4. Dr. Gibson-Hill tells me that there was no mangrove off Tanjong
Rawa in 1932/33, and that some stands had appeared there by
1935/36. From aerial photographs of the site taken in 1956, the
seaward fringe of the mangrove forest was then three to four furlongs
west of the shingle bank which was still exposed twenty-four years
earlier. Until the early years of the present century this bank was
the site of a village built up on bamboo posts and known as Kg
Kuala Sělinsing.
1959] Royal Asiatic Society .
156 Port Weld (Perak)
Map A. Taiping and Port Weld: scale approximately three mil
Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. XXXII,
M. E. Wayte 157
grass-grown rails end indeterminately und

engulfing weeds, and the two godowns giv
having long borne philosophically with a
estrangement from both merchandise and
The wharf, which was rebuilt some thir

a valuable item in the town's brief list o
prevents the fringing eddies of the Sangg
the end of the island. The shallowness of the water robs it
of any other function, and the scant commerce of the port
passes to and fro by way of a squat, T-shaped floating pier. A
furlong or so to the south lies an untidy line of atap-roofed
buts perched on clumps of bamboo poles over the narrow,
silting stream which marks the beginning of the surrounding
swamp. A little further away to the north a similar, but rather
more prosperous, fishing community occupies both sides of the
Sungai Sapetang. Further away still, but to seaward and close
to a bend in the main waterway, are a number of hive-shaped
kilns for making charcoal. Over them the heated air is heavy
with the fumes of carbon monoxide and an acrid smoke.
Formerly, for a time, Port Weld moved to a much livelier

tune. For a few years it even ranked among the leading ports
of Malaya, and for fifteen months it was one terminus of the
country's only railway line. We can, in fact, refer its rise and
fall to the changing spatial relationships consequent on the
•development of the Malayan railway system. It provides an
interesting example of an artificial port brought into existence
to meet certain specific economic demands (like most of the
ports of western Malaya) with its inevitable decline when its
natural advantages proved insufficient for the developing economy.
Its history can be divided into four stages: the first, running
from about 1885 to 1892, constituting its heyday, the brief spell
of live years when the town grew and its commerce flourished;
the second, from 1892 to 1902, the beginning of stagnation and
the first reverses; the third, from 1902 to the Japanese occupation
in 1941, a period of slow decline; and finally, omitting the dead
years of Nippon-go, the fourth stage, the position as it is to-day.
(a) Port Weld was created in 1885 to provide an outlet for

the tin of Taiping, Kamunting and Larut, which at that time
together formed the leading mining district of Malaya. The tin,
lying in the alluvial deposits to the west of the Bintong Range, was
discovered (or re-discovered) in Larut about 1848, and from then
on increasing numbers of Chinese miners flowed into the area.
In 1862, and again in 1872-74, disputes between members of two
1959] Royal Asiatic Society.
rival secret societies brought work in the mines to a stan
Finally in the latter year open warfare broke out betw
partisan s, and the British government was forced to int
With the subsequent establishment of law and order,
duction of tin rose steeply.5 By 1878 there were eight
operating in Larut, employing a total of 6,843 men.6 In
all cases the tin was obtained by the simple method o
cast mining, using a Chinese chain-pump to remove the
Its export was the difficult problem. Malaya still had few
and no railways. The only possible means of disposing
tin was to send it by sea to Penang, which at least lay re
close to Larut. In the 1870's there were two ways by w
could reach the sea. One was in small, flat-bottomed boat
were quanted down the Larut river to the village of
Kertang, where the tin was loaded into small coastal
5. Capt. T. C. S. Speedy. 'Assistant Resident's Report on Larut

for the year 1874', S. S. Govt. Gaz., 3 April 1875, paras 2-2
277-79).
6. P. Doyle, Tin-mining in Larut , London, 1879, pp. 6-7: he distributes
the men and mines as follows,
Assam-Kumbang 38 mines 3,827 men
Kamunting 30 mines 1,809 men
Topai [Tupai] 12 mines 1,207 men
making a total of eighty mines and 6,843 miners, or an ave
nearly eighty-six men per mine: the largest mine at this pe
Kong Lun Kong-Si working at Kamunting, employed three
men. To the eighty mines and 6,843 miners 'might be added
six Lampan workings on the hills, at various elevations, on wh
men are engaged, either singly or in small gangs, ranging u
seldom exceeding, six shares' (Dovle, ibid., p. 7).
7. See P. Doyle, op. cit., pp. 12-15. With some justice Allan
wanted to call the similar open-cast mines at Lukut 'the tin-di
on the grounds that 'the word mines gives a false impression
(S. S. Govt Gaz., 17 April 1875, p. 315). Fo

chain-pump in Larut see Doyle, op. cit., p
he writes 'But the largest mine in the countr
Loon Kongsee in Kamunting, under the dire
Chinese gentleman, Captain Ah Quee, whose a
appliances is evinced by a centrifugal pump an
of the cumbrous, and comparatively useless, C
The European steam pump was introduced
Perak, 1877-89), who bought one on the p
$4,340 and had it put up at the Bun Hok Sing mine at Tupai„
near Taiping. Its success led the Capitan China, Ah Kwee, to erect a
10 h.p. engine with a six-inch centrifugal pump on the Kong Lun
mine, and shortly afterwards a second, larger pump. Other Chinese
miners quickly followed him. (Leonard Wray, Jun., 'Some account
of the Tin Mines .... of Perak', Perak Museum Notes , 3r 1894, pp.
1-24, see p. 15). The Chinese water wheel and chain-pump was by-
no means 'useless'. It was cheap and relatively efficient, but when
the miners were dependent on it, land could be worked for tin only
if there were a sufficient head of flowing water available to pump the
unwanted water out of the excavation.
Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. XXXII, Pt. 1,
M. E. Wayte 159
The other route was along Speedy s earth

Kertang, over which the tin was carried
Toad was poorly laid, hard to maintain
Kertang and Matang in wet weather; ca
the cart t^ffic; and mining involved rem
which in turn led to rapid silting of the L
for several years these two channels prov
1880 the steady increase in production ha
Port Weld was evoked to provide bette
Its construction was associated with the bu
way in Malaya. This was laid from Taipin
ference to Telok Kertang as it was nearer
anchorage in the Sungai Sapetang). Her
.small port which was named after the cu
Straits Settlements, Sir Frederick Aloy
no railway had been built previously in
«engineers in the country with sufficient ex
work. The Ceylon government was, theref
the line, which was taken over and operat
ment on its completion. The foundations f
vided - before the engineers had been c
the tailings from the tin mines into the s
Unfortunately the unstable nature of the
by this method seriously hindered the su
line. Initially also only engineers and supe
Ceylon. Then the Perak government f
obtain sufficient labourers locally, in com
increasing requirements of the mines
necessary to bring in labour from Ceylon
In all, though the line is only eight an
it took over four years to build and was
service until 1 June 1885.10
8. On the road from Tanjong Kěrtang via Pě
Taiping in 1875, see Allan Skinner, S. S. Go
p. 317. It appears that Miss Isabella L. Bird t
road in 1879, though she calls her landin
( Té lok Kartang).
9. The work done by two corps of Ceylon Pi
10. On the morning of 12 February 1885 H. E
Lady Clementi Smith arrived at the mouth
Se a Belle. They were met by F. A. Swetten
Perak, and C. V. Creagh, Assistant Resident
Kinta, "by which vessel they proceeded to P
the railway line to Taiping, the distance of e
in about forty mintes. His Excellency was r
by a guard of honour of the Perak Sikhs. .
to whether there was an official ceremony w
to traffic on 1st fune 1885'. (condensed from
For a few years Port Weld was one of the leading

Malaya, outranked only by Malacca and Georgeto
It was the chief outlet for Larut and northern Pe
limited extent it even served the Kinta valley. Along
line and through Port Weld passed all of the tin
Larut, and the other exports of northern Perak, suc
coffee, sugar and cinchona. In the other direction w
food, opium and mining supplies for Larut, and a larg
of the supplies required in Kinta. Ten trains every d
to and from the port, and ships called daily linking i
By 1888 the wharf was found to be insufficient
requirements, and it was augmented during the
construction of a floating pier. Between Septemb
June 1890 the Taiping line was extended to Kamu
in June 1891 work was started on a further extensio
from Kamunting to Belanda Mabok (since renamed U
on representations by the Dutch Consul11). Work on
section was delayed at one stage by shortage of sleeper
not finally opened for traffic until July the following y
while, during 1891 contracts were let for the constru
Kinta Valley Railway to run south from Ipoh to
(a distance of thirty-four miles) and thence west
Tapah Road to Telok Anson (a further twenty miles)
(b) Port Welďs most prosperous period was un

in Malaya, I885-I935, Kuala Lumpur, 1935, p. 9). Presum
was not, in fact, any official inauguration: neither have we
find any explicit statement on the total cost of the eight a
miles of track.
Malaya's second railway, the line from Kg Kuantan (oppo
town, on the north side of the Klang river) to Kuala Lump
ed formally by Weld on 15 September 1886. The prelimina
had been made early in 1883, and construction work began
end of the year. The Selangor railway opened with a sche
trains a day, and cost a little under £6,000 sterling per m
the Connaught bridge over the Klang river was starte
and the bridge was opened for traffic on 17 April the fol
(see J. M. Gullick, JMBRAS , 28, (4), pp. 44-53 & pp. 1
11. Fifty Years of Railways in Malaya, 1885-1935, pp. 27-
12. The work was divided into two contracts, as above. The
tion, from Telok Anson to the 16th mile on the T
including the Bidor bridge, was completed by April 18
officially opened for traffic by Sir Cecil Clementi Smith
(see Pmang Gazette , 20 May 1893). The same year the c
the construction of the line from Ipoh to Tapah Road w
by the Resident Engineer for Railways, on the grounds th
efficient staff, a government can construct its own railways
mically and expeditiously, and ensure better work, than if
is employed' (Fifty Years of Railways
of the line from Ipoh to Tapah Road was comp
traffic in 1895.
Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. X
M. E. Wayte 161
short. While the tin production of Larut r

was exported along the railway to Port W
by the early 1890's tin production in Larut
The primitive methods of mining at this pe
the surface; working to any depth was alm
of the high water-table and the inefficie
methods. Consequently, after the tin h
the top layers of the ground, the Chinese
Larut and move to the developing tin-field
Many boom mines in Larut were closed
output during the 1890's is indicated by the
1884 - 135,889 standard pikul
The output of tin from Larut remained low
the first World War when new methods of
the use of the dredge, were introduced and
Whilst Larut was thus declining in the 1890
busy scraping the top off the Kinta valle
increased from 26,279 pikul in 1889 to 134,
13. The standard or Chinese bhara is 400 lbs avo
a pikul of 133 $ lbs or 100 kati : but until 189
own ideas on the subject, the Perak bhara bein
Perak pikul approximately 142.6275 lbs or 10
including, the year 1893 all official records pu
Government use the Perak pikul: thereafter the
Chinese pikul , for units of weight. In order th
after 1893 shall be strictly comparable, figure
paper have been corrected where necessary: in al
are quoted in pikul units, the pikul is the Chin
of 100 kati or 133 i lbs avoirdupois.
14. Leonard Wray, Jun., gives the yearly export of
Perak by districts, from 1874-92 inclusive, in
3, 1894, opp. p. 16: his figures are in local
require to be multiplied by 1.07 to bring the
Annual figures for the years 1893-95 inclusive a
Annual Reports, published in the Perak Gover
Govt Printing Office, Taiping, 1894-96. For th
the Annual Reports appear in the Federated Mala
Gazette , Govt Printer, Kuala Lumpur, 1897-1
from Larut cited in the F. M. S. Govt Gazette
Gazette from 7, 1894, onwards are given in st
not require correction.
Map B. Malayan railway system from Prai to Telok Anson, and

tin-mining districts in Perak.
Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. XXXII, P
M. E. Wayte 163
A further blow to Port Welďs prosperity

when the line from Ipoh through the K
Road was completed: Tapah Road was alr
railway with Telok Anson,16 a port in the s
of the Perak river. This new line diverted m
traffic. Not only did it carry all the outpu
then replacing Larut as the premier mining
all the food and supplies for that area. Form
of these commodities had been imported
carried by rail to Taiping and thence to Ki
track over a high pass through the Bintang
of the new line was thus a severe blow to P
1896 the value of imports dropped by $876
into Telok Anson rose by $1,120,000.
By 1898 the Kinta valley had become

producing district of Perak, and Port W
Telok Angon as the chief port of the state.
calling at the former port, in particular
Steamship Company, the principal shipping
on this coast. The number of trains betw
Weld was also reduced, to keep running cos
of the diminishing income.
For a time Port Weld continued as the ou

district, though its traffic was now much
In 1900 there were still 806 vessels, albe
register. But in 1902 it received a furthe
railway linking Taiping to Prai, on the main
was opened for traffic. This line was part o
ham's great trunk railway, designed to foll
grain of the country and run from Prai to
to the coast; in this way he aimed at linkin
and newly developed rubber estates in the f
Malaya. With the completion of the nor
miners of Larut were able to transport their
to Penang; no longer were they dependant
steamers, the only vessels which could en
saving of time and expense was considerable
the port dues, the freight to Penang and th
of trans-shipment from rail to ship at P
the direct route to Penang carried more an
15. This line (Telok Anson to the 16th mile T
for traffic on 18 May 1893 - see footnote 12
was named in honour of Col. (afterwards Gen
Anson, K.C.M.G., 1826-1925, Inspector-General
1858-67, and subsequently Lieutenant-Governor
of Larut and in the second decade of this century

ceased to rank as a tin-exporting port.
(c) After the early part of the century the port's

gradual. The ships calling there became smaller in nu
in size as the Sungai Sangga Besar slowly silted u
the main channel there is less than a foot of water a
and the shoals are always changing their positions. B
passing through the port still continued, though declin
until 1941; and the goods involved in the trade change
duction from Larut increased again as a result of alter
of mining, but almost all of the ore was despatched b
to the smelters at Penang: very little passed through
But while the export of tin declined, that of rubber
The early part of the century saw the establishme
rubber estates on the western side of Malaya: in
occupied much of the land that was not owned by
companies. In particular the coastal plain of Matan
Larut and the mangrove belt has been largely devote
since the time of the first world war. Up to 1941 mu
output from these estates was exported from Port
rubber formed a large percentage to the traffic o
Nevertheless, in 1939 this amounted to only 2Vi%
rail-borne rubber exports of Malaya, compared to 22
Prai and 41.5% through Port Swettenham. Since 1
of rubber have ceased completely.
During this pre-war period imports were still hig

Throughout the 1920's imports on the railway aver
tons per month, although this figure probably includ
from the surrounding forests which was not strictly
(the railway and wharf statistics do not distinguish be
imports and local products which are carried inlan
Nevertheless, ships of up to seventy-five tons belong
Straits Steamship Company were calling regularly
and in 1928 a new concrete wharf was erected. A
imports, oil from the Dutch East Indies for the tin m
high. Live cattle were imported from Siam for their
to be used as draught animals, and Port Weld was the
centre for the State for these animals. Nearer home th
mangrove forests stretching for miles along the coas
huge supplies of firewood, charcoal and mangrove
industries were among the leading occupations of the
as the town declined as a port they became increasingly si
Until the development of Malaya's coalfield at Batu A
of her trains, and many of the tin mines around Tai
firewood from the mangrove forests for fuel.
Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. XXXII, P
M. E. Wayte 165
At the 1931 census the population of

only 1,572 while that of the surrounding
1,275, making a total of 2,847. Of these 1,
1,441 were Chinese. Since then there ha
nearly 900 persons, and in 1947 Port We
and Matang 1,375, totalling 3,726. The M
1,250 and the Chinese 2,261. 16 The incr
not due to any improvement in the port b
elopment of local activities in and around
1930's. The charcoal industry in particular
period: it attracted principally Chinese
industry is mainly in Chinese hands. Ma
village close to Port Weld when parts of th
were drained to form land for rice cult
gardens. This was intended to relieve th
town, for previously there had been little
and most of the food which was required
from outside. But cultivation has prove
the saline soil and food has still to be imp
During this stage the character of Port W

with the port declining and the local activ
on external trade becoming more importa
(d) Today Port Weld can hardly be regar

the third period from 1902 to 1941 its
depended on its past momentum and th
steadily decreasing. During the Japanes
were pulled up to be used for the railway
they were later replaced. During 1949/
Indonesian craft brought Indonesian pro
but this trade has now ceased. Straits Steam
call: for them Port Weld is too near to Pe
the cargoes into the two ports is too much
for the Taiping district are no longer importe
disappeared from the list of exports and t
copra waste, which is used for pig-food.
The reasons for its decline fall under

main trunk railway running from Penang
to the coast has lessened the need for north
traffic and consequently reduced the need
transverse railway lines. This has been f
the deliberate policy of directing traffic t
16. Vlieland, C. A. A Report on the 1 93 1 Cen
Agents for the Colonies, London, 1931. del T
on the 1947 Census of Population, ibid., 194
of Penang and Singapore, and by-passing the small lo

This is particularly applicable to rort Weld where
and harbour installations are owned by the Malaya
and the prosperity of the port depends on the amoun
that the railway sends to the port and the extent to
railway is prepared to expend money on port faci
it is the policy of the railway to transport direct to
ports, it is obvious that the future trade of Port We
very small indeed, for Port Weld is almost entirely d
on its railway.
(2) the rising importance of lorries and road tra
meet the transport demands of western Malaya. As in
lorries can now act as tributaries to the main trunk
and these reduce the need for local railways. Betwe
wars increasing competition from road transport h
Railways severely and the increasing disuse of Port W
necessary economy for the railway authorities.
(3) the increasing shallowness of the approaches to
due to the coastal sedimentation.
At present Port Weld is little more than a coast

Those activities which formerly were subsidiary to th
represent its principal occupations. Three-quarters of
tion is engaged in fishing or in one of the industries a
the wood of the mangrove forests. Of the 280 vessels
at Port Weld in 1951, 201 were of less than five to
such small vessels being necessary for movement a
shallows and through the mangrove belt, as well as for
the Straits of Malacca. Charcoal manufacture is
important of the occupations. The collectors move
forest waterways in large rowing boats (tongkang)
scheduled for cutting. Subsequently the timber, tr
suitable lengths, is carried back to the kilns. Thes
near to the water, so that the wood which is brought
and the charcoal which is taken away, are easily trans
tongkang . The charcoal industry is now very prosper
several hundred kilns in operation in or around Port
charcoal is exported by sea as far as Penang and Sin
well as by rail, the total production of the Matang fo
amounting to 40,000 pikul per month.17
In a similar way the forests are exploited for fire-w
production for the district being about 160,000 pikul pe
17. This is the standard pikul of a hundred kati, i.e. 133
thousand pikul a month is approximately 2.380 lonp tons
18. Approximately, 9,520 long tons per month.
Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. XXXII, Pt
M. E. Wayte 167
This too is exported to Penang and also

Telok Anson and Muar, although the prop
and road is less than in the case of the ch
The third principal occupation is fish

on with nets from small boats outside the
traps made of lines of bamboo stakes built
catch is not a big one, but it is enough
with its own needs, and there is usually
dried or salted fish. One of thé old wharv
as a fish market where this surplus catch
consists largely of mackerel,19 crabs and pr
Since all of these activities depend on m

one of the small creeks near to the port h
the building of the small, shallow boat
mainly used. Other activities are few
vegetable production are confined to th
port, whilst the poverty of the shops in t
an indication of the limited cash trade in the town and the self-
reliance of the people.
As a port, Port Weld is no longer significant and for the

various reasons given above it is difficult to see it appearing in
the future as an exporter or importer of any note. It has become,
and will remain, like many other coastal villages of Malaya, semi-
isolated from the rest of the country and living a life based on its
immediate environment.
Sources
This paper was based partly on field work carried out in

Port Weld and district during 1955, and partly on a study of
the following material.
F. M. S. Annual Reports for 1896 to 1 939. Government Printer,
Kuala Lumpur, 1897-1940.
Perak Government Gazette. Government Printer, Taiping, Perakr
1888-96.20
Perak Handbook for 1892 & J 893. Taiping, Perak, 1893 & 1894.
Perak Pioneer & Native States Advertiser. Taiping, Perak, 1894-1906.
Straits Settlements Government Gazette. Government Printer ,
Singapore, 1875-85.
19. Probably mostly kěmbong, i.e. Caranx kaIJa Cuv. & Val., which can
be taken throughout the year off the coasts of Kedah and parts of
Peninsular Siam: it is the most important of the horse-mackerel or
yellow- tails in Malayan waters.
20. Ferale Government Gazette, lf No. 1, was published on Friday, 31
August 1888: Government Printing Office, Taiping, Perak.

Port Weld

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Port Weld

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Port Weld

On the west coast of Malaya the mangrove zone varies in

Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. XXXII, Pt. 1,

hidden. A mangrove forest grows dense

From the landward side Port Weld is approached along a

1959] Royal Asiatic Society .

Map A. Taiping and Port Weld: scale approximately three mil

Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. XXXII,

grass-grown rails end indeterminately und

The wharf, which was rebuilt some thir

Formerly, for a time, Port Weld moved to a much livelier

(a) Port Weld was created in 1885 to provide an outlet for

1959] Royal Asiatic Society.

5. Capt. T. C. S. Speedy. 'Assistant Resident's Report on Larut

(S. S. Govt Gaz., 17 April 1875, p. 315). Fo

Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. XXXII, Pt. 1,

The other route was along Speedy s earth

1959] Royal Asiatic Society .

For a few years Port Weld was one of the leading

(b) Port Welďs most prosperous period was un

Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. X

short. While the tin production of Larut r

1959] Royal Asiatic Society .

Map B. Malayan railway system from Prai to Telok Anson, and

Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. XXXII, P

A further blow to Port Welďs prosperity

By 1898 the Kinta valley had become

For a time Port Weld continued as the ou

1959] Royal Asiatic Society.

of Larut and in the second decade of this century

(c) After the early part of the century the port's

During this pre-war period imports were still hig

Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. XXXII, P

At the 1931 census the population of

During this stage the character of Port W

(d) Today Port Weld can hardly be regar

The reasons for its decline fall under

1959] Royal Asiatic Society.

of Penang and Singapore, and by-passing the small lo

At present Port Weld is little more than a coast

Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. XXXII, Pt

This too is exported to Penang and also

The third principal occupation is fish

Since all of these activities depend on m

As a port, Port Weld is no longer significant and for the

This paper was based partly on field work carried out in

1959] Royal Asiatic Society .

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