Architecture/ Contents

Tin mines and plantations

Henry S. Barlow

British colonial administrators, who were drawn in the wake of mining booms into the affairs of Perak and Selangor, had realized that greater prosperity in the country could be achieved by improving its infrastructure. Thus, in 1886, Frank Swettenham, later Resident-General of the Federated Malay States, declared that it was 'Britain's duty to open up the country by great works: roads, railways, telegraphs, wharves'.

  • Information in the full article includes
  • Building railways and roads
  • The development of plantations
  • The building boom
Taiping station

Taiping Station, built in 1885, was the country's first railway station. The railway joined Port Weld 12 kilometres away.