He made another unsuccessful attempt in 1926 to form a joint Medical Department under a Director with advisory powers. When he left Malaya in 1927, Maxwell still held the field.
The power struggle between Maxwell and Guillemard paved the way for a new decentralisation policy. To a High Commissioner determined to wield
real control over the FMS, Maxwell*s intransigence must have appeared
particularly unwelcome and obstructive. Already in 1922 Guillemard attempted 105
to remove Maxwell from the FMS over the Lucas case. The Chief Secretary*s inconsiderate treatment of this subordinate officer was held partly
responsible for Lucas’ suicide. The Secretary of State, however, refused to accede to Guillemard's request since he attributed the suicide mainly to mental illness.
Despite the failure of the movement to restore the title of Resident- General, the Guillemard-Maxwell antagonism intensified. It was aggravated by the worsening feuds between James and Maxwell since the latter felt that the High Commissioner sided with J a m e s . M a x w e l l , therefore, tended to be increasingly insubordinate to the High Commissioner, and in mid-1923 went to the extent of accusing Guillemard of having misled the General Manager,
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Governor of Windward Islands, Guillemard successfully recommended Hose as Colonial Secretary in the hope that Hose would help restore harmony between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. This failed, and Guillemard continued his policy
of reducing the Chief Secretary’s status whenever possible. In 1924* in the
face of Maxwell’s opposition, he instructed that the Rulers should take
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precedence over the Chief Secretary in all public functions. His attempt
also to give precedence over the Chief Secretary to the General Commander of Troops, Malaya, failed to obtain London’s support. These squabbles culminated in 1924 when Guillemard severely censured Maxwell for two errors made in a financial statement. Calling Maxwell ”an amateur in Finance” , Guillemard warned him that ”if I have further ground for complaint, I may have to take
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official action". ' Maxwell appealed to Whitehall against this censure but
without success.
The power struggle gradually eroded Whitehall's confidence and trust in Maxwell. This was particularly significant because before 1922 it was to
him that the Colonial Office had repeatedly turned for advice. Compared
with his thirty-odd years of Malayan experience, Guillemard stood in a
singularly disadvantageous position. However, the tables began to be turned because of Maxwell's agitation for the restoration of the title of Resident- General. The Chief Secretary's persistence in the matter was regarded as active disloyalty to the High Commissioner said the Secretary of State. Whitehall also strongly disapproved of Maxwell's repeated and blatant
insubordination to the High Commissioner. Moreover the official feuds adversely affected the administrations of the Colony and the FMS,^"^ and Maxwell was held to be mainly responsible. It was against this background
of growing Colonial Office alienation towards Maxwell, together with the High Commissioner's active hostility that an event of great significance occurred in August 1924.
of State for a policy of accelerated decentralisation in the FMS. The Sultan requested that 'the {_ PangkorJ Treaty be followed in its exact terms .... The Ruler should be treated as a Ruler and the Resident carry out on his behalf and with this co-operation the policy arrived at by them and in
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consultation with a more powerful State Council'. Complaining that a 113
"chess-board king" was uneviable, the Sultan emphasised
"that it was clearly wrong that he, the Ruler of the richest
and most important State in the Peninsula should have considerably less authority in his State than [_ for example J the Sultan of Kedah had in his."
He desired, therefore, to be restored to a position of authority comparable to that of the Sultan of Kedah or Johore. Towards that end he suggested that the powers of the Chief Secretary be devolved to the Residents until the Chief Secretary became a purely co-ordinating federal officer. Likewise, the Perak State Council should be restored to its position during the pre- Federation days when it could enact State laws and approve the State
115 Estimates drafted and submitted by the Perak authorities.
In his discussion with the Colonial Office, the Sultan of Perak showed signs of animosity towards Maxwell. The main reason,to have been the Chief Secretary*s stringent regulation of the Sultan's finance to curb royal extravagance.^^ But it is surprising that the Sultan should have gone out of his way to plead with the Colonial Office that Guillemard's stay in Malaya be extended by a few years to enable the latter to carry out
decentralisation. The High Commissioner had hitherto contributed very little to decentralisation. It seems certain that Guillemard and the Sultan had previously discussed the question of decentralisation, since the High
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Commissioner was aware of the Sultan's views. It is also possible that Guillemard had informed the Sultan of a decentralisation scheme he claimed
11B
to have been engaged on for eventual submission to the Colonial Office. If this scheme was similar to the one he subsequently sent to London, he could not have raised it himself with the Colonial Office without exposinghis intention to remove Maxwell from the FMS. On the other hand if the Sultan would first appeal to Whitehall for a radical policy the way would have been paved for him to make his move. While the Sultan's desire for a larger degree of power cannot be questioned, one is tempted to conclude that his complaint to the Secretary of State might have been partly instigated by the High Commissioner.
Be that as it may, the Sultan's complaint shattered whatever confidence Whitehall still had in Maxwell. Even Collins complained that the Chief
Secretary had been abusing his near autocratic powers and had not been treating the Rulers with the tact and attention they deserved. Not fully informed of the decentralisation movement in the FMS, Collins wrongly
assumed that since his appointment as Chief Secretary Maxwell had turned his back on decentralisation. The lack of advance in decentralisation was
attributed to Maxwell's greed for power. The Colonial Office feared that the Chief Secretary would be the principal obstacle to any drastic
political reorganisation necessary to meet the susceptibilities of the FMS Rulers.
The Sultan's profound dissatisfaction also convinced the Colonial
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Office that a more radical decentralisation policy was essential. As the Secretary of State advised Guillemard, the Sultan's aspirations could be met fully only through "a break-up of the present Federation". This the Colonial Office was not willing to concede at this juncture since it would work against efficiency, economy and uniformity of policy in the four states
concerned. But Whitehall was ready to dissolve the Federation in the future
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if it would result in a new and wider federation. Once this wider unit was realised British control could be re-tightened over the member states,