British Borneo

vernment was supposed to have at heart, but in all probability, the real reason of the willingness on the Sultan's part to cede it was his desire to obtain a powerful ally to assist him in reasserting

ter to the Court of Directors as follows. He says that he found the reason of their unanimous inclination to cultivate the friendship and alliance of the Company was their desire f

occasion of their being expelled by the Sulus from Balamban

s, conveyed through Sir Edward Belcher, and asked for immediate assistance "to protect Borneo from the pirates of Marudu," a Bay situated at the northern extremity of Borneo-assistance which was rendered in the following August, when the village of Marudu was attacked and destroyed, though it is perhaps open to doubt whether the chief, Osman, quite deserved the punishment he received. On the 1st March of the same year (1845) the Sultan verbally asked Sir James Brooke whether and at what time the English proposed to take possession of Labuan. Then followed the episode already narrated of the murder by the Sultan of Raja Muda Hassim and his family and the taking of Brunai by Admiral Cochrane's Squadron. In November, 1846, instructions were received in Singapore, from Lord Palmerston, to take possession of Labuan, and Captain Rodney Mundy was selected for this service. He arrived in Brunai in December, and gives an amusing account of how he proceeded to carry out his orders and obtain the voluntary cession of the island. As a preliminary, he sent "Lieutenant Little in charge of the boats of the Iris and Wolf, armed with twenty marines, to the capital, with orders to moor them in line of battle opposite the Sultan's palace, and to await my arrival." On reaching the palace, Captain Mundy produced a brief document, to which he requested the Sul

istrators as Sir Hugh Low, Sir John Pope Hennessy, Sir Henry E. Bulwer and Sir Charles Lees, but the expectations formed at its foundation have never been realized and the little Colony appears to be in a moribund condition, the Governorship having been left unfilled since 1881. On the 27th May, 1847, Sir James Brooke concluded the Treaty with the Sultan of Brunai which is still in force. Labuan is situated off the mouth of the Brunai River and has an area of thirty square miles. It was uninhabited when we took it, being only occasionally visited by fishermen. It was then covered, like all tropical countries, whether the soil is rich or poor, with dense forest, some of the trees being valuable as timber, but most of this has since been destroyed, partly by the successive coal com

to restore good government on the mainland, and without a fairly good government and safety to life and property, trade could not be developed. Then again Labuan was overshaded by the prosperous Colony of Singapore, which is the universal emporium for all these islands, and, with the introduction of steamers, it was soon found that only the trade of the coast immediately opposite to Labuan could be depended upon, that of the rest' including Sarawak and the City of Brunai, going direct to Singapore, for which port Lab

nd its importance as a collecting station for Singapo

r to be the proclamation of a British Protectorate over North Borneo, to which, under proper guarantees, might be assigned the task of carrying on the government of Labuan, a task which it could easily and economically undertake, having a sufficiently well organised staff ready to hand.[13] By

ingapore firms and are in a small way of business. There is no European firm, or shop, in the island. Coal of good quality for raising steam is plentiful, especially at the North end of the island, and very sanguine expectations of the successful working of these coal measures were for a long time entertained, but have hitherto not been realised. The Eastern Archipelago Company, with an ambitious title but too modest an exchequer, first attempted to open the mines soon after the British occupation, but

inferior to Welsh, was superior to Australian, and well reported on by the engineers of many steamers which had tried it;

d so honeycombed the seams with their different systems of developing their resources, that it would be, p

the year 1860, but has managed to collect a revenue-chiefly from opium, tobacco, spirits, pawnbroking and fish "farms" and from land rents and land sales-sufficient to meet its small expenditure, at present about ￡4,000 a year. There have been no British troops quartered in this island since 1871, and the only armed force is the Native Constabulary, numbering, I think, a dozen rank and file. Very seldom are the inhabitants cheered by the welcome visit of a British gunboat. Still, all the formality of a British Crown Colony is kept up. The administrator is by his subjects styled "His Excell

f Sulu, with Captain C. E. Buckle, R.N., in two boats of H. M. S. Frolic, when the natives, whom we could not see, opened fire on us from the banks. I at once jumped up and shouted out that we were Mr. Low's friends from Labuan, and in a very short time we were on friendly terms with the natives, who conducted us to their village. They had thought we might be Spaniards, and did not think it worth while to enquire before tiring. The mention of the Frolic reminds me that on the termination of a s

er, Colonial Surgeon, who purchased an outlying island and opened a coco-nut plantation. I regret to say that

re unable to support a Clergyman. There exists a pretty little wooden Church, and the same indefatigable officer, whom I have described as filling most of the Government appointments in the Colony, now ac

tno

ickly than I expected. In 1889 Labuan was

f London-has taken in hand the Labuan coal and, finding plenty of coal to work on withou

n entrusted to the British North Borneo Company, their present Go