THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 11TH MARCH, 1882.
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And whereas by the said Petition the Petitioners therefore most humbly pray that We will be graciously pleased to grant Our Royal Charter for incorporating a Company to carry on the enterprise aforesaid by such name and with such powers and privileges and subject to such conditions as to Us may seem meet.
Now therefore We, having taken the said Petition into Our Royal consideration in Our Coucil, and being satisfied that the intentions of the Petitioners are praiseworthy and deserve encouragement, and that the enterprise in the Petition described may be productive of much benefit to Our Dominions and to many of Our subjects, by Our Prerogative Royal and of Our especial grace certain knowledge and mere motion have constituted erected and incorporated, and by this Our Charter for Us and Our Heirs and Royal Successors do constitute erect and incorporate, into one body politic and corporate, by the name of THE RRITISH NORTH BORNEO COMPANY, the said Alfred Dent, Sir Rutherford Alcock, Richard Biddulph Martin, Richard Charles Mayne, and William Henry Macleod Read, and such other persons and such bodies as from time to time become and are members of that body, with perpetual succession, and a common seal with power to alter or renew the same at discretion, and with the further authorities powers and priviliges conferred and subject to the conditions imposed by this Our Charter; and We do hereby accordingly will, ordain, and declare as follows (that is to say):
Transfer to Company of Grants and Commissions.
1.--The said British North Borneo Company (in this Our Charter referred to as the Company) is hereby authorized and empowered to acquire by purchase or other lawful means from the British North Borneo Provisional Association Limited, the full benefit of the several grants and commissions aforesaid, or any of them, as the same is vested in that Association, and all interests and powers of that Association thereunder, and all interests and powers vested in that Association in over or affecting the territories, lands, and property comprised in those several grants, or in over or affecting any territories lands or property in Borneo or in any island laying near thereto, including Labuan, and to hold use enjoy and exercise the same for the purposes and on the terms of this Our Charter.
Fulfilment by Company of Promises of Grantees.
2.-The Company, as representing the original grantees under the several grants aforesaid, shall be bound by and shall fulfil the promises of payment and other promises therein made, subject to any subsequent agreement affecting those promises
3.
British character of Company.
The Company shall always be and remain British in character and domicile, and shall have its principal office in England; and all the members of its Court of Directors or other governing body and its principal representative in Borneo shall always be natural-born British subjects or persons who have been naturalized as British subjects by or under an Act of the Parliament of Our United Kingdom.
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Restriction on Transfer by Company.
4. The Company shall not have power to transfer, wholly or in part, the benefit of the grants and commissions aforesaid or any of them except with the consent of one of Our Principal Secretaries of State (in this Our Charter referred to as Our Secretary of State).
Differences with Sultans.
5.-In case at any time any difference arises between the Sultan of Brunei or the Sultan of Sooloo and the Company that difference shall on the part of the Company be submitted to the decision of Our Secretary of State, if he is willing to undertake the decision thereof.
Foreign Powers.
6.—If at any time Our Secretary of State thinks fit to dissent from or object to any of the dealings of the Company with any foreign power, and to make to the Company any suggestion founded on that dissent or objection, the Company shall act in accordance therewith.
Slavery.
7. -The Company shall to the best of its power discourage and, as far as may be practicable, abolish by degrees, any system of domestic servitude existing among the tribes of the coast or interior of Borneo; and no foreigner, whether European, Chinese, or other, shall be allowed to own slaves of any kind in the Company's territories.
Religion of Inhabitants.
8. The Company as such, or its officers as such, shall not in any way interfere with the religion of any class or tribe of the people of Borneo, or of any of the inhabitants thereof.