PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
C.O. 882
8 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
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subjects. Her Majesty's Government, however, ruled that the inhabitants had become Sarawak subjects by the occupation.
In 1900 Pengiran Bendahara expressed a wish to sell his rights in the Limbang to Sarawak. (He had now presumably inherited the rights of his brother, Pengiran Di Gadong, who died in 1898 or 1899.)
According to Mr. McArthur's report the Bendahara has for some years been pressing the Sultan to acquiesce in the loss of the Limbang so that he may then get his share of the cession money, but the Sultan, in spite of his poverty, still rejects any such suggestion. It seems to the be assumed that Rajah Brooke would money now, but there is nothing in the corres- pondence to show that he has undertaken to do
pay
so, indeed some correspondence which passed in 1903 suggests that he would not.
In 1902 and 1904 Rajah Brooke made offers for the whole of the rest of Brunei, the Sultan and Ministers to be pensioned. offers the Sultan declined to entertain.
These
In 1504 the Sarawak officers began to collect taxes from the villages of Lisang and Batung, scarcely two miles from Brunei, on the ground that they are within the watershed of the Limbang. (See paragraph 32 of Mr. McArthur's report.)
In 1897 the question of the government of Brunei after the Sultan's death was raised, but again, for financial reasons, it was thought impossible to establish a protectorate on the Federated Malay States lines, and Sir C. Mitchell advised that nothing could be done except to induce the Sultan to appoint a worthy successor.
The question was again raised in 1899. The Colonial Office was rather in favour of placing a British Resident in Brunei, either immediately or on the Sultan's death, but Sir J. A. Swetten- ham concurred in Sir C. Mitchell's view that the system could not be made to pay.; it was thought that the Sultan would not agree to it in his lifetime; and it was certain that both Rajah Brooke and the Company would be offended. The Foreign Office rather favoured partition between Sarawak and the Company. Finally, in 1900, Sir J. A. Swettenham was sent to Brunei to see it there was any possibility of settling the matter in this way, leaving Brunei Town to the Sultan. Sir J. A. Swettenham found it useless even to put the proposal before the Sultan. Continued correspondence finally resulted in the mission of Mr. McArthur as Acting Consul to report specially on the position (May, 1904).
The report dated December 5th, 1904, is the result of his stay in Brunei.
March, 1905.
R. E. S.
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APPENDIX.
LABUAN.
As stated above, Labuan, then uninhabited, was coded
to Great Britain in 1846. In 1847 Letters Patent were issued “entrusting the Government to Rajah Brooke, who was to be assisted by a nominated Legislative Council. This form of constitution was retained until 1889.
Until 1871 a British garrison was stationed in the island.
When the Colony was founded it was hoped that it might become an important commercial centre for the trade from Borneo and the Sulu Archipelago, but these hopes were disappointed, as the trade from the islands and even from Sarawak mostly went direct
to Singapore, leaving to Labuan little but the trade of the neighbouring coast of Borneo.
The hopes based on the presence of coal in the Colony were also disappointed, as several companies which tried to develop the mines became bankrupt,
The result was that the finances of Labuan were never in a satisfactory condition.
Up to 1869 It received a grant from Imperial funds., Then it managed to make both ends mest for a few years, and even to lay by a small balance; but even in this period of comparative prosperity the revenue would not have covered the expenditure, if it had not been for the profit on the sale of Straits Settlements copper coin, ag., the total ordinary revenue for the years 1878- 1879 amounted to £44,617, and the expenditure to £51,146, but the profit on the copper coin in those years amounted to over £10,000, and so more than covered the deficit. This source of revenue failed in 1880, and in the same year the Oriental Coal Company became bankrupt. This meant not only the low of the rent of the mines, but also a considerable drop in the revenue from the oplum and other farms, as the Com- pany's coolies were all withdrawn,
·
In consequence it became a matter for consideration whether the Colony should not be handed over to Sarawak or to the Dent-Overbeck Company (the germ of the British North Borneo Company), or else annexed to the Straits Settlements. Annexation to the Straits Bettlements, if thought desirable, was provided for in the Act of 1866, by which that Colony was stituted.
oon-
As regards the first suggestion, Lord Kimberley minuted" "Sarawak is not British territory and I see great objection to placing Labuan under the Rajah. He is not under our control, and it would involve us indirectly in his affairs, which would be very unde sirable." He objected to transfer to the Overbreko- Dent Company for similar reasons, and also because that Company had yet to show that they could administered successfully.
He favoured annexation to the Straits Settlements, but eventually that idea was abandoned, as there was no reasonable certainty that Labuan could be made to pay its way, and in the circumstances he did not feel justified in inflicting the burden on the Straits Settle-
ments.
It was therefore decided to continue the administra- tration of the island as a separate Colony, as cheaply sa possible. As a result, the Government was practically conducted by two men, Mr. P. Loys, the Medionl Officer who became acting governor and a judge, and continued
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APPENDIX.