CO882-(2-3) — Page 85

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.

882

2

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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for coal; and the day I embarked, I stepped from the wharf on to Her Majesty's ship "Teazer." The coal sheds, and the sheds for engines and waggons, extend to a considerable distance at both sides of the wharf. To the rear, and within a stone's throw of the merchants' houses, lie the ten acres, which also constitute a part of what Mr. Lindsay describes as “a single jetty."

11. If the despatches of my predecessors in Labuan, from the time of Sir James Brooke to Mr. Callaghan, be referred to, it will be seen that the project of having a large wharf in Victoria Harbour, abutting on the deep water, where steamers could take in coal without employing lighters, was, over and over again, dwelt upon as one of the most important that could be carried out in the interests of the Coal Company.

12. Seeing the great value of such a work, it was to me a subject of daily anxiety to get it undertaken and accomplished. But I must acknowledge that the chief credit of making this most important addition to the property of the Company belongs to the Surveyor-General, Mr. Howard, and to the late manager, Mr. Lumsden.

13. An eminent naval officer, who was Commander-in-Chief on the China station, said that this was the most useful work, both for the public and the Coal Company, that any Governor of Labuan had undertaken. And yet the gentlemen who waited on your Lordship, on the 25th of last July, appear to have regarded it very lightly as "a single jetty, the rent of which ought not to exceed a shilling a year." The want of local knowledge, and the inability to comprehend the interests of the Company, which such a remark indicates, go far to explain the grave mismanagement which has involved a loss of 40,000l. to the shareholders.

14. The third charge these gentlemen lay against me is, that I made them pay, without lawful or constitutional authority, 7851. for police, "for the first time in the history of the Colony."

15. Here they are also totally mistaken, This charge was regularly made long before I arrived in Labuan. It was made at the suggestion of the Board of Directors of the late Coal Company, of which Mr. William Miller (one of the Deputation on the 25th of July) was a member. The Company, in their own interests, invited the Government to increase the Police Force considerably, offering to pay one-half the annual cost of the new police. Acting on instructions from home, Governor Callaghan carried out this scheme, which, though costly to the Government, was of great special benefit to the Coal Company. One of Mr. Lumsden's first acts, as manager of the Oriental Coal Company, was to sign, in May 1868, a bill, jointly with Mr. Morel, the last manager of the preceding Company, for the amount then due to the Government for this very service. He was much surprised when, three years afterwards, he reteived the Directors" letter of February 1871, telling him that I had made this charge "for the first time in the history of the Colony;" when he had seen in the archives of the manager's office, at Labuan numerous applications on the subject from the Colonial Treasurer, written in Governor Callaghan's time, and duplicate bundles of quarterly receipts for payments made by Mr. Sinclair, Mr. Morel, and other preceding managers.

16. It is not only a mistake to say that I commenced this charge, but I am, in fact, the Governor who contemplated its abolition. In a despatch I wrote in October or November 1870, sending the Estimates for the following year. I took the liberty of suggesting that this annual charge against the Coal Company for police might be dispensed with. This was three or four months before the Directors wrote their letter objecting to it. Your Lordship, however, for very good reasons, would not consent to my suggestion.

17. In one respect, however, I modified the charge favourably for the Company. Mr. Lumsden pointed out to me that it would be fairer to charge the Company only for one-half the cost of the police actually employed at the colliery station than for one-half the cost of the new police, and with your Lordship's sanction this reduction in the charge was made.

18. Your Lordship will observe, from Governor Callaghan's despatches on the subject, that the police station in question is actually in the colliery, and that a consider- able share of the duty of the police is really that which, in an English colliery, is usually done by paid caretakers and watchmen.

19. Mr. Lumsden having discovered that much coal was lost by collusion between the workmen and the person who registered the number of full tubs at the pit mouth, I allowed him to use the police as a check on this by watching every tub as it reached the top, and collecting certain metal tokons, the number of which accurately recorded the number of tubs. This check was kept up by the police day and night, and the total quantity of coal so calculated was reported to me every month by the Superintendent of Police.

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20. Mr. Lumsden told me that by this simple device he was enabled to save the Company hundreds of tons of coal every year-far more in value, he said, than the total annual sum charged by the Government for the police.

21. The fourth complaint is that the Company were charged, in four years, 8791. 78. 6d. for the hospital. accept the entire responsibility of this charge. In a despatch of February or March 1888, I pointed out to the Duke of Buckingham that there was no civil hospital in the Colony of Labuan, and that sick people were regularly sent to prison, committed in due form by the police magistrate, and put into prison clothes, and into cells constructed only for prisoners. I asked for permission to establish a hospital which the Government medical officers could attend, which could be supplied with medicines by the Government, and supported in all other respects by voluntary contributions, This was done. The whole place benefited by it, and especially the colliery.

22. I have seen four or five Scotch miners and ten or a dozen Chinese coolies from the coal mines all in the wards of the hospital at the same time. I have on many occasions seen the Scotch miners getting wine, jelly, and other expensive articles of hospital diet. During the long and painful period when the present Directors had failed to pay their workmen, the hospital was full of men who had worked at the mines until, from insufficient food, they could work no more. But for the existence of the civil hospital I believe a coroner's jury would have made mention of the Directors last year.

23. In the last report (1871) I received from Dr. McCloskie, the Colonial Surgeon, he states that the sum given by the Coal Company to the civil hospital is not enough, and that it is far less, considering the number of patients from the colliery, than they should contribute. His words are:-"It is totally inadequate. I hope the Company will in future subscribe more liberally." (21st January, 1871.) I was a frequent visitor to the hospital, and he often pointed out to me that, looking to the relief it afforded, it was mainly a colliery institution.

24. The Directors state that Governor Bulwer has, nevertheless, reduced the charge, thus admitting that there has been spread over four years an overcharge of 2027. 10s.

25. But as all hospital payments in Labuan are purely voluntary, my successor has probably had to submit unwillingly to whatever reduction the Directors proposed. I am sure he would be the first to see that any parsimony in this direction will not work favourably for the labouring population of Labuan. The labour market of the coal mines is a delicate thing to deal with. If the coal-hewers find out that they are not to get the same good food when sick that they were in the habit of getting formerly, the Company may lose in three months more than the whole sum they paid during the four years of which they complain.

26. Though I insisted that the sick miners should get plenty of nourishment, I looked sharply after everything like extravagance, and when Mr. Lumsden drew my attention to the charges of the late purveyor, Mr. Warren, I directed a minute inquiry on the subject early last year by a Board consisting of Dr. McCloskie, Mr. Baker, the Commissariat Officer, and Major Hervey. They went into every item and reported that the charges were reasonable and in strict accordance with the prescriptions of the medical officer,

27. The late Coal Company maintained two resident medical men at the colliery; one of them, Dr. Coulthard, was paid, I believe, 6001. a year.

The present Company have no resident medical officer. They pay a small sum to the colonial surgeon, who lives 7 miles away, and they rely mainly on the public advantages of the hospital. On the whole, I believe their total medical expenses in my time were less than one-half the medical expenses of the Coal Company that preceded them.

28. Their fifth statement,—that Mr. Lumsden made a road to Government House at a cost to the Company of 4417. 168. 2d., is quite untrue. From the proposed railway terminus at the wharf, he began the Victoria Harbour end of the permanent way by convict labour, and a path was made for the convicts to get to their work. This com mencement of the railway was stopped at once by the new manager. The unfinished work has no connection with Government House. The roads to Government House have all been kept in capital order, as purely Government works, by the highly efficient Surveyor-General, Mr. Howard.

29. In addition to these five specific charges as to lighters, rent, police, hospital, and Government House roads, the Directors ask for an explanation as to the charges for convict labour. They suggest lower charges in future; but they make no claim, as in the case of lighters, and the other specific items, for a set-off. The charges for convict labour were approved by the present Coal Company and by Her Majesty's Government. They are quite fair; but at the same time I am willing to give the Directors the fullest

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