Directory_and_Chronicle_1893 — Page 838

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

BRITISH NORTH BORNEO

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mosquitoes and the like. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disturbances are unknown. The seas are teeming with fish, and the prospects of an export trade in dried and salted fish are encouraging. A trade with Australia has already com- menced. Amongst the zoological productions of North Borneo are to be noted elephants, rhinoceros, deer of three kinds, buffalo (Bos Ghaur as well as Bos Banteng probably), pigs, bears, &c. There are pythons of 20 feet and upwards in length; but other snakes, particularly poisonous varieties, are very rare. Of game birds there are a few, argus, fire back, and Bulwer pheasants, three sorts of partridges, many pigeons and doves, snipe and quail.

Sandakan has a magnificent harbour and is the chief place of trade. The imports include cloth, rice, hardware, manufactured goods of all kinds, opium, Chinese tobacco, Chinese coarse crockery, matches, biscuits, oil, sugar, &c. The chief exports are rattans, gutta-percha, india-rubber, birdsnests, seed pearls, trepang, sharkstins, camphor, tortoiseshell, dried cuttle tish, beeswax, and other natural products. These are brought in from the numerous rivers, the neighbouring Sulu Archipelago, &c. The imports for 1891 amounted to $1,936,547 as compared with $2,018,089 in 1890, the exports to $1,238,277 as compared with $901,290 in 1890. The revenue in 1891 was $381,147, the expenditure was $168,641. Tobacco-planting promises to become a great and profitable industry, and the tobacco already raised has secured a market in Amsterdam, The price of land has doubled in consequence. The population of the town of San- dakan, the capital of the territory, was 7,132 in 1891, of whom 131 were Europeans and 3,627 Chinese.

The territory of British North Borneo was acquired from the Sultans of Brunei and Sulu by cession for a small annual payment in 1879-80, and the British North Borneo Company was incorporated by Royal Charter on the 1st November, 1881. The area of the territory is 31,100 square miles, and the population, according to a census taken in 1890, was 120,000. In May, 1888, a British Protectorate was established.

LABUAN

This, the smallest British Colony in Asia, was ceded to Great Britain by the Sulta n of Brunei in 1846, and taken possession of in 1858. It is situated on the north-west coast of Borneo in latitude 5 deg. 16 min. N., and longitude 115 deg. 15 min. E. it has an area of 30 square miles, and is about six miles from the Borneo coast. Although Labuan possesses a fine port, has extensive coal deposits, and by situation seemed likely to become a depôt for the trade of the north coast of Borneo, it has only partially fulfilled the expectations formed of it. The produce of Brunei finds a market in Labuan, but the volume of the trade is small. There are three sago manufactories on the island, where the raw material is converted into flour, for export chiefly to Singapore, The Government is now administered by the British North Borneo Company, having been handed over to it by the Imperial Government in 1889. The population in 1890 was 5,853, of whom 25 were Europeans and 17 Eurasians, the remainder being chiefly Chinese and Malays. The Chinese, who number over a thousand, are the chief traders, and most of the industries of the island are in their hands. The European population consist mainly of Government officials. The Central Borneo Company are lessees of the Coal Mines in the island and are developing a considerable trade in the coal, which is largely supplied to H. M's ships. The revenue is chiefly derived from the farming out of licenses to sell tobacco, spirits, opium, and fish. The value of the exports in 1890 was $335,376, that of the imports $207,878. Mr. C. V. Creagh, Governor of British North Borneo, has been appointed also Governor of Labuan.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1893 — Page 838

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