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BRUNET
D95
Alam, who succceded his father in 1924 at the age of 11 years. During his minority the Duli Pengiran Bendahara and Duli Pengiran Pemancha were appointed to act as joint Regents. On September 19, 1931 His Highness the Sultan assumed full power and the Regency terminated.
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The administration of Government is in the hands of the British Resident who is invariably an officer of the Malayan Civil Service with his headquarters at Brunei The State is divided into five administrative districts, Brunei, Belait, Tutong Temburong and Muara. These districts were all formerly in the charge of Malay magistrates but in December, 1930, owing to the rapid development of the Oilfield in the Belait District an officer of the Malayan Civil Service was appointed as Assistant British Resident to administer that district. The other districts remain under Malay Officers.
POPULATION.
The population of Brunei as given in the 1931 Census was 30,135 and the estimated population at the end of 1935 was 33,732, distributed among the various races approximately as follows:
Europeans
Eurasians
Malays
Chinese
Indians
....
84
40
•
28,800
4,000
200
18.
Others
MINERALS
608
Oil.-Oil was first found in 1914, but there was no production on a commercial scale until 1932, when the British Malayan Petroleum Company commenced exporting from Seria, some ten miles north-east of Kuala Belait, the headquarters of the Com- pany. The oil is exported by pipe line to the refinery at Lutong in Sarawak territory.
Exploration work in the early stages consists of comparatively indiscriminate geological examination. At a later date wells are bored upon sites conjecturally determined after palaeontological examination of "cores" taken from the location by the geologists. Even of these wells, however, many fail to produce oil after drilling to depths of more than a mile, and the expenditure of many tens of thousands of dollars.
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When the wells are successful, the oil is straightway pumped through pipes to the refinery in Sarawak. As a result, the most obvious characteristic of the oilfields, at least in Brunei, is the apparent absence of oil
The field is so important as to make an enormous difference to the finances of the State. Royalties amounting to $383,000, or 47% of the State's total revenue, were received during 1935.
Four hundred and forty-one thousand seven hundred and forty-four tons of crude oil and 464 703,917 cubic feet of natural gas were exported during the year: compara- tive figures in 1934 were 371,591 tons and 792,453,863 cubic feet.
AGRICULTURE
Agricultural Stations.--The State maintains a central Agricultural Station at Kilanas for the experimental planting of products new to Brunei, and the exhibition of more effective agricultural methods. The Station is extremely popular with those of the people who are agriculturally-minded. In addition, five padi test plots are maintained in various parts of the State....
Staff.-The District Officer, Brunei and Mtara continued in charge of the Depart- ment in a supervisory capacity. Four trained Malay agricultural subordinates were at work in the State, and three further students were being trained at agricultural in- stitutions in Malaya.
The Agricultural Field Officer, Singapore, paid one visit of inspection to the State during the year.⠀⠀
Rubber. Some 14,000 acres throughout the State are planted with rubber: of this area some 5,000 acres are in the possession of four British Companies.
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