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Appendix No. 4.

PENANG.

The garrison already stationed there is sufficient for the defence of the fort. Whether any larger force is desirable to quell a possible rising among the native population is not here considered.

In this scheme precautions have not been proposed against an attack from the landward side, as the difficulties of landing, and the absence of good roads by which to advance, combine to make that form of attack by such a force as that contemplated in the highest degree improbable.

Should such an attack however be made, the garrison aided by two or three field pieces should be prepared to dispute the advance at previously selected positions before retiring into the fort, on the landward side of which two guns should be placed capable of bringing a fire to bear.

(Signed) J. H. SMITH.

LABUAN.

March 1, 1881.

LABUAN.

(Signed)

T. L. GALLWEY, Inspector-General of Fortifications.

Sir,

No. 81.

Colonial Office to the Secretary to the Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and

Commerce Abroad.

Downing Street, February 15, 1882.

I AM directed by the Earl of Kimberley to transmit to you, to be laid before the Royal Com- mission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad, the accompanying Report and inclosures from Colonel Crossman, R.E., C.M.G., and Commander Carey, R.N., on the defences of Labuan, which have been forwarded to this Department from the War Office for the information of the Royal Commission.

I am to request that, when the papers have been printed, the Royal Commissioners will be good enough to furnish this Department with twelve copies.

Inclosure 1 in No. 81.

I am, &c. (Signed)

R. H. MEADE.

Sir,

Colonel Crossman, R.E., to the Inspector-General of Fortifications.

"Lily," at Sea, December 22, 1881.

I HAVE the honour to forward, in a separate parcel, a joint Report by Commander Carey, Her Majesty's ship "Lily," and myself relative to the defences of Labuan.

In doing so, I would wish to state that the confidential Report of the Governor of the Colony, dated 10th March, 1879, and forwarded as I understand to the Colonial Office for the use of the Intelligence Department, gives very clear, correct, and valuable information relative to the island and its resources.

I have, &c. (Signed)

W. CROSSMAN, Colonel, R.E.

Population.

Imports and exports.

Inclosure 2 in No. 81.

Report of Colonel Crossman, C.M.G., R.E., and Commander Carey, Her Majesty's ship “ Lily,” relative to the Defences of Labuan.

(Confidential.)

Lily," at Sea, December 19, 1881.

THE Colony of Labuan, on the north-west coast of Borneo, 740 miles from Singapore, consists of the main island, the extreme length of which is 11 miles and extreme width 53 miles, having an area of 18,350 acres, or 28.67 square miles, and of a few smaller islands between it and the mainland of Borneo, from which it is 5 miles distant.

Only one of these smaller islands, Daat (587 acres), is at all cultivated, being partly planted with cocoa-nut trees.

The highest point on the main island is Bukit Kallum, on the north-west, about 280 feet above the sea, and the whole of the northern part of the island is moderately high ground, with ridges running from north to south divided by wide swamps, which are drained by small streams, the principal one running into the bay west of Victoria Harbour, and navigable by boats for about 2 miles. Another runs into the head of the harbour, and is navigable for about 1 mile. Both are very tortuous, and thickly fringed with mangroves.

The total population (see Appendix No. 1) is 5,883, of which only 19 are Europeans, 9 of whom are men, of which 5 are in the employ of the Imperial Government.

In 1880 the exports amounted to 164,8727., and imports to 167,3647., the trade almost entirely consisting of the exchange of cotton goods, salt, opium, tobacco, arms and ammunition, imported from Hong Kong and Singapore, for jungle produce, viz., sago, birds'-nests, bees-wax, camphor, gutta-

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