The North Borneo Herald. THURSDAY, 1st MARCH, 1883 RETROSPECTIVE.

THE NORTH BORNEO HERALD

AND

THE OFFICIAL GAZETTE

EDUCATIONAL SERIES BY BORNEO HISTORY

No. 1. - VOL.1. KUDAT, THURSDAY, 1st MARCH, 1883.

The North Borneo Herald.

THURSDAY, 1st MARCH, 1883

RETROSPECTIVE.

THE issue of the first number of the first newspaper published in North Borneo affords a favourable opportunity for a brief review of past events in the history of the youngest government in the world ; and we shall endeavour to find room in our columns, from time to time, for a short retrospect which will enable our readers to note the progress made in the development of the territory.

It was in December, 1877, that negotiations were first entered into with the Sultan of Brunei for the cession of his territory in Borneo north of the Kimanis river, in consideration of the payment to His Highness and to the Pangeran Tumonggong, his Prime Minister and heir apparent, of an annual subsidy, and in January of the following year a similar understanding was arrived at with the late Sultan of Sulu, the father of the present sovereign, whose authority was recognised over the North-east part of Borneo. The country ceded by the agreements thus entered into comprises the whole northern portion of the island of Borneo, from the Kimanis river, a few miles north of the British colony of Labuan, on the West Coast, to the Siboku river, the Dutch boundary on the East Coast, with an area estimated at above 20,000 square miles, and a coast line of over five hundred miles. In reporting the matter to the Foreign Office, Mr. Treacher, then H. B. M.'s Consul-General in Borneo, stated The new Lessees thus become possessed of all the best harbours in Northern Borneo, and of those which may be said to command the route to China, vessels in the north east monsoon passing at no great distance from North Borneo. Not only does this portion of North Borneo contain the best harbours, but it also possesses the best soil and is richest in natural productions, such as edible bird's nests (in which the river Kinabatangan is especially rich), camphor, rattans, sago, gutta-percha, &c., and there is little doubt that when explored it will be found to contain valuable minerals. The existence of coal is already known.

The sanction of the Queen to her subjects exercising sovereign rights and organizing a government on civilized lines in a distant country, where no system worthy of the name of government had ever yet existed, had still to be obtained; but meanwhile no time was lost: the old flag of the Dents' was hoisted as the ensign of the new government, in compliment to the gentleman whose energy and resources had rendered possible in the present day the inauguration of an enterprise similar to, and which we hope will prove a worthy successor of, the Company which founded the British Empire in lndia, a Resident was appointed at Sandakan on the East Coast with  a few coolies to represent the majesty of the law, and another at the Tampassuk river on the West. The Lessees then sailed away for England, and their effort  to procure the recognition of their infant government, and the confirmation by Her Majesty of the powers conceded to them by the two Sultans - efforts, the history of which is fully told in the two : Blue Books of 1882 - were: at last successful, mid the British North Borneo Company was inaugurated by Royal Charter, under the Great Seal, dated 1st November,1881.

Mr. Pryer and Mr. William Pretyman were the two Residents originally appointed, the latter gentleman being soon succeeded by Mr. A.H. Everett from the Sarawak service, who took up his headquarters on the Papar river. Their's was the difficult task of upholding the dignity and good name of the white man, and of preparing the way for the establishment of civilized government, of checking and controlling oppressive acts of native chiefs, of settling disputes and of opening the country to peaceful traders. And right well they performed their task, during nearly' four years, with no regular armed force at their backs, and with more than ordinary  difficulties to encounter, owing to the reports which obtained currency among the natives-that the long delay in obtaining the Charter was due to the fact that no Charter would be given and that the white man's stay amongst them would be but brief.

 On the 1st June, 1881, Governor Treacher left England to assume his duties, and arrived at Labuan, his temporary head-quarters, on the 7th August. Steps were at once taken to organize government on a permanent footing; a commandant, an auditor-general, superintendent of agriculture, -mineralogical explorer, medical officer, assistant residents and other necessary officers were appointed, a few Sikhs, Malays and Somalis were enrolled as a police force, and Stations opened at Gaya on the West Coast, Kudat in Marudu Bay on the north, and at Silam in Darvel Bay on the east. The Company was soon afterwards fortunate enough to secure temporarily the services of Sir Walter Medhurst to act as Immigration Commissioner in China; it being recognized from the first that the Chinese would play an important part in the development of the territory, as they have done in all our eastern colonies, and arrangements were made for ensuring direct steam communication with China ; and at the present moment we have three steamers plying regularly between North Borneo and Singapore and one with Hongkong, Swatow and Amoy, while another is engaged in the coasting trade. On his arrival in China, Sir Walter issued in Chinese a proclamation which obtained wide circulation, and has attracted , the attention of the Chinese and diverted some portion of the annual stream of emigration from that country to Sandakan and Kudat.

In addition to these regular lines, we are able to chronicle several visits to Sandakan of the fine steamers of the Eastern and Australia Company, notably those of the S.S.Tannadice, whose able commander, Captain Green, has given to the public a lucid description of the capabilities of the magnificent harbour of Sandakan, which he reached with only five hour deviation from his ordinary route between Port Darwin and  Hongkong· The importance of connecting North Borneo by this line of steamers with the Australian port of Port Darwin, Cooktown; Rockhampton, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide cannot "be overrated, and has, we believe, attracted the attention of the Directors,· and we hope soon to learn that arrangements have been concluded for ensuring the Regular calling in at Sandakan of the steamers of this line. 

We understand that when Mr. Pryer first settled in Sandakan Bay there were but two Chinamen there resident,· but now the Chinese population of this town, to which the name of Elopura, or the beautiful city has been given, numbers little less than three thousand, composed of immigrants from China and from the Straits Settlements in addition to some 2,000 natives. Preparations are being made at Kudat for the reception of large bodies of Hakka Christians, who are emigrating under the advice of the well known missionary, Mr. Leschler of China, the delegate who had been sent to examine the country having reported well of that locality, Papar has been visited by delegates from the Singapore gambier and pepper plantations, who have expressed themselves well pleased with the country and soil, and intend importing some two hundred agriculturists from Swatow to plant sugar and cotton and other tropical products as a preliminary experiment. But it is on the East Coast that agriculture is gaining the greatest numbers of adherents. In addition to numerous smaller ventures, two influential companies have been formed in Shanghai and have taken up land in Sandakan Bay - the China Sabah Land-Farming Company, with 40,000 acres, and the Yuen Yew North Borneo Cultivation and Trading Company, with 10,000 acres, while Mr. De Lissa, from the northern territory of South Australia, has acquired 20,000 acres for sugar. A recent return of land sold in the Sandakan district, including town and suburban lots, places the total up to 7th February at 137,000 acres. Since that date 20,000 acres have been taken up in the neighbourhood of Silam, where the Government Experimental Garden has been established under the management of Mr. Von Donop of Ceylon. The land in the Silam district is reported to be superior to that of any other portion of the territory for agricultural purposes and of the 201,000 acres taken up there a large proportion will probably be put under tobacco by some planters from Deli (Sumatra) who have recently visited the territory. This experiment will be watched with great interest, since, if successful, it will attract many planters to North Borneo, as we are informed that it is now becoming somewhat difficult to acquire suitable tobacco land in Sumatra. The terms on which land can be acquired in North Borneo will be found fully set forth in another column, and it will be noted that so great is the demand for land in the Sandakan District that Government has doubled the original price for agricultural lots. The Government upset price for town lots is $16 per lot of 33 feet by 66 feet. At recent auction sales at Sandakan the price rose to $150 and $200 per lot.

No legal officer accompanied the Governor, and we think, therefore, that a wise discretion has been shown in legislating for the new country, in deciding to adopt, where practicable, laws and ordinances of colonies similarly circumstanced-and in this way the Penal and Civil Procedure Codes of India have become the law of the country, as well as the Labour Ordinance of the Straits Settlements, the Opium, Pawn and Land Registration Ordinances of Labuan and the Limited Liability Law of FIJI. All these Ordinances having already obtained the confirmation and allowance of Her Majesty is a guarantee that they are carefully drawn and contain nothing opposed to the principles of modern legislation.

Those who know what the position of the country was before the advent of the Company, when there was not a single European residing therein, and when the Chinese settlers in the territory now being opened out could be counted on the fingers of both hands, will be able to gather from our remarks an idea of the great progress that has been already made, progress that has every sign of being healthy and permanent. In our next review of the situation we shall hope to place before our readers statistics of trade, revenue and expenditure, and population.

-/sj