Citation
Memorandum on the administrative system of the State of North Borneo

Material Information

Title:
Memorandum on the administrative system of the State of North Borneo
Added title page title:
Confidential memorandum on the administrative system of the State of North Borneo
Creator:
[British North Borneo Chartered Company] ( Author, Primary )
Place of Publication:
London
Publisher:
W. Straker, .Ltd.
Publication Date:
Language:
English

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
British North Borneo Chartered Company ( LCNAF )
Sabah (Malaysia) ( LCSH )
Syarikat Berpiagam Borneo Utara British
Serikat Borneo Utara Inggris
Genre:
government document
Temporal Coverage:
1921 - 1922
Spatial Coverage:
Asia -- British North Borneo
Asia -- North Borneo
Asia -- Malaysia -- Sabah
Asia -- Borneo Utara
Asia -- Borneo Utara British
اسيا -- بورنيو اوتارا
Coordinates:
5.25 x 117

Notes

General Note:
At head of title: Confidential
General Note:
Later, openly published (1922) versions of this title are known to exist. This copy appears to have been a confidential copy for consultation by Company administrators.
General Note:
VIAF (name authority) : British North Borneo Chartered Company : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/124376039

Record Information

Source Institution:
SOAS University of London
Holding Location:
SOAS, University of London
Rights Management:
This item is licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial License. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this work non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms.

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Full Text
CONFIDENTIAL.

MEMORANDUM
ON THE
ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM
OF
THE STATE OF
NORTH BORNEO.

1922.

W. Straker, .Ltd., Printers, London, E.C.




MEMORANDUM
— ON THE —
ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM
— OF —
THE STATE OF NORTH BORNEO
1922.




INDEX
â– General Description of Administrative Machinery
Seat of Administration
Secretariat ...
Judicial
-Constabulary and Police
’Gaols
Protectorate
Financial Department
Financial Administration
‘Currency
North Borneo State Bank
Land and Survey ...
Land Settlement
Public Works Department
Forestry
Railway
Posts and Telegraphs
Medical
Printing
Mycology and Agriculture
Cattle and Pony Breeding
Immigration
Education ...
‘Customs and Harbour
Excise
Government Vessels and Buoys
and Beacons
Sanitary Boards
Legislative Council
Advisory Councils
Development
'Chambers of Commerce
PAGE
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THE
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE OF NORTH BORNEO.
Broadly speaking, the Civil Service of North Borneo may be divided into two main branches,
the Administrative branch and the Departmental branch. The latter is composed of specialists in vari-
ous crafts and professions, such, for instance, as law, engineering, surveying, etc., while the former
consists of officers who learn the work of administration after enlistment as Cadets. Their duties are
general and multifarious, and call, in most cases, for at any rate an elementary knowledge of most of
the branches of the Departmental service. A District Officer, for instance, must have sufficient legal
knowledge to justify his sitting on the Bench as a magistrate, he requires an elementary knowledge
of accounts, of. surveying, of medicine and surgery. The major part of the earlier training of a young
Cadet consists in the acquisition of a fund of general knowledge of almost unlimited range. He has
to prepare himself for a career which probably at some period will place him, the only European,
in an area which may be a thousand square miles in extent and contain several thousand inhabitants’
and possibly out of direct and immediate communication with anyone. He may be called upon to
carry out minor military measures with his handful of police, he will have to give first aid to such
varying patients as telephones, cattle, natives of his district, and houses or bridges in want of repair.
As the local public works officer, he will have to trace and supervise the construction of bridle paths,
design and be responsible for the erection of many of the Government buildings in his District. He
will have to enforce laws dealing with vaccination, plant-disease and agriculture, pearl fisheries, and
the hundred-and-one other subjects which the departmental officers have under their respective special
cares. He will want at his fingers’ ends the salient points in the Criminal Procedure Code, the Labour
Law, Mohamedan or Native Law and Custom, and, sooner or later, a bowing acquaintance with Chinese
tradition. Districts vary, of course, in their environment, and it will depend largely on an officer’s
earlier postings how far he develops some of these qualifications at the expense of others for the exer-
cise of which no particular call is made at the beginning of his career.
It will be seen that, while the executive and specialist sides of the service are, from their very
natures, quite distinct, they are still closely inter-connected, and react upon one another to a very
marked degree. It is, however, safe to say that the unit upon which the executive and adminis-
trative system of North Borneo is based is the “ District.”
A “ District ” is an area of country which is, theoretically, under the charge of a “ District.
Officer,” an officer of the Cadet Service with probably from seven to twelve years’ service. The
District Officer may have one or more Assistant District Officers (members of the Cadet Service who
have passed at any rate their preliminary examinations in law and language), one or more Cadets
(junior probationary officers of the Cadet Service who have not yet passed the requisite examinations),
and one or more Deputy Assistant District Officers: Asiatics who have been selected from the clerical
service or from the ranks of the native chiefs. The Deputy Assistant District Officer has usually served
a long apprenticeship, is able to read and write Roman Malay and/or English, and has shown himself
to be a man of some character fitted to hold a position calling for decision and integrity. The District
staff is supplemented on the administrative side by a varying number of “ Native Chiefs ” and “ Vil-
lage Headmen.” These are men who, for hereditary reasons or on account of some special character-
istic or aptitude, have been selected to take charge, under the District Officer, of tribes or villages. They
are granted minor magisterial powers, and are, in some degree, the nominated representatives of the
people vis-a-vis the Government. They are the custodians of native law and custom, and, with reason-
able exceptions, are expected to apply it in all cases brought before them. The Native Court is outside
the ambit of the judiciary, and the codes and appeals from it are handled exclusively by administrative-
officers who are unfettered by technicalities of law, and have to apply solely the custom of the country
(unless it be unconscionable) and common sense.
The rule that a District is in charge of a District Officer is, in practice, broken in three cases, the-
headquarters of the three Junior Residents, when an Assistant District Officer or a Deputy Assistant
District Officer performs the functions of a District Officer under the direct supervision and guidance
of the Resident, but these do not vitiate the general principle indicated.
To avoid repetition, the term “ District Officer ” is taken in this memorandum to mean the Officer
in charge of a District, whether he actually holds the rank of District Officer or not.
In some Districts the District Officer may have the assistance of junior officers from “ a Depart-
ment,” a commissioned police officer, for instance, or a Government medical officer.


6
In other Districts the District Officer may have attached to his staff a special Asiatic subordinate
to assist him with the routine and clerical work involved by the special activities of any particular
department in his jurisdiction, a police clerk, for example, in the case of a station with a. large detach-
ment of police, to cany out the minor details connected with the men’s pay, clothing, etc., or a- Cus-
toms clerk whose attention will be devoted entirely to the collection of import and export dues, liar-
hour dues, etc.
In the smaller Districts, the District Officer will have only a small clerical staff which performs
the necessary work entailed by the general administration of the District, including the requirements
of Departments. In this case the clerical staff will undertake, as required, the routine work of the
Courts, the Treasury, the Constabulary, the Customs, the Gaols, etc.
In all these varying conditions, the District Officer is the person who is primarily responsible for
the proper administration of his District and of the various component members of his “ staff.” It is
not competent for him to plead that a Treasury Clerk stationed in his District is responsible for the
preparation of the monthly cash account. The clerk performs a greater or less part of the drudgery,
but the District Officer is responsible for the accuracy and completeness of his work as finally sub-
mitted, and the same principle applies in connection with any “ specialist ” or “ departmental ”
•duty which is required. As far as he is concerned, it should never be “ not my business.”
Districts are grouped, for administrative purposes, in Residencies, five in number, each under a
^senior officer termed Resident.
The Resident is generally responsible for the administrative efficiency and well-being of the group
•of Districts in his jurisdiction. It is his duty to keep himself informed by personal inspection, from
reports rendered to him by his District Officers and in other ways, of the manner in which his District
Officers are administering their Districts; to indicate, subject always, of course, to orders, expressed or
implied, from the Governor, the general policy to be followed in any current circumstances; to super-
vise, criticise and, when necessary, correct any action by the District Officer; and generally to guide
"the District Officer in his task, preferably without undue interference in detail.
In order to enable him to keep a grip on the activities of Government within his jurisdiction,
the Resident is the channel of communication through which correspondence passes between District
'Officers on the one hand and the Government Secretary, as the mouthpiece of the Governor, or the
head of any Department, on the other. This absolute rule is only broken in the case of matters of a
minor routine nature, such, for instance, as a query as to the accuracy of a cash account rendered by
•a District Officer, minor details as regards police transferred or police clothing or equipment required.
These are exceptions to the rule, and are and should be carefully limited. Not only is the Resident
â– directly responsible to the Governor for the general peace and welfare of his Residency, but the inter-
position of the Resident as the channel of communication has considerable advantages. Departmental
officers, whose outlook is not unnaturally restricted to the interests of their own several departments,
are sometimes not adequately cognisant of local conditions and circumstances, and are apt, through
ignorance, to make greater demands on the District Officer than he can fulfil, having due regard to his
other duties. Junior administrative officers, on the other hand, smarting under what they consider to
be unjustifiable requests or instructions conveyed to them by an officer who, though senior to them,
is not their immediate superior, may take the opportunity to retort in a manner which is unbecoming
:and prejudicial to discipline. A Resident who receives from a Departmental officer a request which,
generally or in particular circumstances, he knows to be untenable is, from his position in the service,
•qualified to discuss the point and make any necessary representations, if necessary referring the matter
at issue to the Governor for decision. A Resident, with his experience and local knowledge, can co-
ordinate the calls of Departments. As the immediate and direct superior of a District Officer, he is
the person who should properly convey instructions if discipline and esprit de corps are to be maintained.
In a word, a District Officer can only serve one master loyally and efficiently and certainly should not
he asked to serve an unlimited number.
SEAT OF ADMINISTRATION.
Sandakan and Jesselton.
Sandakan shares with Jesselton the distinction of being the “ seat of Government ” of North
Borneo.
The rapid development of Jesselton in recent years and its position as an entrepot for the West
Coast have engendered a rivalry between that port and Sandakan to the title of “ capital of the
■country. ”
In the last decade the Court have expended large sums on Jesselton. In addition to the reclama-
tion of a large area from the sea, a water supply has been provided, the roads have been improved
and well-built offices for various Departments erected. In addition, the town is equipped with electric
light and cold storage, supplied by the Jesselton Ice and Power Company.
During the War it began to be apparent that despite the great improvements effected at Jesselton,
Sandakan was more attractive to shipping. The Navy found that Port more suitable as a base than
Jesselton, and whereas Sandakan was rarely without a warship, and sometimes had quite a fleet, Jesselton
was only occasionally visited.
/


7
In 1916, Governor Pearson expressed the view that “ the tendency of the country seems to be-
crystallizing towards Sandakan as a commercial centre, with the West Coast as a purely agricultural
proposition. Since the war began Sandakan has become an important centre for transhipment, and.
it has the advantage of position, a magnificent harbour, and a coal depot.”
In 1921 the Court, in commenting on Governor Pearson’s proposals for enlarging the Printing
Office at Jesselton, pointed out that there was “ another and much more important question involved,
and that is whether Sandakan or Jesselton should be the principal headquarters of the Government.”
The Court had been “ forced to the opinion that Sandakan is the more important of the two towns,”
being the principal port, the centre for the principal business houses, and the residence of the
Judicial Commissioner and the Financial Commissioner. “ In all the circumstances of the case the
Court are of opinion that “ Sandakan should be the principal place of residence of the Governor,
and that it would not be too much if eight months of the year in Sandakan and four in Jesselton were
allotted to his residence in each place.”
The Secretariat moves with the Governor and
distributed as follows: —
Sandakan :
Treasury.
Audit.
Judicial.
Customs & Excise.
Forests.
Medical.
remaining Territorial Departments are at present
Jesselton:
Constabulary & Prisons.
(a) Lands.
Survey.
Printing.
(b) Development.
Railways.
Post & Telegraphs.
Protectorate.
Notes:
(a) Will probably be moved back to Sandakan.
(b) The Director is continually in Sandakan.
SECRETARIAT.
The Secretariat, under the Government Secretary, is the channel through which all communications
pass to and from the Governor. Its function is to co-ordinate and distribute the inter-relations of
the Departments and the Administrative service. The Government Secretary, ranking senior in the
service after the Governor, is his chief of staff and, in some ways, his delegate. The Governor-
dictates a line of action and the Government Secretary works out the details of it. He advises the
Governor after collating the facts, precedents or circumstances governing any question arising for
decision. He carries out the decision given by the Governor when expressed in any particular ques-
tion, and, in many cases, he deals with a matter without reference to the Governor when precedent
or any express or implied ruling exists. His function is to collate the correspondence which reaches
his office, to obtain the opinions of officers whose work and duties will be affected by any proposition put
forward, and to present the case, complete in all its aspects, to the Governor accompanied, possibly,
by suggestive criticism of his own. The Governor’s decision having been given, the Government
Secretary is responsible for transmitting to the Departments and Residents concerned the necessary
fiat, and he then leaves them to take such action as may be advisable or requisite for its execution.
For instance, an application is made for a concession which would leave a loophole for smuggling,
would involve the destruction of an area of jungle, and, from the nature of its situation, might expose
the concessionaries to native hostility. The Resident, the Commissioner of Lands, and the Conservator
of Forests would all be consulted, while the Officer Commanding the Constabulary and the Commissioner
of Customs would also be asked to advise on the issue from the point of view of their Departments. If
the concession were finally allowed, the officers concerned would be advised accordingly and the execu-
tion of the scheme left to them to work out by agreement in detail.
The Government Secretary is, subject to the Governor’s approval, responsible for the distribution-
of officers and duties, and arranges appointments and transfers as the needs of the moment dictate.
He also controls the clerical staff, engages new clerks, nominates clerks for promotion or transfer as
may be necessary, and is generally the officer in whose hands lies the disposal of personnel.
He is aided in the routine work of his office by an Assistant Government Secretary.
JUDICIAL.
Including the Native Court, which, as already mentioned, exercises its special functions on special
lines, the judiciary, in common with other Departments, bases on the District. The District Officer
exercises the powers of a Magistrate of the first, second or third class, according to his qualifications,
and forms the Court of Primary Jurisdiction. Cases involving crimes which are beyond his competence
to punish are judicially investigated by him and committed, with the depositions, to some superior
Court for disposal. The Residents exercise the functions of Sessions Judges or Judges of Assize in all
serious criminal cases (with some special exceptions which the High Court alone is empowered to try),
but any sentence of death or imprisonment of seven years or more which they may pass is subject to
confirmation, in the case of death or imprisonment exceeding 10 years by two Judges of the High Court
and by the Governor, and in the case of imprisonment exceeding 7 years by the Judicial Commissioner.


8
The Judicial Commissioner functions both as a Sessions Judge on occasion and also as a Judge of
the High Court. His most important duty, however, is, without doubt, the detailed supervision and
inspection of the work of the subordinate Courts. Records of all cases heard by Magistrates are regu-
larly submitted to him, and he possesses wide powers of review and revision which enable him
to correct immediately any miscarriage of justice which a perusal of those records may disclose. This
enables him to keep an eye on the judicial qualifications and ability of Magistrates and to test their
real worth for promotion to higher classes of Magisterial powers for which they may have qualified by
examinations which he periodically holds.
Civil jurisdiction is graded on somewhat similar lines, the different classes of the judiciary exer-
cising functions over suits in accordance with the value of the subject matter.
In certain cases (where the amount in dispute is £500 or more or where the question is of
great general or public importance), an appeal in civil suits lies to the Privy Council in England, but
in criminal actions the final Court is the High Court of the State.
CONSTABULARY AND POLICE.
The force is under the command of the Officer Commanding the Constabulary, who, with his
staff, is stationed at Jesselton. The supervision of the detachments in Sandakan and on the East
Coast is delegated to the second-in-command, the sub-Commandant, who is stationed in Sandakan, while
the police in some of the more important centres are under the command of junior commissioned officers
-of the force.
The Civil Police in Jesselton and Sandakan are controlled by European Police Officers, who are
responsible for the good order of those towns.
The force, as a whole, under its own officers, undertakes any military work required, provides
guards and escorts over offices and prisoners, and polices the towns. A large proportion of it, however,
is dispersed in small detachments in the Districts and, for the most part, is under the direct control of
District Officers with the necessary quota of non-commissioned officers. The police in a District have
a varied assortment of duties, which are both military and civil. They used, in the days when pro-
tective or even offensive measures were necessary, to safeguard the District Officer on his circuits
through his District, and they bore the brunt of any of the minor operations which “ mopping up ”
of recalcitrants entailed. The pacification of the country has, for the present at any rate, eliminated
the more dangerous parts of this duty, but the District police still perform a good deal of arduous
travelling both on escort or patrol and on the general administration of the District. They are charged
with the service of Court processes, the tracking of crime, the calling in of persons whose presence
may be required by the District Officer for any purpose, and they bear a large share of the “ donkey-
work ” of running a District. The posting of men to Districts is the duty of the Commandant, but
the actual command of his detachment, within reasonable bounds and subject, always, to a proper
regard for the regulations and traditions of the force, vests in the District Officer. He exercises his
•command through the senior representative of the force who is allotted to him, whether commissioned
or not, but in this, as in all other departmental matters in a District, the District Officer is the functionary
locally responsible for their conduct. The system, as a whole, works satisfactorily.
GAOLS.
There are two main prisons, one at Jesselton and one at Sandakan. They are under the control
of the police officers at each station, while the Commandant, as Inspector of Pi'isons, is the head of
the gaol administration of the State. All long-sentence convicts are sent to one of the two prisons
unless exceptional circumstances render this course inadvisable, while convicts serving short sentences
are retained in the “ lock-ups ” which are maintained in outstations under the direct control and
â– supervision of the District Officer, aided by the senior police official in the District.
In an out-station, prisoners are employed on minor public works in the vicinity of the station, on
general upkeep of the townships and Government grounds, and on the conservancy of barracks, gaols
and other buildings. They thus provide labour for the many odd jobs which constantly crop up
requiring immediate attention, but for which no provision could be made as a charge against the budget.
In the prisons, the inmates are, on admission, set to intramural work of a penal nature, but, in
course of time, are allotted to gangs employed extramurally on Public Works. Road formation, reclam-
ation, draining are all works which have been performed for the Public Works Department by convicts.
A certain amount of artisan work is performed in the prisons, carpentering and rotan work being the
trades principally favoured. All work performed by inmates of the prisons is charged against the work
carried out. Furniture made is bought by the Public Works Department or the public, stone broken
and used for the metalling of roads is paid for at schedule rates, and work done in reclamation or
on the roads is also credited to the prison votes and debited to the Public Works Department at fair
contract rates.
The prisons are visited regularly by visiting Justices selected from a roster, and their reports are
given careful consideration with a view to remedying any grievances or complaints of a reasonable
nature which may be made to them by the inmates.


9
PROTECTORATE.
The Protector of Labour is the official who is charged with the supervision of labourers employed
â– on estates, in mines, and in timber camps. He carries out his duties partly in person, but mainly
through the District Officers under the style of Assistant Protectors. Each Assistant Protector makes
every quarter a formal and thorough inspection of every Estate within his jurisdiction, and submits
a detailed report to Government through the Resident and Protector. The labourers are in this way
kept in touch with the local officer and enabled to bring to his notice any grievance, imaginary or
•otherwise. The District Officer, is, however, Magistrate as well as Assistant Protector, and his Court
records afford a fairly reliable index as to the contentedness or discontent of the labour force on
Estates'. Any sudden or pronounced increase in the petty offences committed by labourers on an
Estate brought before him for punishment should put him immediately on enquiry as to its cause, and
lead, if necessary, to additional and closer inspection and investigation into conditions obtaining there.
FINANCIAL DEPARTMENT.
The Treasury is controlled by the Financial Commissioner, who, with his subordinate, the Auditor,
is stationed in Sandakan, where the State Treasury is located. He is supported by the Assistant
Financial Commissioner in Sandakan and by the Chief District Treasurer and the Assistant Auditor
•in Jesselton.
The Auditor and Assistant Auditor pay periodical visits to the more accessible stations and conduct
audits of the books kept there. The office of Inspector of Revenue Collections is now vacant, but
served a useful purpose while it was filled. The Auditor confines himself largely to scrutiny of the
figures appearing in the books, while the Inspector was engaged in supplementing the audit work by
â– examining the possibilities of revenue which was not fully collected.
Jesselton acts as a branch of the State .Treasury for the West Coast, receiving surplus cash from
â– out-stations or remitting to them as required, but it is not concerned with any accounts from out-
stations, these being forwarded direct to the Financial Commissioner by District Officers. The Jessel-
ton Treasury deals with local collections and keeps the current accounts (on a system known as “ the
•one-twelfth system ”) of departments with headquarters in Jesselton.
Jesselton Treasury also controls “ The Revenue Office,” an innovation under which no collections
are made -by, with few exceptions, any Departments in the Jesselton District, all payments and receipts
being concentrated in the one office. This system has undoubtedly increased the efficiency of the
•collection of revenue and eliminated the chances of peculation by subordinates in offices, who now
handle practically no cash,
As far as out-stations are concerned, the collection of and accounting for revenue devolves on the
District Officer, who compiles and forwards monthly to the State Treasury a cash sheet showing
moneys received by him and sums disbursed with proper vouchers in support. The collection of
revenue is, in most cases, largely performed by Asiatics at two or three central places in the Dis-
trict. The smaller accounts are submitted monthly to the District Officer, who, after scrutiny,
â– embodies them in the District cash sheet. In the bigger Districts, a Cashier or Treasury Clerk
(Asiatic) is in actual charge of the financial work, but the District Officer remains the responsible
•official whose duty it is to take such precautions as may be necessary against fraud and to stimulate
the work of collection.
FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION.
The entire and absolute control of finance rests with the Court in London. Estimates of
revenue and expenditure for each ensuing 12 months are prepared by the Governor and the senior
•officers in Borneo, and are submitted in the latter part of each year to the Court for their approval
or possible amendment. When finally approved by the Court, the estimates are set up in printed form.
Expenditure in Borneo is strictly limited to the amount authorised in the printed estimates. In
cases, however, where small additional or urgent expenditure is, in the opinion of the Governor, expedient
or necessary, it is in the discretion of the Governor to authorise such expenditure, but this is at once
reported to the Court in London for theii’ covering approval.
The headquarters of the Treasury are at Sandakan. The chief of the finance Department (or
Treasury) is styled “ Finance Commissioner.” Other Officers are: —
The Auditor,
The Chief District Treasurer,
The Secretary to the Finance Commissioner,
and the necessary complement of Eurasian, Chinese and Native Clerks.
At the Treasury at Jesselton the staff consists of: —
The Chief District Treasurer,
The Inspector of Revenue Collections,
The Assistant Auditor,
-and the necessary complement of Eurasian, Chinese and Native Clerks.
There are also Treasuries at: —
Tenom, in the Interior.
Beaufort, on the West Coast.
Rudat, in Marudu Bay, in the North.
Lahad Datu and Tawao, on the East Coast.
There is no actual Treasury Officer at either of these places, the working being, carried out by. the
Assistant District Officer in each case. All transactions recorded in these Treasuries are passed direct
"to Sandakan to be dealt with by the Treasury Headquarters.


10
CURRENCY.
The currency of the country consists of Treasury Notes printed in London and sent out (by the-
Court) periodically to North Borneo in such quantities as are from time to time requisitioned by the-
Finance Commissioner with the covering approval of the Governor.
These Notes are of the following denominations:
$25.
$10.
$5.
$1.
50 cents.
25 cents.
In addition to this, there is a certain amount of nickel coins, minted in Birmingham, of the following
denominations:— ’ ”
5 cents.
2J cents.
1 cent.
The Treasury Notes are redeemable on presentation at the Treasury either in Singapore currency or
by a demand draft on the Company’s bankers at Singapore.
A Reserve equal to one-third of the total of notes in circulation is retained in London.
The total amount of Treasury Notes in actual circulation varies from time to time, the total, of"
course, being affected by the varying conditions of trade.
NORTH BORNEO STATE BANK.
For a long time it had been evident to the Court and to their financial officers that the absence of
customary banking facilities in North Borneo militated against the trading of the country. Agencies
of two of the large Eastern Banks existed in the. country, but it was felt that the institution of a State
Bank under the control of the Governor and Finance Commissioner, subject, of course, to the control
of the Court, would be not only a boon to the trading community of the country, but should in time
become a source of considerable revenue to the Government.
Consequently the State Bank was instituted on the 15th March, 1921. Its chief office is at Sanda-
kan, whilst at Jesselton there is a branch which, though subsidiary to Sandakan, transacts at present
a greater volume of business than is earned on at Sandakan. Further branches will be opened when
required.
The Bank carries out general banking business: it advances money on approved Securities, it
receives money on Deposit, and Current Accounts are opened which are operated on by ordinary cheques
issued to customers. 1
The State Bank has a credit account at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, Singapore, against
which it issues drafts to its customers, and through which it remits all cheques and credit notes handed,
to it by customers and others.
LAND AND SURVEY.
The Land Office is controlled by the Commissioner of Lands, Residents and District Officers
ranking, for land purposes, as his subordinates under the title of Collectors of Land Revenue.
The Torrens system of registration is in vogue. Under this system the title to land depends abso-
lutely on the “ Register ” kept in the Land Office in which all mutations of title, in order to be
effective, must be registered. Whatever unregistered transactions may have taken place, the ownership-
as disclosed by the register is, prima facie, inviolable.
Titles may be divided roughly into permanent grants (for terms extending up to 99 years), temporary
leases, and native titles. The place of registration for permanent grants and the bulk of the temporary
leases is the office of the Commissioner of Lands. All documents affecting a title so registered must be sub-
mitted to him in order that they may be entered in the register and suitably endorsed. The registration
office for “ native titles ” (lands held on special terms by natives of the country) is in the office of the
District Officer. Every land holder holds a copy of the register completed to show the current state of his
title, but this document is in itself not the equivalent of a title deed, and is, indeed, nothing but a
duplicate of the relevant documents filed in the Land Register.
Each District keeps a “ Rent Roll ” on which are entered the titles to all lands held within the
District, whether registered locally or in the Commissioner of Lands’ Office. The Rent Roll is prepared
yearly in the District Office, and checked with the register, being forwarded to the Commissioner of
Lands for scrutiny in respect to titles contained in his registers. The rent roll contains the following


information: The official number and description of the title, the owner’s name, the rent payable,
arrears if any, other dues on the land, amount paid, date of payment, any coercive action in the shape
•of notices of demand, distress and sale warrants, etc. This yearly compilation, it may be seen, in-
volves a considerable expenditure of time and trouble, and various experiments have been initiated with
a view to elaborating a simpler and equally efficacious method.
The routine of application for land is roughly as follows: The applicant presents, preferably to the
District Officer, a form showing the land required. The District Officer examines the land with a view
â– to ascertaining its suitability for cultivation, the timber on it, the possibility of its being required in the
future for any public purpose (e.g., a> road), the means of access, and, last but not least, the existence
•of any claims by natives to rights or interests in the land. He forwards the application with his
recommendations to the Resident, who, in the case of native land, may grant or refuse the application.
In other cases, if the land is in a timber country, the application goes forward to the Conservator of
Forests, who may refuse it. If he endorses the application, the Resident sends it forward to the Com-
missioner of Lands with his comments and recommendations. The Commissioner has authority to
sanction grants of small areas, but submits larger applications to the Governor for approval, or, in the
•case of applications for, over 100 acres, for submission to the Court of Directors. When a grant is
approved, a Provisional Lease showing the, approximate boundaries and area is prepared and issued,
and the papers are then forwarded to the Chief Surveyor for survey as and when opportunity offers.
When the Survey is completed, deeds are prepared in duplicate with a. copy of the Surveyor’s plan
•endorsed. After execution by the lessee and by the Governor, one copy is handed to the lessee, and
the other filed by the Commissioner of Lands as the “ register ” of title to the land.
The Survey Office, under charge of the Chief Surveyor, nominally a separate Department, is in
effect ancillary to the Land Office, and its purpose is sufficiently indicated in its title.
Disputes as to land are heard by collectors of Land Revenue under the Land Law, and appeal
lies to the Commissioner of Lands, and, from him, to the Judicial Commissioner.
LAND SETTLEMENT.
In 1913 a scheme of land settlement was initiated on the West Coast and in the Interior, whereby
native claims to land would be considered and determined, and titles, carrying rental, issued.
The task, which is in the hands of the Land Settlement Officer, has been one of considerable magni-
tude, involving the investigation of innumerable claims to ownership and the demarcation of many
thousands of holdings. Some slight resistance was at first encountered, but opposition soon died down
as the true nature of the work and the security afforded by a title were realised.
In the ten years 1910-1920 the revenue from quit rents rose from £2,430 to £13,150, a result
for which the policy of land settlement was mainly responsible. The administrative advantages have
been considerable, e.g., the endless boundary disputes have ceased; the native has become a keener
cultivator, and less liable to wander; and a number of padi tracts have been set free, having remained
unclaimed by any particular owner. In 1918 there was a rush for such vacant land by people who had
formerly been afraid to move.
Striking proof that the benefits of settlement are now realised was afforded by the spontaneous
â– request of the natives of Papar, Putatan, and Inanam, that all their undemarcated lands, including
sago land, should be demarcated as soon as possible. Hitherto Government had not urged the demar-
â–  cation of sago land.
The Department is staffed by demarcators who have been locally trained, an important advantage.
'The work of Land Settlement should be completed early in 1924.
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT.
While the technical staff of the Public Works Department is responsible for the preparation of
plans for Government buildings and for the supervision of erection in the more accessible stations,
for the construction of roads and bridges in the bigger towns and generally, in Jesselton and Sandakan,
is equipped with European engineers and a staff which enables it to undertake entirely both construc-
tion and upkeep in those towns and their vicinity, the main responsibility even there rests upon the
Resident and the District Officer. In outstations, the District Officer is afforded nothing but a plan
and specification of any important building to be erected within his jurisdiction, and becomes, to all
intents and purposes, his own foreman of works. For the construction of bridle paths, including any
necessary bridges, and of minor buildings in an outstation, the District Officer is responsible entirely.
In the case of bridle paths, he possesses the local knowledge of suitable routes, he is in a position to
•obtain a certain amount of local labour with local knowledge, and he can acquire, with some applica-
tion, a sufficient experience in the use of the requisite instruments to enable him to trace and cut a
path of the standard pattern. As regards minor building operations, he is in the same advantageous
position. He is probably acquainted with local craftsmen of suitable capabilities, he knows the material
available locally, and he is on the spot. It is, therefore, only economical that work of this nature should
be carried out by District Officers with, when required, the right to call on the technical staff of the
Public Works Department for advice and such assistance as it can reasonably give.


10
CURRENCY.
The currency of the country consists of Treasury Notes printed in London and sent out (by the-
Court) periodically to North Borneo in such quantities as are from time to time requisitioned by the-
Finance Commissioner with the covering approval of the Governor.
These Notes are of the following denominations:
$25.
$10.
$5.
$1.
50 cents.
25 cents.
In addition to this, there is a certain amount of nickel coins, minted in Birmingham, of the following-
denominations:—
5 cents.
2| cents.
1 cent.
The Treasury Notes are redeemable on presentation at the Treasury either in Singapore currency or
by a demand draft on the Company’s bankers at Singapore.
A Reserve equal to one-third of the total of notes in circulation is retained in London.
The total amount of Treasury Notes in actual circulation varies from time to time, the total, of
course, being affected by the varying conditions of trade.
NORTH BORNEO STATE BANK.
For a long time it had been evident to the Court and to their financial officers that the absence of
customary banking facilities in North Borneo militated against the trading of the country. Agencies
of two of the large Eastern Banks existed in the country, but it was felt that the institution of a. State
Bank under the control of the Governor and Finance Commissioner, subject, of course, to the control
of the Court, would be not only a boon to the trading community of the country, but should in time
become a source of considerable revenue to the Government.
Consequently the State Bank was instituted on the 15th March, 1921. Its chief office is at Sanda-
kan, whilst at Jesselton there is a branch which, though subsidiary to Sandakan, transacts at present
a greater volume of business than is earned on at Sandakan. Further branches will be opened when
required.
The Bank carries out general banking business: it advances money on approved Securities, it
receives money on Deposit, and Current Accounts are opened which are operated on by ordinary cheques
issued to customers.
The State Bank has a credit account at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, Singapore, against
which it issues drafts to its customers, and through which it remits all cheques and credit notes handed,
to it by customers and others.
LAND AND SURVEY.
The Land Office is controlled by the Commissioner of Lands, Residents and District Officers
ranking, for land purposes, as his subordinates under the title of Collectors of Land Revenue.
The Torrens system of registration is in vogue. Under this system the title to land depends abso-
lutely on the “ Register ” kept in the Land Office in which all mutations of title, in order to be
effective, must be registered. Whatever unregistered transactions may have taken place, the ownership-
as disclosed by the register is, prima facie, inviolable.
Titles may be divided roughly into permanent grants (for terms extending up to 99 years), temporary
leases, and native titles. The place of registration for permanent grants and the bulk of the temporary
leases is the office of the Commissioner of Lands. All documents affecting a title so registered must be sub-
mitted to him in order that they may be entered in the register and suitably endorsed. The registration
office for “ native titles ” (lands held on special terms by natives of the country) is in the office of the
District Officer. Every land holder holds a copy of the register completed to show the current state of his
title, but this document is in itself not the equivalent of a title deed, and is, indeed, nothing but a
duplicate of the relevant documents filed in the Land Register.
Each District keeps a “ Rent Roll ” on which are entered the titles to all lands held within the
District, whether registered locally or in the Commissioner of Lands’ Office. The Rent Roll is prepared
yearly in the District Office, and checked with the register, being forwarded to the Commissioner- of
Lands for scrutiny in respect to titles contained in his registers. The rent roll contains the following


11
information: The official number and description of the title, the owner’s name, the rent payable,
arrears if any, other dues on the land, amount paid, date of payment, any coercive action in the shape
â– of notices of demand, distress and sale warrants, etc. This yearly compilation, it may be seen, in-
volves a considerable expenditure of time and trouble, and various experiments have been initiated with
a view to elaborating a simpler and equally efficacious method.
The routine of application for land is roughly as follows: The applicant presents, preferably to the
District Officer, a form showing the land required. The District Officer examines the land with a view
to ascertaining its suitability for cultivation, the timber on it, the possibility of its being required in the
future for any public purpose (e.g., a road), the means of access, and, last but not least, the existence
â– of any claims by natives to rights or interests in the land. He forwards the application with his
recommendations to the Resident, who, in the case of native land, may grant or refuse the application.
In other cases, if the land is in a timber country, the application goes forward to the Conservator of
Forests, who may refuse it. If he endorses the application, the Resident sends it forward to the Com-
missioner of Lands with his comments and recommendations. The Commissioner has authority to
sanction grants of small areas, but submits larger applications to the Governor for approval, or, in the
â– case of applications for. over 100 acres, for submission to the Court of Directors. When a grant is
approved, a Provisional Lease showing the approximate boundaries and area is prepared and issued,
and the papers are then forwarded to the Chief Surveyor for survey as and when opportunity offers.
When the Survey is completed, deeds are prepared in duplicate with a copy of the Surveyor’s plan
â– endorsed. After execution by the lessee and by the Governor, one copy is handed to the lessee, and
the other filed by the Commissioner of Lands as the “ register ” of title to the land.
The Survey Office, under charge of the Chief Surveyor, nominally a separate Department, is in
effect ancillary to the Land Office, and its purpose is sufficiently indicated in its title.
Disputes as to land are heard by collectors of Land Revenue under the Land Law, and appeal
lies to the Commissioner of Lands, and, from him, to the Judicial Commissioner.
LAND SETTLEMENT.
In 1913 a scheme of land settlement was initiated on the West Coast and in the Interior, whereby
native claims to land would be considered and determined, and titles, carrying rental, issued.
The task, which is in the hands of the Land Settlement Officer, has been one of considerable magni-
tude, involving the investigation of innumerable claims to ownership and the demarcation of many
thousands of holdings. Some slight resistance was at first encountered, but opposition soon died down
as the true nature of the work and the security afforded by a title were realised.
In (the ten years 1910-1920 the revenue from quit rents rose from £2,430 to £13,150, a result
for which the policy of land settlement was mainly responsible. The administrative advantages have
been considerable, e.g., the endless boundary disputes have ceased; the native has become a keenei'
•cultivator, and less liable to wander; and a number of padi tracts have been set free, having remained
unclaimed by any particular owner. In 1918 there was a rush for such vacant land by people who had
formerly been afraid to move.
Striking proof that the benefits of settlement are now realised was afforded by the spontaneous
request of (the natives of Papar, Putatan, and Inanam, that all their undemarcated lands, including
sago land, should be demarcated as soon as possible. Hitherto Government had not urged the demar-
cation of sago land.
The Department is staffed by demarcators who have been locally trained, an important advantage.
The work of Land Settlement should be completed early in 1924.
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT.
While the technical staff of the Public Works Department is responsible for the preparation of
plans for Government buildings and for the supervision of erection in the more accessible stations,
for the construction of roads and bridges in the bigger towns and generally, in Jesselton and Sandakan,
is equipped with European engineers and a staff which enables it to undertake entirely both construc-
tion and upkeep in those towns and their vicinity, the main responsibility even there resits upon the
Resident and the District Officer. In outstations, the District Officer is afforded nothing but a plan
and specification of any important building to be erected within his jurisdiction, and becomes, to all
intents and purposes, his own foreman of works. For the construction of bridle paths, including any
necessary bridges, and of minor buildings in an outstation, the District Officer is responsible entirely.
In the case of bridle paths, he possesses the local knowledge of suitable routes, he is in a position to
•obtain a certain amount of local labour with local knowledge, and he can acquire, with some applica-
tion, a sufficient experience in the use of the requisite instruments to enable him to trace and cut a
path of ithe standard pattern. As regards minor building operations, he is in the same advantageous
position. He is probably acquainted with local craftsmen of suitable capabilities, he knows the material
available locally, and he is on the spot. It is, therefore, only economical that work of this nature should
be carried out by District Officers with, when required, the right to call on the technical staff of the
Public Works Department for advice and such assistance as it can reasonably give.


12
FORESTRY.
The Department is under the control of the Conservator of Forests. The Department is vesited:
with a power of veto over proposals for agricultural concessions in cases where the grant of them will
prejudicially affect good timber land. As a matter of practical politics, the Department has “released’*
the major part of the western and north-western sides of the territory, and these are therefore available-
for alienation without reference to the Forestry Department. The Department employs competent men
as Rangers, and undertakes reconnaissances of timber land, both for Government and, on payment,
for private timber interests. These reconnaissances have, on more than one occasion, while negative
from a lumber point of view, disclosed areas eminently suitable for agriculture. The bulk of the
Department’s work lies in the Sandakan and East Coast Residencies, where the main timber forests
are located, but attention has recently been paid to the West Coast, where destructive methods of
agriculture and a fairly urgent demand for timber for buildings, for use on the railway and in the
Public Works Department and to meet the demands of a sawmill recently established, have brought
to notice in a fairly acute manner the absence of commercial timber in accessible localities. In
handling the work of this Department, the District Officer again figures as the local representative
in places where the Department is unable to employ economically any of its own staff.
RAILWAY.
The railway is under the general control of the Director of Works and Railways, and immediately
under the General Manager. His European staff consists of a Traffic Superintendent and Assistant,
an Accountant, a Loco. Superintendent and Assistant, an Engineer in charge of ways and works, and
two Sectional Engineers. The railway is run on a commercial basis, being paid in cash for any fares
incurred on Government account.
The headquarters are at Jesselton, and the line runs thence to Beaufort, and from there, in an
easterly direction, through the Penotal Gorge of the Padas River, to Tenom and Melalap in the Interior
Residency. From Beaufort a branch line runs to Weston, a shallow water port at the mouth of the-
Padas River. *
POSTS AND TELEGRAPHS.
I
The Department is controlled by the Post-Master General, stationed at Jesselton, where the mails
for the State are received in bulk and sorted for the different territorial destinations. He has, in Sanda-
kan, an Assistant who is in charge of the wireless stations at Sandakan and Tawau.
Post offices are maintained in many of the principal outstations, and mails are transmitted to and
from every Government station. In the bigger stations postal duties are generally carried out, under
the supervision of ithe District Officer, by a telegraph operator (where a telegraph station is maintained)-
or by one of the District staff.
The telegraph system is a combination of ordinary land line and wireless. A short cable connects
the Borneo system with Labuan, where there is a station of the Eastern Extension Telegraph Com-
pany. From the landing point of the cable at Mempakol, the line passes to Beaufort and then to
Jesselton, where is situated the main wireless station of the State. From this station messages can
be exchanged with the wireless stations at Kudat, Sandakan and Tawau. Branch land lines are
carried from Beaufort to Tenom and from Sandakan via Lamag on the Kinabatangan River to Lahad
Datu on the East Coast.
Considerable use is made of the telephone in North Borneo. Exchanges exist in Sandakan and
Jesselton and most of the smaller stations are the nuclei of small telephone systems connecting up
substations and neighbouring estates. Distances in a country so difficult are a great bar to quick and
easy communication, and the linking up by telephone of the majority of the bigger outstations and a
considerable number of the smaller stations is a valuable factor in administration. The maintenance-
of the interstation telephone lines is a duty incumbent on the District Officers.
Many estates maintain, under licence from the Government, their private telephone systems and’
the Railway Department relies on the telephone for intercommunication between stations, and accepts.
messages for despatch on payment.
MEDICAL.
The medical service of the State is under the Principal Medical Officer, stationed in Sandakan..
The service consists, as far as its European staff is concerned, of two District Surgeons (at Sandakan
and Jesselton), who are whole-time Government servants, one District Surgeon who is also medical
officer to a group of estates (Beaufort), and a call, under arrangement, on the services as required of
certain medical officers employed by companies operating in the State. Hospitals are maintained at
Sandakan, Kudat, Jesselton, Beaufort, and Tawau, and in a few outstations Asiatic apothecaries or
dressers are employed to give simple treatment as required.
Two European nurses are employed at Jesselton in the European and second-class wards of the
hospital. One of these nurses is partly supported by a number of West Coast estates, and she is
available for attending the European staffs of these estates at their homes when required. Another
European nurse has recently been appointed for Sandakan Hospital.


13
The medical care of labourers on estates is a matter which warrants and receives considerable atten-
tion. All large labour forces are under qualified medical supervision and care, with adequate hospital
accommodation (see footnotes (a) and (b)).
Medical inspection of vessels is carried out at the first port of entry, and Sandakan, where the
bulk of the shipping is dealt with, has a commodious and efficient quarantine station.
A settlement for lepers is maintained on an island (Bahala) at the mouth of Sandakan Harbour.
Sandakan has a satisfactory asylum, where lunatics are accepted and treated. The management
of the asylum is directly under the District Surgeon, with an Asylum Board which exercises a general
supervision over the institution and the inmates.
Vaccination is being pushed among the native population, the inoculation being carried out by
Asiatics under the supervision of the District Officers.
Each station is equipped with a small supply of simple remedies and curatives, and District
Officers on circuit in their districts can usually be sure of a flourishing if honorary practice in any
village visited. Natives take fairly readily to European medical treatment if administered locally by a
person whom they know.
One of the most important and urgent needs of the State is population. The native races are not.
prolific, owing, probably, in a great measure to the hard manual labour performed by the women, and,,
as far as the non-Mohamedan races are concerned, to their intemperate habits. The effects of this,
comparative sterility are augmented to a very serious degree by the high rate of infantile mortality,
attributable partly to ithe lack, except in good harvest years, of a proper diet, both for mothers and
children, partly to the unhygienic conditions under which most natives live, and largely to the ignor-
ance and its resultant callousness displayed by them in all health matters. A native will take to'
European medicine and treatment if it is more or less thrust upon him by a person who will fall in
to some extent with his preconceived ideas a.nd superstitions, who is known to him, and speaks to or
can communicate with him (through an interpreter) in his own dialect, and who will give him treatment
somewhere near his own village. He will not, until his education has advanced very considerably,,
have any dealings with the most accomplished medical man if the latter laughs at his charms and omens,
is a sitranger who uses only indifferent Malay (Railway Malay and Medical Malay are bywords of unin-
telligibility), and, above all, lives in places as remote as Jesselton or Sandakan. A beginning has.
been made to bring medical treatment closer to the native by Asiatic apothecaries stationed in Districts,* *
but there is not ithe confidence in them that there is even in the most unskilled European officer who-
fulfils the other requirements. A scheme for the introduction of medical missionaries is under con-
sideration, and it is hoped that the employment of ladies in this capacity will get closer touch with
the mothers, and lead to some improvement in the conditions under which children are born and
reared. A woman doctor who is not too radical in her ideas, and is prepared at first to deal
sympathetically with the crude ideas she has to combat, will before long do a good deal, but the role
will require a special type of women, and, above all, a lengthy sojourn in a District to enable her to
get personal touch with the people and with their dialect. The experiment will be one of consider-
able interest, and, if at all successful, of paramount importance to the State. If these ladies are in
due course given facilities for the training in elementary hygiene, both personal and domestic, of young-
native women and later in the duties of a midwife, the old type of “ bidan ” (the local Mrs. Gamp),
with her outfit of charlatanry should gradually disappear. The path is, however, strewn with diffi-
culty. A race which considers fresh milk from the cow a disgusting beverage, but will devour tinned
milk, which considers a cigarette and a drink of native liquor suitable diet for a child almost before it
is weaned, which turns so much of its staple rice crop into liquor that it subsists for the greater part
of each year on yams, boiled sago or even jungle roots, with a little dried fish as a relish, is a difficult
field on which to run a “ save the babies ” campaign.
The International Bureau of Health, an American foundation under the auspices of Mr. Rockefeller r
has detailed for North Borneo one of its medical officers to conduct a campaign against ankylostomi-
asis (“ hookworm ”) and other intestinal parasitic diseases. It appears that ailments of this nature
and malaria, with their respective sequelae, are the greatest enemies to human health in the tropics,
and are responsible for the greater proportion of deaths. Vigorous action has been taken in respect
to the former, but to combat mosquitoes in a State as large and, so to speak, scattered as North
Borneo would entail an enormous expenditure on preventive measures such as draining, and a harassing
number of supervising officials to carry out the minor safeguards. There is very much to be done
before one can hope to eliminate puddles in a native village, and instil, even into a native chief’s,
mind, the rudiments of sanitation and conservancy. North Borneo lacks a comprehensive school system
which, in neighbouring colonies like the Federated Malay States and the Philippines, is such a potent
factor in the dissemination of education of this practical character. The few schools that do exist in
North Borneo concern themselves with the spiritual and mental needs of their pupils, but leave severely
alone his corporeal betterment, present or future, practical or theoretical. The whole problem is so vast,
and has so many sides to it, that its solution is one of great difficulty.
(a) There is an English dentist at Jesselton who receives a subsidy from the Government.
(b) Most of the estates on the West Coast and in the Interior and Kudat Residencies are arranged in “groups,”
each group having its own medical officer.
* Four places (dispensaries*)—Tambunan, Kolam Ayer, Sipitang and Kota Belud.


14
PRINTING.
The Printing Office is situated in Jesselton, and is supervised by an officer who is usually em-
ployed, in addition, in some other post.
The Department is in charge of and issues all Government stationery. It undertakes printing
work for the public in addition to all printing required by Government. It prints and publishes the
Official Gazette and the British North Borneo Herald, a fortnightly periodical, the only newspaper in
the State.
MYCOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE.
A Mycologist, under a contributory scheme, is employed by the Government and a number of
estates with a view to preventive and curative measures against disease in the agricultural products
of the State. The Mycologist has a small experimental plantation in Jesselton, where he is enabled
to watch and reproduce specimens of disease, and expeiament with a view to combating it. The field
work of his Department is carried out by a force of Asiatic Sub-Inspectors, who are placed under the
supervision of District Officers as required. During 1920 and 1921, this corps formed the nucleus
of an emergency force recruited to deal with a plague of locusts which ravaged the agricultural parts
of the Territory, and, for a time, were a very urgent danger.
The Agricultural Department is at present under the direction of the Conservator of Forests, who
is in charge of the newly-opened Government Experimental Garden near Sandakan.
CATTLE AND PONY BREEDING.
The West Coast and Interior Residencies are the locale of cattle and pony breeding interests,
which have so far been mainly in native hands. Herds of cattle of varying dimensions have been
maintained for many years at most of the Government stations, and efforts have been made
to better the breeds by the importation of stud bulls and stallions. In 1921 a fresh policy was inaugurated
by the establishment in the Ixeningau District of a cattle farm under Government control, and the
removal there, as the nucleus of a proper herd of larger portion of all cattle from outstations. The
farm is to undertake the breeding of cattle from approved stock and the dissemination of suitable sires
through the country, while effecting, as widely as possible, the elimination, by castration, of all
unsuitable sires.
The question is one of great importance from a two-fold aspect. The supply of cattle for human
â– consumption in the neighbourhood of Borneo is not equal to the demand, and the development of a
breeding centre for store cattle has enormous potentiality. A second feature which is of urgent moment
is the supply of bullocks for transport and draft purposes. Roading in the State is only in embryo,
and all transport away from ithe railway has practically depended hitherto on river carriage or on
porters carrying loads over the bridle paths or native tracks of the country. In recent years pack bul-
locks have been used to a small extent, but the employment of this method is capable of expansion
many-fold with great economical saving of money and human labour.
IMMIGRATION.
A small Immigration Department is maintained to supervise colonies of immigrant Chinese, who
have been brought down during the past few years. No large importations have taken place in the
immediate past, and the settlers still remaining in the Colonies are mostly attaining competence to
fend for themselves. The Superintendent of Immigrants is, therefore, available to undertake other
duties in addition to it-hose of his Department.
EDUCATION.
The Protector of Labour carries out, in addition to the duties of his substantive office, those of
Inspector of Schools. A sum is allotted annually to provide a capitation grant in aid of the schools
operating in the State, and is distributed, pro rata, by the Inspector among (the schools, the curriculum
of which is approved. There are Government schools at Papar, Kotabelud and Keningau, in addition
to the schools maintained by the Roman Catholic, Protestant, Basel and Seventh Day Adventist Missions,
and smaller private vernacular schools. A beginning has been made by co-operative action among the
Chinese to educate Chinese children under Chinese auspices and particularly with a view to inculcating
the use of the so-called Mandarin dialect as a common medium of communication among the different
Chinese nationalities, who have hitherto had no common tongue.
The Inspector of Schools is directly responsible for the running of a small Government school located
in Jesselton for the sons of native chiefs. The boys are taught to read and write Roman Malay, and given
other general instruction calculated to fit them as occasion offers for appointment as Native Chiefs.
The Inspector of Schools conducts the half-yearly examinations of “ learners ” employed in
Government Offices who are candidates for admission to the Clerical Service proper.


15
In the past, whatever educational facilities have existed in the Territory have been provided almost
entirely by'the various Missions. Government assistance has been given in the shape of a capitation
grant of $1.50 per head per annum in schools teaching Chinese and Dusun only, and a higher grant to
schools teaching English according to the standard.
At the end of 1921 the distribution of the mission schools was: —
S.P.G. Mission:
Sandakan (two), Jesselton (one) Kudat (three), Tawau (one).
Number of scholars, 319.
Roman Catholic Mission:
Sandakan (two), Jesselton (one), Papar (two), Tuaran (one), Putatan (two), Tambunan (one).
Number of scholars, 737.-
Basel Mission:
Sandakan (one), Kudat (four), Jesselton (two), Papar (two), Tenom (one).
Number of scholars, 1,338.
Seventh Day Adventists :
Sandakan (one), Jesselton (one). (N.B.—No capitation grant paid.)
Number of scholars, 44.
In addition there are a number of private schools providing education for 502 scholars. Only one-
of these received capitation grant in 1921, a Chinese school at Beaufort. The remaining 19 are dis-
tributed at Sandakan, Laihad Datu, Tawau, Kotabelud, Jesselton, Putatan, Papar, and Tenom. They
are for the most part run by the various Chinese communities; one—the Chinese National School at.
Jesselton—is maintained by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
The Count of Directors have for some time past felt that it is incumbent upon them to improve
the educational facilities in the State. In 1915 Government opened at Jesselton a Training School for
the sons of Native Chiefs, the intention being to develop it on the lines of the similar institution at
Kuala Kangear in the Federated Malay States. The War prevented the development of the Court’s-
plans, but in 1921 Government opened two new schools at Papar and Kotabelud, placing at each a
schoolmaster and an assistant schoolmaster from the F.M.S. Although these schools have not attracted
the number of pupils anticipated, there is a good prospect for the future. The number of pupils in
1921 was 15 at Papar and between 10 and 17 at Kotabelud. A nominal fee of 25 cents per month is
charged.
The main concern of the Court is, however, for the provision of educational facilities in the Interior.
From the above notes it will be seen that the R.C. Mission have a school at Tambunan, and the Basel
Mission run a school at Tenom. It is not the desire of the Court that any schools which Government
may establish in the Interior shall compete with these Mission schools; their object is to set up schools
where no educational facilities exist at present. It is hoped that one or two of the masters
introduced from the F.M.S. will later on be available for Government schools in the Interior. Both
the senior masters have married North Borneo women. A Government School has recently been
opened at Keningau.
Some of the estates have been sufficiently enterprising to provide schools for the children of their
labourers, e.g., Papar (Sablas Company), Langkon (Langkon Company). The Cowie Harbour Coal Com-
pany have also started a school at the Mines.
The Court realise the magnitude of the services rendered by the Missions in the cause of educa-
tion, and have always listened sympathetically to any appeal for financial help, particularly from the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.
. CUSTOMS AND HARBOUR.
The Commissioner of Customs and Excise is stationed in Sandakan. He has Assistants for Cus-
toms work, at Sandakan and Jesselton, the main commercial ports, while at other points on the
coast, customs and harbour duties are carried out by the District Officers with the assistance, in some
cases, of a special Customs Staff.
The Harbour Department is similarly managed and deals with the licensing of boats and fisheries.
EXCISE.
The Excise Department is concerned with the licensing of and collection of dues on the trade in
liquors and other excisable commodities. The Commissioner of Customs and Excise is in charge of
the Department, with an Assistant Commissioner in Sandakan. The Customs Officer in Jesselton is
the local representative of the Department, the duties of which elsewhere in the State are performed1
by the District Officers and their staffs.
The other activities of the Department, in addition to the collection of the ordinary import dues
on liquors and supervision of the trade in them, consist in control, either directly or through a licensee,
of the traffic in “ samsu ” or Chinese rice wine and of the manufacture in the State of liquors from rice
(distilled or fermented), from tapioca, and from the coconut or nipah palms. The duty on tapai (native
liquor) has been imposed largely with a view to checking intemperance. A part of the proceeds is
credited to the Medical Dispensaries Fund. The bulk of the work in connection with the local produc-
tion of liquor is carried out by District Officers and their staffs.


16
GOVERNMENT VESSELS & BUOYS & BEACONS.
A Marine Engineer, stationed in Sandakan, has technical charge of the launches belonging to
Government, and he also inspects periodically and cares for the buoys, beacons and lighthouses in the
waters of the State. The launches are attached to Districts, and are, for running purposes, at the disposal
of the Resident or District Officer of the station to which they are attached.
The duties of the Marine Surveyor include periodical inspection as to seaworthiness in all respects
of the launches and steamers privately owned in the State.
SANITARY BOARDS.
Sanitary Boards, composed of officials and non-officials, are in charge of municipal affairs in the
bigger towns in the State. They are embryo municipalities, and are entrusted with the conservancy
and general well-being of their respective townships. In Sandakan and Jesselton, Inspectors are em-
ployed under the control of the Boards, while elsewhere the executive routine duty is performed by
the District Officer or some member of his local staff.
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
This advisory and legislative body consists of eight official members and four unofficial members,
and meets periodically under the presidency of the Governor. The unofficial members are respectively
nominated by the European community, the planting communities on the East and West Coasts, and
the Chinese community. Notn. 281 of 1912 enables the Court of Directors to enact legislation direct,
i.e., without consultation with the Legislative Council.
ADVISORY COUNCILS.
Each District and Residency has an advisory council of natives, upon which local officers can call
for an expression of opinion on any matters concerning matters of public interest, while a select
council of representative natives is available for consultation by the Governor.
Occasional conferences are called of Residents when matters of territorial interest and importance
are informally discussed and a collective opinion obtained in a manner which is hardly possible by
correspondence. (The last Conference of Residents was held in December, 1917.) The interchange
of ideas and views is a valuable factoi’ in obtaining consistency of policy through the State, and the
few meetings that have been held have been of great value to, at any rate, the participants.
DEVELOPMENT.
The programme of extensive capital works has led to the formation of a Development Department
under a Director of Works and Railways. He has a considerable staff, which is at present employed
on the construction of roads from Jesselton to Tuaran, from Sandakan towards the Labuk River, and
from Melalap at Railhead to the extensive and fertile Keningau plain. A scheme for improving the
water supply and for the reclamation of an area from the sea are other major works which are in hand at
Sandakan.
CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE.
The North Borneo Chamber of Commerce, with its branch on the West Coast, is a representative
hody of non-officials which serves a useful purpose in bringing public opinion before Government, and
allowing scope for the airing of views of its members. The Chinese Chambers of Commerce serve in a
minor degree the same function among the Chinese.