ment and safety to life and property,
trade could not be developed. Then again Labuan was overshaded by the
prosperous Colony of Singapore, which is the universal emporium for all
these islands, and, with the introduction of steamers, it was soon found
that only the trade of the coast immediately opposite to Labuan could be
depended upon, that of the rest' including Sarawak and the City of
Brunai, going direct to Singapore, for which port Labuan became a
subsidiary and unimportant collecting station. The Spanish authorities
did what they could to prevent trade with the Sulu Islands, and, on the
signing of the Protocol between that country and Great Britain and
Germany freeing the trade from restrictions, Sulu produce has been
carried by steamers direct to Singapore. Since 1881, the British North
Borneo Company having opened ports to the North, the greater portion of
the trade of their possessions likewise finds its way direct by steamers
to the same port.

Labuan has never shipped cargoes direct to England, and its importance
as a collecting station for Singapore is now diminishing, for the
reasons above-mentioned.

Most or a large portion of the trade that now falls to its share comes
from the southern portion of the British North Borneo Company's
territories, from which it is distant, at the nearest point, only about
six miles, and the most reasonable solution of the Labuan question would
certainly appear to be the proclamation of a British Protectorate over
North Borneo, to which, under proper guarantees, might be assigned the
task of carrying on the government of Labuan, a task which it could
easily and economically undertake, having a sufficiently well organised
staff ready to hand.[13] By the Royal Charter it is already provided
that the appointment of the Company's Governor in Borneo is subject to
the sanction of Her Majesty's Secretary of State, and the two Officers
hitherto selected have been Colonial servants, whose service have been
_lent_ by the Colonial Office to the Company.

The Census taken in 1881 gives the total population of Labuan as 5,995,
but it has probably decreased considerably since that time. The number
of Chinese supposed to be settled there is about 300 or 400--traders,
shopkeepers, coolies and sago-washers; the preparation of sago flour
from the raw sago, or _lamuntah_, brought in from the mainland by the
natives, being the principal industry of the island and employing three
or four fac