ive right to sell opium, spirits, tobacco, etc., and by other
methods of raising revenue in vogue in the Eastern Colonies of the
Crown. In fact, the sum invested by the shareholders is to be considered
in the light of a loan to the Colony--its public debt--to be repaid with
interest as the resources of the country are developed. Without
encroaching on land worked, or owned by the natives, the Company has a
large area of unoccupied land which it can dispose of for the highest
price obtainable. That this must be the case is evident from a
comparison with the Island of Ceylon, where Government land sales are
still held. The area of North Borneo, it has been seen, is larger than
that of Ceylon, but its population is only about 160,000, while that of
Ceylon is returned as 2,825,000; furthermore, notwithstanding this
comparatively large population, it is said that the land under
cultivation in Ceylon forms only about one-fifth of its total area. From
what I have said of the prospects of tobacco-planting in British North
Borneo, it will be understood that land is being rapidly taken up, and
the Company will soon be in a position to increase its selling price.
Town and station lands are sold under different conditions to that for
planting purposes, and are restricted as a rule to lots of the size of
66 feet by 33 feet. The lease is for 999 years, but there is an annual
quit-rent at the rate of $6 per lot, which is redeemable at fifteen
years' purchase. At Sandakan, lots of this size have at auction realized
a premium of $350. In all cases, coal, minerals, precious stones, edible
nests and guano are reserved to the Government, and, in order to
protect the native proprietors, it is provided that any foreigner
desirous of purchasing land from a native must do so through the
Government.

Titles and mutations of titles to land are carefully registered and
recorded in the Land Office, under the provisions of the Hongkong
Registration of Documents Ordinance, which has been adopted in the
State.

The local Government is administered by a Governor, selected by the
Court of Directors subject to the approval of the Secretary of State for
the Colonies. He is empowered to enact laws, which require confirmation
by the Court, and is assisted in his executive functions by a Government
Secretary, Residents, Assistant Residents, a Treasurer-General, a
Commissioner of Lands, a Superintendent of Public Works, Commandant,
Postmaster-General and o