itably expended, and a too lavish expenditure in other and less
important directions. Examples will occur to every reader who has
studied our Colonial history. If we take the case of the Colony of the
Straits Settlements, now one of our most prosperous Crown Colonies and
which was founded by the East India Company, it will be seen that in
1826-7 the "mistakes" of the administration were on such a scale that
there was an annual deficit of L100,000, and the presence of the
Governor-General of India was called for to abolish useless offices and
effect retrenchments throughout the service.

The British North Borneo Company possesses a valuable property, and one
which is daily increasing in value, and if they continue to manage it
with the care hitherto exhibited, and if, remembering that they are not
yet quite out of the wood, they are careful to avoid, on the one hand, a
too lavish expenditure and, on the other, an unwise parsimony, there
cannot, I should say, be a doubt that a fair return will, at no very
distant date, be made to them on the capital they have expended.

As for the country _per se_, I consider that its success is now assured,
whether it remains under the rule of the Company or is received into the
fellowship of _bona fide_ Colonies of the Empire.

In bringing to a conclusion my brief account of the Territory, some
notice of its suitability as a residence for Europeans may not be out of
place, as bearing on the question of "what are we to do with our boys?"

I have my own experience of seventeen years' service in Northern Borneo,
and the authority of Dr. WALKER, the able Medical Officer of the
Government, for saying that in its general effect on the health of
Europeans, the climate of British North Borneo, as a whole, compares not
unfavourably with that of other tropical countries.

There is no particular "unhealthy season," and Europeans who lead a
temperate and active life have little to complain of, except the total
absence of any cold season, to relieve the monotony of eternal summer.
On the hills of the interior, no doubt, an almost perfect climate could
be obtained.

One great drawback to life for Europeans in all tropical places is the
fact that it is unwise to keep children out after they have attained the
age of seven or eight years, but up to that age the climate appears to
agree very well with them and they enjoy an immunity from measles,
whooping cough and other infantile diseases. This enf