pore, to be a free port; and assuredly
will not prosper if it is not. Its revenue should not be derived
from customs, but, as in that settlement, from excise duties:
upon the nature of these, as it is well known, it is unnecessary
to enlarge. They covered during my time, near twenty years ago,
and within five years of the establishment of the settlement, the
whole charges of a small but sufficient garrison (100 Sepoys), and
a moderate but competent civil establishment.

"The military and civil establishments have been greatly increased
of late years; but the revenue, still in its nature the same, has
kept pace with them. During my administration of Singapore, the
municipal charges fell on the general fund; but they are at present
amply provided for from a distinct source, chiefly an assessment
on house-property.

"If the military and civil charges of Labuan are kept within moderate
bounds, I make no doubt but that a similar excise revenue will be
adequate to cover the charges of both, and that in peace at least the
state need not be called on to make any disbursement on its account;
while during a naval war, if the state make any expenditure, it will
be fully compensated by the additional security which the settlement
will afford to British commerce, and the annoyance it will cause to
the enemy.

"As to the disposal of the land, always a difficult question in a new
and unoccupied colony, the result of my own inquiries and personal
experience lead me to offer it as my decided conviction that the most
expedient plan--that which is least troublesome to the government,
most satisfactory to the settler, and ultimately most conducive to the
public prosperity--is to dispose of it for a term of years, that is,
on long leases of 1000 years, or virtually in perpetuity; the object in
this case of adopting the leasehold tenure being, by making the land
a chattel interest, to get rid of the difficulties in the matter of
inheritance and transfer, which, under the administration of English
law, and in reference more particularly to the Asiatic people who
will be the principal landowners, are incident to real property. Town
allotments might be sold subject to a considerable quit-rent, but
allotments in the country for one entirely nominal. Those of the
latter description should be small, proportionate with the extent of
the island, and the time and difficulty required in such a climate
to clear the land, now overgrown for the most