429 



FIBRE, COPRA, ETC., IN BRITISH 



NORTH BORNEO AND THE 



NEW HEBRIDES. 



WE noticed in a report of the fifty-eighth 

 half-yearly meeting of the British North 

 Borneo Company, that the Chairman, Sir 

 West Ridgeway (who was formerly Governor 

 of Ceylon, and has considerable experience 

 of the possibilities of the Tropics generally for 

 rubber, coco-nuts, &c.), told the shareholders 

 the Company was ready to sell land to anyone 

 who would take it, at an annual quit-rent of 

 is. 2d. per acre. If this is so, then the 

 possibilities of British North Borneo as a 

 coco-nut centre should exceed even those of 

 the Philippines, for if the latter can boast 

 of a larger native labour supply, the Borneo 

 Company (which enjoys sovereign rights over 

 the territory and so is a Government, not 

 a trading company) is more settled. Land 

 is being planted up with rubber, &c., so rapidly 

 that additional labour is needed ; the authorities, 

 however, seem fully alive to the importance 

 of an adequate labour supply, as they are 

 carefully organizing the introduction of labour 

 from China and elsewhere. In connection 

 with this the Court of Directors, acting "in 



