58 BRITISH BORNEO. 
Seal on the 1st November, 1881, and constituted and incor- 
porated the gentlemen above-mentioned as “The British 
North Borneo Company.”’ 
The Provisional Association was dissolved, and the Char- 
tered Company started on its career in May, 1882. The no- 
minal capital was two million pounds, in £20 shares, but the 
number of shares issued, including 4,500 fully paid ones re- 
presenting £90,000 to the vendors, was only 33,030, equal to 
— £660,600, but on 23,449 of these shares only £12 have so far 
been called up. The actual cash, therefore, which the Com- 
pany has had to work with and to carry on the development 
of the country from the point at which the original conces- 
sionaires and the Provisional Association had left it, is, includ- 
ing some £1,000 received for shares forfeited, about £384,000, 
and they have a right of call for £187,592 more. The Char- 
ter gave official recognition to the concessions from the Na- 
tive! Princes, conferred extensive powers on the Company as 
a corporate body, provided for the just government of the 
natives and for the gradual abolition of slav ery, and reserved 
to the Crown the right of disapproving of the person selected 
by the Company to be their Governor in the East, and of con- 
trolling the Company’s dealings with any Foreign Power. 
The Charter also authorised the Company to use a distinc- 
tive flag, indicating the British character of the undertaking, 
and the one adopted, following the example of the English 
Colonies, is the British flag, ‘‘ defaced,” as it is termed, with 
the Company’s badge—a lion. I have little doubt that this 
selection of the British flag, in lieu of the one originally 
made use of, had a considerable effect in imbuing the natives 
with an idea of the stability and permanence of the Company’s 
Government. 
Mr. DENT’s house flag was unknown to them before and, 
on the West Coast, many thought that the Company’s pre- 
sence in the country might be only a brief one, lke that of 
its predecessor, the American syndicate, and, consequently, 
were afraid to tender their allegiance, since, on the Compa- 
ny’s withdrawal, they would be left to the tender mercies of 
their former Chiefs. But the British flag was well-known to 
those of them who were traders, and they had seen it flying 
