BRITISH BORNEO. 107 
marked and defined, and the property descending from fathers 
to children. The rate of the Poll Tax is usually $2 for mar- 
ried couples and $1 for adult bachelors per annum, and I be- 
lieve this is about the same rate as that collected by the Brit- 
ish Government in Burma. At first sight it has the ap- 
pearance ofa tax on marriage, but in the East generally 
women do a great deal of the out-door as well as of the indoor 
work, so that a married man is in a much better position 
than a bachelor for acquiring wealth, as he can be engaged 
in collecting jungle produce, or in trading, or in making 
money in other ways, while his womenkind are planting out 
or gathering in the harvest. 
The amounts received by the Company for the sale of 
their waste lands has been as follows :— 
1882, ... $ 16,340 1885, ...® 2,860 
1883, ... B 25,449 1886, ... $12,035 
1884, ... $ 15,460 LOO gna ... B14, 505 
The receipts for 1888, owing to the rush for tobacco lands 
already alluded to, and tothe fact that the balances of the 
premia onlands taken up in 1887 becomes due in that year, 
will be considerably larger than those of any previous period. 
The most productive, and the most elastic source of re- 
venue is that derived from the Excise on the retail of opium 
and, with the comparatively small number of Chinese at pre- 
sent in the country, this amounted in 1887 to $19,980, hav- 
ing been only $4,537 in 1882.F The next most substantial 
and promising item is the Customs Duties on Import and Ex- 
port, which from about $8,300 in 1882 have increased to 
$19,980 in 1887.} 
The local expenditure in Borneo is chiefly for salaries of 
the officials, the armed Constabulary and for Gaols and Public 
Works, the annual ‘rental’ payable to the Sultans of Brunai 
and Sulu and others, the subsidizing of steamers, Medical 
* In 1888, $246,457. 
+ In 1888, $22,755 were realized, and the Estimate for 1890 is $70,000 for the 
~ Qpium Farm. 
olin 1888, $22,755. 
