Sept. i, 1893.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
THE BRITISH NORTH BORNEO COMPANY'S 
ANNUAL REPORT. 
In our issue of the 25th ultimo we gave a report 
of the prooeedingj at the half-yearly meet ug of 
this Company held on 4th Jaly. Wo have now 
received a copy of the Directors' repcrt fir the 
year ended 31st Deoember last from which we 
make the following ex'raots : - 
PBCGRBES CF THE C . LONT, 
The largest and most satisfactory increases iu the 
exports will be found under timber and tobacco. The 
progress of the country is clearly indicated by the 
figures under review, shewing as they do that whilst 
in 1888 the total export trade, consisting chiefly of 
jungle produce amounted to §525,875, it has grown 
in four years to $11,762 24(5, the bulk of which is due 
to Agriculture and Manufactured produce. 
&. sample of block Gambier produced in the Gov- 
ernment Experimental Garden at Sandakau under the 
superintendence of the Commissioner of Lands, 
weighing about 7 cwt , has realised a good price 
iu the London market. The authorities at Kew, 
who have given the directors valuable assistance and 
advice in this matter, are of opinion that as there 
is a demand for this article for tanning purposes 
both in Europe and Amerii a, the experiment may 
be fraught with important results to the country. 
The reports on this shipment will be brought to 
the notice of European tanners, who may be in- 
clined to embark in the enterprise. Mr. H. Walker 
(the Commissioner of Lands) writing to Mr. Thisle- 
ton Dyer of Kew, under date of 21st April last, on 
this and other planting operations, states : — " Up 
to the present only Chinese have taken up the 
cultivation of Gambier, but I can confidently assert 
that Europeans would do it better and get a higher 
price. What the trade waots is an assurance of 
quality and a sufficient quantity of a similar qua- 
lity. I think it would be well to sell it per unit 
of tannin as cinchona bark is sold, with a guarantee 
as to moisture, &c., and if copper pans and pro- 
perly constructed drying houses be used, the colour 
would never vary. The pepper plants are doing 
well. I am glad to tell you our coffee, Liberian, 
is doing very well. About 330 acres were planted 
by Europeans last year, and I believe a similar 
acreage will be planted this year. The reports all 
round are very favourable, and 12 months' plants 
are now blossoming. Our climate, with its well 
divided rain-fall, seems particularly well suited to 
Liberian coffee, and I never saw anything like it in 
Ceylon for vigour of growth or size of stem. 
Cocoa is doing well here, and has a remarkable 
stem, but it is only since my return in 1891 that 
any plantings of coffee cfec, (of any size) have been 
made by Europeans, so that we do not figure in the 
marketP. That we shull do eo I have no ('oubt ; 
indeed 1 expect this «ill be a great coffee ocuntry." 
The distribution of seed by the Goverument among 
the natives has cooaiderab'y iiiCreascd, and rtports 
hava been received that the appearance of the plants 
iu vBiiouii parte of the Territory ia very encouiftsiiiiK. 
Ab the market price of this coffee shows a ver) large 
profit, this cultivation proroises to become one of the 
staple industries of the country. All the abova pro- 
ducts are being planted by the Development Ourpora- 
tioD, with the addition of coconuts and Manila hemp. 
The reports fr^m their estates continue to be satis- 
factory. Whin it is co;ieiilered that the Sumatra 
tobacco trade, after 22 years of prosperiti , has 
passed through a crisis during the last two years, 
to BevOiO that the result has be^u the closing 
of a large number of estates in that O' untry, 
it is a m-ktter ol congratulation th'.t so many 
companies liave weathered the storm in North Borneo ; 
aud, now that the eupply uf Wrapper Tobacco is 
quite oncqnal to the d maud, there is every reason 
to ai.ticipate a cycle of good years aud high prices 
and, const quently, renewed activity m planting in the 
company's territory. This is foreebadowed by the 
uuprecedente ily higli prices which ha> e been realized 
this year iu Am^^ttrdam, Ou the lOtb lust., some 
•a 
13,000 ba'es of Sumatra and 2,C03 bales of Borneo 
tobacco were offered for tender, and in spite ol the 
absence of American bnjers for tho first time this 
eeason, the result as regards tie following lots of 
Borneo tobacco was highly satisfao'ory, viz. : — 
The New London and 
Amsterdam (Kmabatangan 
River) 335 bales, abont 4/ rer lb. 
The Tobacco Estates 
Syndicate 289 do do 3/6 do 
The New Dar?el Bay 
Company (Dcrvel Bay)... 401 do do 2/11 do 
The New London Bor- 
neo Company (M«ruda 
Bay) 480 do do 2/4 do 
These prices compare favourably with those obtftinei 
by Sumatra Companies, which sold at an av< rage of 
about 3<. per lb., and are the more satisfactory frjrn 
the fact that the Tobacco came frum various parts 
of the Company's territory. It baa been stated that 
although good Tobacco can be raited in North Bor.ito 
the yiell per field is so tmill, and the cost of pro- 
duction so great, that it cannot be grown to p*y. 
These theories have been completely upstt this year, 
as Count Gcloes, of the London Borneo Tobiooo 
Company, has succeeded in producing a crop of 
about seven piculs a field from about 800 fields at a coat 
of ab iut seventy guilder cents per half-kilo (equal to 
aSi ut Is. 2d. per pound avuirdupoip) which compaies 
favourably with Sumatra where tiie cost o> proiluc- 
tiin varies from 75 to 110 centa per half kil", or 
an avi ruge of about Is. 6d. P' r pou. d. Count 
Gelois has rundered signal B^r^ice not only to his 
own company but the country teoerally, a^ he has 
demonstrated that there do reason why, with 
equally careful management, Tobucco Rslatss in North 
Borneo should not achieve the sime brilliant risults 
as have atterideJ the enterprise in Sumatra. Too much 
strets cannot be laid on ih.' fact that the cultivation 
ofTo'iacco in tbe Company's territory hag had to pass 
through the same diffioultleB as were esperienoi d in 
the early days of Tobacco planting in Sumilra. 
Rec nt reports sppak vpry favourably of the health 
of theOoi'lies in all parts of the couatry ; 'he we.ither 
also continued favourable for Planting operations, 
which were leing pushed forward on all Bs'ates. 
In a letter lately received. Governor Creflgh rep irts 
th it tiie Timber traie was improving, owing to the 
advance ofprice^ for hard woo s of all sorts in China, 
and that the Sago tr.ide on the Weit Coast is very 
bri'k c n acct'Uut of the high price ruling in Singapore. 
Gold. —The Dirtctora have instructed the Governor 
to carry out a systematic search for Gold, under the 
advice of and experienced consulting Engineer in 
London who, after di^;e8ting ailihe information put 
before him, is etrongiy of opinion that the gold 
fields of Borneo will be found to resemble tho bankrt 
formations of South Africa. 
A Scheme has been put forward by a Japanese gen- 
tleman for intrcducing his countrymen into ihe Com- 
pany's territory for the purpose of planting rice, 
sugar, coffee, tapioca, &c., and a grant of land in 
Sandabao harbour, proposed by the Governor, has 
been approved by the Directors. If this undirtaking 
is sucoesstully carried out it will introduce a desirable 
class of colonists for the development of the country. 
To those who may be dispossd to contend that 
the progress of the Territory has been slow and un- 
remunerative to Shareholders, it may be confidently 
answered that if a comparison be instituted with 
the progress of any modern Colony, whether under the 
British Orown, any Foreign Government, or 0 bartered 
Company, there is not one — with the exception of 
the Niger Company— that can show, without the aid 
of minerals, such good results in so short a time, at 
so little cost. For instance, Briti:ih New Quinea wai 
taken po'srs^ion of in 1884, and although the Au.slreliaD 
Government have contributed some £15,000 a year in 
addition to what has been spent by the Impanal 
Government lor its administration, the trade of the 
country is still quite onJeveloped, and but little pro- 
gresa tias been made towards opening up the cuDiry, 
aa shown by the comparative statement given btlow 
