"There has been no revenue for the year; the expenditure amounting to $11,812. No revenue was demanded, until the natives settled down, and had recovered from their previous unsettled state. The expenditure was chiefly in public buildings, bungalows, court house, barracks, etc." The imports and exports in 1906 amounted to $282,277, against only $86,687 in 1891.
There is no fort at Limbang.
If the reader will look at the map he will see that a peninsula or horn runs out from Bruni, sheltering the bay against the winds and waves from the north-west. Labuan is actually a continuation of the same, but the belt of land has been broken through, leaving only Labuan and a few little islands rising above the surface of the ocean. At the extreme point of the promontory is a lighthouse erected by the Rajah. This promontory goes by the name of Muara. The coal-beds that come to the surface in Labuan, continue in Muara, and Mr. W. C. Cowie[[319]] had obtained from the Sultan Mumin a concession of the coal-fields in Muara, and all rights over this district were ceded to him in perpetuity by the late Sultan in 1887. These rights confer complete and absolute possession of all the lands in the district, with power to sell, impose taxes, rents, and assessments, the possession of the revenue farms, with power to create new farms of any description, and certain judicial rights conjoined with power to inflict penalties.
This Muara district, the town in which was founded by Mr. Cowie, and named by him Brooketon in honour of the Rajah, is the richest portion of the small and shrunken territory now remaining to the Sultanate of Bruni, and it remains to it, as may be seen, attached by a thread only. It is not large, but it is of much importance, as it possesses a good colliery and an excellent harbour. Previous to the opening of this colliery the population, consisting of a few Kadayan peasants and Malay fishermen, was small and scattered, and, in common with the lower classes throughout the Sultanate, led a miserable existence under misrule.
Mr. Cowie found that a much larger capital was needed to develop the colliery than he possessed, without which the workings would be unremunerative. Every year entailed increasing loss, and in 1888, two years before the acquisition of the Limbang by the Rajah, he sold to him all his rights in Muara.
Previous to the transfer, for want of capital, the mines had been worked in a hand-to-mouth fashion by a few coolies under a manager with but little experience, the output being confined to meeting the very limited local demand in Labuan. There was practically no plant, and only a small ricketty wharf, to which the surface coal was conveyed in buffalo-drawn waggons over a roughly constructed line.
Those who knew Brooketon in those days and know it now, can testify to the great improvements that have been made by the Rajah's persistent efforts. The greatest possible benefits have been conferred upon the people by the establishment of a large and growing industry among them, but it has been effected at a heavy financial loss. The colliery has been placed under experienced managers; expensive, though necessary, machinery, locomotives, a steam collier, lighters, etc., have been purchased, extensive and solid wharves built, and a new line laid down. The cost of these, with the many other preliminary expenses incidental to the proper working of a large colliery, have been heavy, and so far it has proved an unremunerative speculation. The colliery employs hundreds of miners and workmen, and through it, indirectly, many people gain a livelihood, and the thriving settlement of Brooketon is solely dependent upon it. Law and order have been effectively maintained by the Rajah at his own cost, though in the name and with the consent of the Sultan. Although financial improvement may be remote, closing the mines down would mean a loss of all these benefits to the people; the place would revert to its former condition, and the population would be dispersed. This consideration has induced the Rajah to continue working the colliery, with the hope of ultimately lessening the losses, and the remoter hope of ultimate success. To Brooketon we shall again refer.
In March, 1905, a chief named Lawai, who had been dignified by the Sultan with the title of Orang Kaya Temanggong, with some 400 of his numerous following, removed into the Limbang river from the Baram, in defiance of Government orders. In former days these people had been the most forward amongst those employed by the Bruni Government to molest the Limbang people, and a short time previous to their removal to the Limbang had killed three Kadayans in Bruni territory, who had incurred displeasure in certain high quarters. After these murders had been committed, Lawai had been favourably received by the Sultan at Bruni, and this no doubt encouraged him openly to resist the Government. A small force was despatched against him, and, taken by surprise, he was captured.
The rendezvous of this expedition was off Muara island, at the entrance to Bruni bay, and, as its object was kept a profound secret, considerable uneasiness arose in the suspicious minds of those at Bruni, who with good reason feared the displeasure of the Rajah. A secret meeting of the leading pangirans and chiefs was held; at which it was decided that should it be the Rajah's intention to sweep away their evil government they would kill the Sultan and hand over the city to him.
With this exception, from the day that the Sarawak flag had been hoisted, there have been no disturbances in the Limbang. But in the neighbouring river, the Trusan, the perpetual petty feuds amongst the Muruts, which led to isolated cases of murder, wounding, and cattle-lifting, caused the Government considerable trouble. In 1900, it became necessary to administer a severe lesson. Some Muruts living in the far interior under their chief, Okong, aided by those of the Lawas, not then under the Sarawak Government, having killed twenty-one Muruts of the lower Trusan, an expedition, with which the Rajah Muda went, was sent to punish them. This was so effectually done, that it resulted in the people of the interior coming in from all quarters to renounce their feuds; and since that Trusan has also been free from such troubles.