Another intelligent native remarked that the English must have been a barbarous race, as formerly they sacrificed a human victim every time they prepared to take the sacrament, but that in more modern days they had become more civilised, as they now only sacrificed dogs, a reference to the periodical destruction in British settlements of all stray animals. What a perverse interpretation of missionary teaching!
After fifty years of English rule in Sarawak a similar panic occurred. I will quote the Sarawak Gazette of September 1, 1894: ‘Some months back a most unaccountable scare took possession of the Asiatic population of Sarawak Proper—Malays, Chinese, Dyaks and others being similarly affected. It was at first rumoured that the Government required human heads to place under the foundations of the new high level reservoir at the waterworks, and that men were sent out at night to procure these.... Other equally absurd stories followed and were fully believed, many natives going so far as to assert that they had met with these head hunters about the native town at night. The people no longer ventured out after dark; coolies whose work would preclude their return to their own homes at night were unobtainable, not a boat could be obtained to cross the river after dark, and the majority of persons whose business took them further than the limits of the bazaar, carried arms.’
The entire article is too long to quote; the panic spread all along the coast, invaded the Dutch territories, and found its way to the furthest out-stations. Numerous murders were really committed, and at first the natives were afraid to report them. Gradually, however, people came to their senses, but only to fall into another panic, on the ground that robbers were wandering under the Malay houses, which are built on piles, and stabbing at the inmates from below. A few deaths from this cause did, in fact, occur, which gave an excuse for the alarm, and some ingenious thieves bored holes through boxes resting on the floor and extracted their contents. It must be remembered that these floors are not of planks, but of laths of the nibong palm with interstices between them, and are generally covered over with matting.
It is almost incredible that people who had been governed by the old Rajah and his successor, and governed in the most benevolent and generous manner for over fifty years, should have believed that their rulers could be capable of seeking their heads to bury under the foundations of the new waterworks. It appears as if there were no common ground on which the intellect of the white and coloured races can meet; they never understand us and we shall probably never fully understand them.
Finance has never been the strong point of the Sarawak Government.
| The Revenue in 1876 (Exchange 4s.) | £36,636 |
| ”” ”1896 ( ” 2s.) | 49,376 |
The treasurer’s financial statement for the year, 1896, is too full of trivial details to be satisfactory, but the tables which are published in the same number of the Gazette enable one to form a very clear idea of the financial state of the country.
The ‘farms’ are the most important source of revenue, and those that are legitimate are the opium and spirit farms; the gambling farm is no doubt suitable to the Chinese, and discourages play among the Malays and Dyaks. But the objectionable farms are the pork, the fish and the pawnbroking. The pork farm was abolished in 1896, as it was found to restrict the supply of good meat, and raise its price to the industrious Chinese labourer, who could only obtain an inferior article, while it brought in but little to the revenue. The Government slaughter-houses are as profitable, and do not interfere so much with trade. The Gazette notices that after the abolition of this farm the supply of meat became more plentiful, and was of a much finer quality, with a reduction in price. The fish market is equally objectionable. The monopolists pay so poorly for the supply, that, according to the Gazette, the fishermen earned less than fourpence a day, whilst the price of fish was so raised that the Government imposed a maximum; but this paternal measure did not answer, and it was repealed. The fish farm should go the way of the pork farm. There are also obvious objections to a pawnbroking farm. A system of licenses would pay better, and be much less liable to abuse.
Though the export duties on agricultural produce are light, they are unsound in principle, interfere with trade, and lessen the profit of the industrious steady planter; and they only bring in about £2500 a year. It would be better to add to the list of imports subject to duty. The probate duties are quite unsuited to a half or quarter civilised people, and must render the Residents unpopular with the best of the population. No sooner is the news received of the death of a Dyak chief than the nearest English officer has to start off to the spot to see that the Government dues are not evaded, and the wages, or their equivalent, of the boat’s crew must often exceed the amount received. There is another tax which checks what might become a considerable industry—the duty on salt. This prevents any real development of the extensive fisheries of the coast, as not only is a necessary product taxed, but a duty is also raised on the exported salted fish, which has thus to bear a double weight. A bounty might be granted equivalent to the amount of the duty on the salt used. The stamp duty has only lately been imposed, and may possibly be useful in the administration of justice, but it will have to be worked with very great caution.
If the Borneo Company succeed with their new gold working machinery, and there is no apparent reason why they should not do so, the increase in the revenues may enable the Rajah to do away with or modify those taxes and duties, which impede commerce and hinder the progress of the country. It must have been uphill work to carry on the Government with revenues so inelastic.