FOR THE next quarter
of a century the Chartered Company ruled over a land
which became more and more peaceful. Year by year,
before 1880, the population of North Borneo had
shrunk; there had been piracy and head-hunting, bad
halt and no medical help, and naturally, many people
had left the country to look for peace and happiness
elsewhere. Yet between 1915 and 1940 the population
rose by 50,000 from 250,000 to 300,000. In 1880 there
were many fewer people here , but of course nobody
knows the real figure. During this period villages
were built all over the country, whereas a hundred
years ago people were afraid to go anywhere near most
of the large rivers or the east coast itself. To look
forward a little, our population today must be nearly
twice as large as it was in the year 1900.
This
great increase in population is due to several
things. The Chartered Company Government built
hospitals and dispensaries; doctors and dressers
worked in these to improve the health of the
people. As long ago as 1921 an X-ray machine was bought
for Jesselton Hospital, and in the same year the
Government also encouraged Chinese immigrants to come
to North Borneo, and because the country was at last
a peaceful one, many Chinese were glad to do so. For
the same reason new estates were flourishing, and in
these too employees were looked after in hospitals
and given good working conditions.
Year
by year it became easier to move around the country
and to keep in North Borneo. As long ago as 1921 our
post offices handled more than 1,500,000 letters and
parcels during the year. The railway was finished
long before then, and as a result it was easy to
reach Melalap in the interior. When the railway
reached so far into the interior, a road was built
onwards from Melalap to Keningau. It is strange to
recall that in 1882 Witti was exploring the Keningau
plains for the first time, whereas only forty years
later railway passengers could travel from Jesselton
to Keningau in less than a day.
Progress
under the Chartered Company would have been even more
rapid but for the Great War which ravaged the world
between 1914 and 1918. Another great tragedy came in
1930 when the GReat Depression spread through the
world. This threw men out of work ever where; trade
was almost halted; there was no sale for rubber;
great companies collapsed. Hardly had the world
recovered from this when the Second World War started
in 1939. Therefore between 1914 and 1945 only the ten
years from 1920 until 1930 were normal ones. In this
decade the Chartered Company did very fine work.
Great
rubber plantation were developed until they covered
an area of 125,000 acres. That is why the rubber
industry is by far our most important one. Tobacco
and hemp companies were also attracted into North
Borneo. The Government also established at Keningau a
cattle farm to improve the quality of Borneo cattle.
Timber extraction from forests of the East Coast
Residency was developed too ta this time.
We
have already read in Chapter Eleven how the Roman
Catholic Mission set up its first tiny school at
Sandakan in 1881. By 1940 there were no fewer than
150 schools in North Borneo, a very great
achievement, especially as 10,000 children were being
educated in these schools. Some of the schools were
built and staffed by the Government. Many more were
mission schools, to most of which the Government gave
a grant of money. Others were Chinese schools built
and maintained by the various Chinese communities.
Progress
was not rapid. The revenues of the Government were
never large and therfore it could not afford to spend
vast sums of money. Yet if we compare the North
Borneo of 1880 with the North Borneo of 1940, the
change is amazing. Where there had been savage
barbarism, peace and a reasonable degree of
prosperity were widespread., Sickness could receive
no proper treatment before the Chartered Company
came. Yet at the end of company rule over 300,000
patients called for treatment at hospitals and
dispensaries every year.
The
cost of living was very low. Fifty dollars in 1940
would buy as much as $250 will buy today.
Everything
was going very well, when suddenly the Japanese army
appeared.
QUESTIONS
