Evening star., 1902-01-11
ALI About the Great Island of
Borneo.
TEE ENGLISH GOT IT FOR A SONG
EngIishmen Are Making Plenty of
Money There.
QUEER EASTERN STORIES
Copyright. 1901, by Frank C. Carpenter.

Copyright. 1901, by Frank C. Carpenter)
specid Correspondence of The Evening Star
SINGAPORE.
New oil fields have been recently opened
up in Dutch Borneo. and a large number of
the English capitalists of the far east are
interested in them. Many are investing in
the different plantations in British North
Borneo, and others are sending out pros
pectors to look up gold, coal, iron and dia-
mcnd mines in different parts of that great
island. 1t will not be long before America
will be doing the same. Some of the
shrewdest of our fnanciers are watching
the lower parts of our Philippine Islands.
Prospecting is going on in Mindanao and in
the Island of Palawan, and the value Of the
pearl fisheries and other possessions Of the
Sultan of Jolo are being carefully weighed
Borneo Our Next Door NeighbOr.
From our military station on Bongao, In
the Sulu archipelago, /. is but a step to
Borneo, and you can there almost hear
the guns which are fired at Sandakan, the
capital of British North Borneo. The
distance Is only forty miles and the sound
carries easily over the water. Our soldiers,
In fact, are within forty miles of Borneo.
and there are regular Sips from Jolo to
Sandakan. Such a steamer was In port
while l was in Jolo, and less than a days
ride upon 1t would have landed me there.
A part Of Borneo belongs to the Sultan of
Sulu, and the sultan is now an Ameri-
can citizen, his possessions there may be
called American, although they in reality
are the property of the British. having been
leased by the Sultan to the North Borneo
Company.
5000 and $4,000 a year for them on
a perpetual lease. 1t gets other lands
through a concession from the Sultan of
Brunei, the ruler of a native state adjoin-
tG Cin inns in 0r-th Pnrr oVf1i
has In both leases principality here which
might have belonged either to the Germans
or the United States had We sooner awak-
ened to a greed for foreign territory.
While l was in Jolo l met a young Ger
man named Shuck, who has big estate
not far from that town. He is the only
foreigner outside Uncle Sam who owns any
property on the Island of Jolo, and this es-
tate was granted to his father by the sui
tan. The elder Shuck was German trad
er, who imported all sorts of things for the
old sultan, the father of the man now on
the throne. The old sultan gave Shuck a
commission to sell his North Borneo prop
erty for him, and Shuck offered it to Prince
Bismark- The Germans were not then anx-
tous after foreign territory. l believe they
had their hands full with the French war
and other European questions. At any rate
Bismark wrote Shuck that Germany did
not want the property. Shuck reported
this to the sultan, and the sultan angrily
told him that he had not managed the busi-
ness as we'll as he should. Shuck grew
angry in turn and told him he could take
1t back and handle it himself and the re-
suit was that the sultan year or so later
leased the territory to the British North
Borneo Company for So 600 a year. The
company gives similar tribute to the Sui
tan Of Brunei, but it's total payments of
this kind are only little over $4,000 per
year.
British North Borneo.
For this bagatelle the North Borneo COM
pany has secured one Of the finest pieces
Of property of the far east. 1t has a ter
ritory about as large as South Carolina, or
bigger than the Island of Ceylon. 1t owns
the tip end of North Borneo, and It has a
coast line Of about 500 miles. 1t has a
number of excellent harbors, and especial
ly Sandakan, which is one of the best
along the Pacific. The harbor is fifteen feet
deep and five miles wide, with thirteen
rivers running into it. 1t is surrounded by
hills and upon these hills Sandakan is
built. / met a number of men in the Sulu
Islands who have been over there and have
lot of information as to how the town
looks today and what the British North
Borneo Company is doing.
Sandakan has about 1900 people, of whom
half are Chinese. There are only a few
hundred Europeans, but they have all the
institutions Of an Asiadc colonial port