Page:Sarawak Gazette 4 January 1907 Issue No 492.pdf/11

Rh blown down, also a coconut tree in the compound, and numerous attaps blown off the roof of the fort.

The 9th being the birthday of His Majesty King Edward VII was observed as a public holiday.

On Hari Raya, the 18th, the usual salute of 14 guns was fired.

The same day the s. B. Sarawak arrived.

On the 23rd a Government steamer, going west, was seen to pass quite close in shore; she went by without stopping.

P. C. Mohomat of Balanian arrived on the 29th and reported all well in that district.

The sea during the month has been very rough indeed and not a single mail has left for Kuching; there have also been great quantities of rain, at high tides the compound and paths being under water.

I have nothing further to report on this occasion.

The Hon'ble the Resident of the First Division, accompanied by Dr. White-Hopkins and Mr. Stuart Cunynghame, arrived here at 1.30 P. M. on the 1st instant per p. s. Adeh, and returned again at daylight on the 3rd instant.

On the 2nd the Hon'ble Resident attended Court, when several matters of importance were brought before him.

I visited Simatan from the 20th to 23rd. I was obliged to return sooner than I had intended owing to the unsettled state of the weather. The neaptides coming on the approaches to the rivers were each day becoming more dangerous.

Nearly all the macodahs of the bandongs here have been fined for breach of Port Regulations. The falling off in the trade returns caused me to make very minute enquiries as to the reason of this.

I found that to some extent the decrease was due to nacodahs omitting to declare goods which they received after having taken out a "Port Clearance." The importation of tobacco showed a very marked deficit as compared with what it was several years back. This lead me to suppose that a great deal of smuggling had been going on. After close examination of the books and letters of the traders in this district I find that the import of tobacco has kept well up to the average. The mistake appears to be that the shippers in Kuching are in the habit of declaring tobacco as sundries. Although it is almost impossible to prevent a certain amount of smuggling in a district situated as close as this is to Dutch Territory, I am glad to be able to report that the smuggling here is practically nil and only goes on among those villages which are nearly on the border.

Draman's boat, which left for Kuching on the 20th instant, was wrecked off Sampadi mouth. The mail was fortunately saved, and no lives were lost.

The fines this month amounted to $216.64.

Per p. s. Adeh on the 1st instant arrived one pony for this station.

The prisoners have been employed the greater part of the month repairing some of the bridges.

The following are the trade returns for Lundu and Simatan.

Planting. — Only one permit was issued in October and one in November, both for planting rubber at Busau Sebrang and Seniawan Sebrang respectively. In the latter case the planter, a Chinaman, bas already got two or three thousand seeds planted out in nurseries and they seem to be doing well.

There is nothing favourable to report about pepper gardens.

Abang Amit has completed a map of the pepper gardens round Jambusan and Ayer Panas and is now mapping out those at Busau Sebrang and Musi.

Registration. — Sixty-seven deeds were registered in October and 73 in November. Stamps and fees amounting to $168.60 and $188.75 respectively.

Court account. — Fines and fees, October $526.50 and November $279. No cases of importance came before the Court. On 27th October a man was arrested at Seniawan for impersonating a detective. He was subsequently sentenced by Kuching Court to six months imprisonment.

On 8th November I went to Kuching returning on 12th.

The prisoners have been working as usual on Seniawan Road and have also cleared the telephone lines to Busau and Seniawan, besides weeding Jambusan and Jambusan Tunnel Roads. On the 8th November two of them (in irons) escaped while working on Seniawan Telephone line, the man in charge showed even more than the usual stupidity.

Slight repairs have been done to police dapor, bungalow and writer's house, and cowshed has been too large for the small herd here and it would be a re-roofed with leaf attaps. The cowshed is much good thing later on to pull it down and rebuild it much smaller with billian roof. The leaf attaps to be got here are very bad, they are made by the Dyaks from sago leaves, but the leaves are so young that they barely last a year.

Antimony is still being worked with great vigour. In November the record quantity of over 150 tons was received at Busau, probably the Malays put on an extra spurt on account of Hari Raya. Paku Bazaar, which during the pepper boom became comparatively deserted, is now once more expanding and several new houses have been built by antimony workers. Shops in Busan Bazaar are also in much demand at a rent of $15 per month, though, being only plank and leaf attap buildings, they cannot cost much more than $200 to build. This is partly due to the amount of ready money circulated by the large number of antimony workers there, and partly to the fact that there is no room for new shops at Busau, except behind the existing Bazaar, where they would get little business and consequently no one cares to build there. The same kind of shops at Seniawan only rent at from $3 to $6 per month though they are much better built.

Court. — During October there were very few cases of any kind either in the Police Court or Court of Requests. During November there were two cases of entting and wounding from the Colliery, parang being used and severe cuts inflicted in both cases, while at the wharf one of the loading coolies, while sitting in the Mandor's house, drew a parang and cut Ah Noo the Mandor over the head, laying it open