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CHAPTER V I BRITISH SOLUTION S I N BORNEO : THE PROTOCO L O F 188 5 AN D THE PROTECTORATE S O F 188 8 IN GRANTING a charter to the British North Borneo Company Britain foun d hersel f th e sponso r o f a handfu l o f colonia l administrators i n a sparsel y populate d jungl e are a th e siz e o f Ireland. I n th e summe r o f 188 1 William Treache r wa s loaned b y the Colonia l Offic e t o become the first Governor of North Borneo . He mad e Labua n th e temporary headquarter s o f hi s government . The Provisiona l Associatio n i n Londo n wante d Labua n fo r th e headquarters o f th e ne w governmen t an d urge d th e Colonia l Office t o tur n ove r th e colon y to th e Company . Bu t th e Colonia l Office, ofte n critica l o f the Compan y an d it s activities, decide d i n 1882 to maintain Labuan as a separate colony for a few more years.1 In s o doing it followed th e practic e which ha d grow n up ove r th e years when dealing with the problems of that colony. It postpone d a final decisio n o n th e statu s o f Labua n t o som e futur e time . Sandakan thu s becam e the Governor' s headquarter s in 188 3 afte r Kudat ha d bee n trie d fo r tw o year s an d faile d t o attrac t trader s and enterprise to what seemed in 1881 like a promising location i n Marudu Bay.2 By the end of 1881 the Company was well established on th e littora l o f it s vas t territory . I t ha d a flourishin g tow n a t Sandakan, and stations at Tempasuk and Papar as well as at Kudat . Little headway had been made in occupying the interior. To be sure Francis Witt i an d Fran k Hatton , tw o youn g employee s o f th e North Borne o administration ha d explored inland and had charte d rivers and watersheds i n certain areas. 3 But with limited resource s 1 Treache r t o Dent , 2 8 Marc h 1882 , BNBCoP ; C O t o FO , 1 8 Jan . 1882 , FO 12/57 . 2 Alcock-Dent correspondence, 1882-83 , passim; Willia m Pryer's Diaries, 18781SS1 , passim, BNBCoP . 8 Fo r a n accoun t o f th e wor k o f Hatto n an d Witt i se e Fran k Hatton , North Borneo: Explorations and Adventures on the Equator, London , 1885 ; and Owe n Rutter, *A Hungarian in Borneo', The Hungarian Quarterly, v . I , no. 6 (1936). i74฀ THE ORIGIN S O F BRITIS H BORNE O the Company wa s in no condition fo r a rapid settlement and based their hope s on attracting Chinese immigrants and planters to ope n up th e river s t o trad e i n jungle an d plantatio n products. 4 The Protocol of 1885 The charterin g an d suppor t o f Compan y rul e in North Borne o did no t settl e th e vexin g problem s connecte d wit h th e Spanis h claim t o th e territory . Moreove r Britain' s sponsorshi p o f Nort h Borneo reste d o n a rather tenuou s diplomati c contrivanc e i n thi s respect. I t wil l b e remembere d tha t i n 187 9 Pauncefot e ha d persuaded th e Foreig n Offic e t o ignor e th e La w Officers ' opinio n on the validity of the Sulu-East India Company treaties of the 18t h century, an d t o protest agains t the Spanis h contentio n tha t Nort h Borneo wa s a dependenc y o f Sul u an d ha d b y th e Spanish-Sul u treaty of July 187 8 passed under Spanis h sovereignty.5 Pauncefot e had recognize d tha t th e issu e must on e da y b e...

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