agent replied:

"Sir: I have on a pair of trousers and a flannel shirt--all I
possess in the world. I think my dignity is about played out."

Another syndicate for the exploitation of North Borneo was formed in
England in 1878, however, to which the Sultan of Sulu was induced to
transfer all his rights in that region, of which he had been from time
immemorial the overlord. Four years later this syndicate, now known as
the British North Borneo Company, took over all the sovereign and
diplomatic rights ceded by the original grants and proceeded to
organize and administer the territory. In 1886 North Borneo was made a
British protectorate, but its administration remained entirely in the
hands of the company, the Crown reserving only control of its foreign
relations, though it was also agreed that governors appointed by the
company should receive the formal sanction of the British Colonial
Secretary. To quote the chairman of the board of directors: "We are not
a trading company. We are a government, an administration. The
Colonial Office leaves us alone as long as we behave ourselves."

The government is vested primarily in a board of directors who sit in
London and few of whom have ever set foot in the country which they
rule. The supreme authority in Borneo is the governor, under whom are
the residents of the three chief districts, who occupy positions
analogous to that of collector or magistrate. The six less important
districts are administered by district magistrates, who also collect
the taxes. Though there is a council, upon which the principal heads of
departments and one unofficial member have seats, it meets irregularly
and its functions are largely ornamental, the governor exercising
virtually autocratic power. Unfortunately, there is no imperial
official, as in Rhodesia, to supervise the company's activities. As was
the case with the East India Company, the minor posts in the North
Borneo service are filled by cadets nominated by the board of
directors, a system which provides a considerable number of positions
for younger sons, poor relations and titled ne'er-do-wells. Most of the
officials go out to Borneo as cadets, serve a long and arduous
apprenticeship in one of the most trying climates in the world, are
miserably paid (I knew one official who held five posts at the same
time, including those of assistant magistrate and assistant protector
of labor and who received for his services the equivalent