Annual report on Brunei / Colonial Office.

  • Great Britain. Colonial Office.
Date:
[1947]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on Brunei / Colonial Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    58/76 (page 42)
    34 vehicles including 2 road rollers are constantly maintained in good running order. Owing to the shortage of machine tools and other items of equipment it has been necessary to improvise in many ways, but none the less the workshop continues to render most useful service. Town Planning.—Brunei Town was severely damaged by Allied bombing, and most of the public buildings were destroyed. Among those destroyed were the Government Offices, Council Chamber, Hospital, Police Station, Gaol, Chief Police Officer’s 'Quarters, Rest House, Recreation Club, Mosque, Police and Customs Club, Police Barracks, Malay Schools and the Public Works Department Stores Depot. In addition all the shophouses and many private buildings including the English Church were gutted. As a result of the great damage suffered, the opportunity has Teen taken to prepare a new draft Town plan and it is hoped to make a serious start on the work of re-construction in 1948. Seria, which is the headquarters of the British Malayan Petro¬ leum Company and also its oil producing centre also suffered severe damage, and was almost completely destroyed. A new town plan is under consideration. Muara was completely destroyed by shelling and bombing during the Allied invasion and total rebuilding will be necessary. PART III Chapter I. GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE Geography Brunei is a State on the north-west coast of Borneo, lying Between latitude 40 2' and 5° 3' north and longitude ri4° 4' and 115° 22! east. It forms two enclaves into the territory of Sarawak, by which it is bounded on all sides, or perhaps it would be more correct to say, historically speaking, that an intrusion of Sarawak formed by the basin of the Limbang River splits the State into two separate parts. It comprises an area of some 2,226 square miles, and has a coast line of about one hundred miles extend¬ ing from Brunei Bay in the East to the boundary with Sarawak in the West. The capital of the same name, or, to give it its honorific Arabic title, Darud Salam (Abode of Peace) is situated on the Brunei River about nine miles from its mouth and is distant by sea y58 nautical miles from Singapore. At the time of the last census in 1931 it had a population of 10,453.. The preliminary figure for the 1947 Census shows an increase of less than 200. Prior to 1910 the town consisted entirely of Malay houses built on nibong piles on mud flats in the river, but it has now spread over a portion of the mainland, partly reclaimed, on which the Government Offices and other public buildings and streets of shophouses have been built.