It is thus impossible
for any criminal to conceal himself for any length of time from the
government; and so sure is it of effecting arrest, when necessary,
that accused persons are frequently allowed to attend to their farms
and follow their ordinary occupations pending the time of their
trial. Even when a man accused of a serious offence flees across the
border to Dutch territory, he is generally apprehended by the Dutch
officers sooner or later and sent round to Kuching by sea.
The raising of the taxes from the people to defray the expenses of
government has raised no difficulties. The door-tax of two dollars[217]
per door (I.E. per family or household) is the only direct tax laid
on the tribes. When once the initial reluctance has been overcome,
this has been collected and regularly paid in by chiefs and PENGHULUS,
including the headmen of the nomad groups. In times of misfortune,
whether individual or collective, such as the loss of crops or of a
house by fire, the tax is remitted; and no tax is expected from men
over sixty years of age, from cripples or invalids, or from widows.
The Sea Dayaks alone pay a door-tax of one dollar only, it having been
understood from the early days, when they were the only fighting tribe
with which the Rajah was intimately acquainted, that they are liable
at any time to be called upon by the government to render assistance
in punitive expeditions or in other public works, such as procuring
timber for government buildings.
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