Sultan Of Brunei Arrives Today

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30454, 30 May 1964, Page 1

Sultan Of Brunei Arrives Today

Sir Omar Ali Saifuddin, the Sultan of Brunei, is expected to arrive in Christchurch this morning for a three-day stay.

While he is here he will attend the Ashburton Trotting Club's meeting today, fly to Mount Cook with the Mount Cook and Southern Lakes Tourist Company on Sunday, and go jet boating up a Canterbury river on Monday. On Monday evening he will dine with the Gov-ernor-General (Sir Bernard Fergusson). The Sultan has been a keen traveller since he became monarch of the tiny but rich country in north-west Borneo in 1950. With a fortune of | £133 million from Brunei's oil, the Sultan has made frequent visits to the United Kingdom and Europe, and has just come from the United States in the course of a round-the-world tour. Brunei is an ancient Mohammedan Sultanate which reached the peak of its power and influence in I South-east Asia in the six-

teenth century. The Seria oilfield, discovered in 1929, is one of the richest in tha world, and employs threequarters of the country's working population At the last count the total population was 86,500, occupying a territory of 2226 square miles on the coast of adjoining Sarawak.

The present Sultan is keeping his eyes open for pistols and swordsticks on his private world tour. Adding to his enormous collection is said to be his main interest. He collects pistols that can be fired, rather than antiques, and his wife, the Sultana, joins him every day at pistol practice. They have 10 children, and the main purpose of his trip was to put the Crown Prince and his next brother into English schools. Brunei is a British protectorate, which has decided against joining Malaysia for the time being.