Kuching. Besides, telephones were cheap to install and required little power. By 1908, the Mukah-Oya region was connected to telephone lines, followed by Miri in 1913, and Sibu in 1914. The first wireless telegraphy station was erected in Kuching in 1917, followed by Sibu and Miri immediately thereafter. It was not until 1914 that the first electrical power stations were installed in Miri by Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company and Bau by the Borneo Company Limited. The oil production boom in Miri and gold mining in Bau gave rise to the need of more efficient lightning and motor systems. Cinematography also began the same year in Miri. In 1920, J.R Barnes, the manager of the Sarawak Government Wireless Telegraphs and Telephones Department, proposed an electrical lightning scheme for Kuching using a coal-fired system. In January 1923, a power station covering an area of was completed at Khoo Hun Yeang Street, Kuching, and started operation in June 1923, supplying Kuching with direct current (DC) system. Today the road where the power station was once located is now known as the "Power Street". Sibu's first power station was installed in 1927, followed by Mukah in 1929. From 1922 to 1932, the electrical supply in Kuching was managed by the Electrical Department, under the jurisdiction of Public Works Department. This department was then privatised as the Sarawak Electricity Supply Company (SESCo). From the 1930s, a telegraph line connected the country with Singapore. Wireless telegraph stations were located in all major towns in Sarawak. Postal service was also available throughout the administration. Health In 1915, Dr Ledingham Christie, surgeon to the Borneo Company Limited, conducted a study regarding latent dysentery and parasitism amongst the Malay population staying near the Sarawak River. Those who had latent dysentery or parasites may not show any symptoms, but they may be pale and thin. The Malays at that time usually dumped their sewage into the river, while bathing or drinking from the same spot, in anticipation that water currents would remove the waste. Among the 100 stool samples tested, whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) and roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides) were most commonly found. Cholera was endemic in Sarawak; however very little is documented about the disease. The earliest cholera outbreak in Sarawak was in 1873 but it was not known how many died in it. In the same year, Captain Giles Helyer, the commander of the boat Heartsease, died of cholera. Meanwhile, the