Singapore brought clothes, jars, salt, and other daily necessities in exchange for rattan, hides of wild cattle, camphor, rhinoceros horns, and monkeys gall stones. The Cantonese people later arrived in the 1880s. They were involved in timber exports. The Fuzhounese arrived here from Sibu in 1910. Besides, Malay villages also established just immediate south to the fort. In 1883, Father Edmund Dunn of St Joseph College, Mill Hill, England, established the first Roman Catholic Mission headquarters at Kanowit. The missionary at that time worked almost exclusively amongst the Iban people In 1885, St Francis Xavier Church was built. The church was demolished in 1967 to pave the way for new modern building construction. Later a mission hospital and a primary school was built. A boat to bring emergency cases to Sibu was provided. In June 1859, Syarif Masahor, together with a "Kanowit" leader named "Sawing", and a number of Malay chiefs killed two Brooke government officials, Charles Fox and Henry Steele. In 1906, a peacemaking ceremony was performed between Kana and Iban tribes here. During the last years of the Japanese occupation, the Kanowit bazaar was looted and burnt to the ground by some natives. In 1951, as the Korean war broke out, the Kanowit bazaar was overflowing with rubber sheets due to rise in rubber prices. However, on 8 November 1951, the bazaar was burnt to the ground in a large fire. Construction of the shophouses was restarted from 1952 to 1953. However, several owners were unable to pay the mortgages owed to Chartered Bank in Sibu due to low collapsing rubber prices. In the 1970s, there were 48 shophouses in Kanowit, lying parallel to the Kanowit River. There was also a market, churches, a hospital, a moving picture theatre (named Capital Theatre), a jetty, government offices, government resident quarters, a government clinic, and a community hall. The Chinese were settled near the banks of the Rajang River. There were no roads that enter the town. Therefore, the Rajang River is the only mode of transport for people to travel to other towns. Government The town of Kanowit is the capital of the Kanowit District. The Kanowit district is administered by a District officer, an assistant officer, administrative officers, treasurer, clerks, and other office employees. Kanowit District Council was first known as Kanowit Sea Dayak Local Authority when it was established in 1949. In 1957, the council name was