NETHERLANDS, THE. 



58] 



The most important articles of import and 

 export were : 



Education is provided for by a non-denomi- 

 national primary instruction law, passed 1857. 

 Under its working there were in December, 

 1873, according to the report of the royal com- 

 missioner, issued in 1876, 2,669 public schools, 

 witli 6,519 schoolmasters and 729 school- 

 mistresses, and 143 subsidized and 978 non- 

 subsidized private schools, with an aggregate of 

 4,217 teachers (2,472 males and 1,745 females). 

 At the same date the pupils in the public 

 schools numbered 382,146 (212,995 boys and 

 169,151 girls) ; the pupils in subsidized private 

 schools numbered 5,999 (2,870 boys and 3,129 

 girls), and in non-subsidized private schools 

 111, 1(14(49,950 boys and 61,964 girls). The 

 totnl number of elementary schools was 3,790, 

 of pupils 500,059, of teachers 11,465. 



The teachers appointed under the law of 

 1857 are superintended by 94 district-school 

 inspectors, who act under 11 provincial super- 

 intendents. The inspectors grant licenses for 

 the establishment of schools, and present to the 

 Government, three times a year, an account 

 of the state of the public instruction. 



The number of pupils in the public evening- 

 schools was 19,236, in private evening-schools 

 4,555; total number, 23,791, of whom 17,786 

 were boys and 6,055 girls. The number of 

 repetition and Sunday schools was 241, of 

 which 102 were public, 18 subsidized private, 

 and 121 non-subsidized private schools. The 

 total expenditures for elementary instruction 



in 1873 was 6,558,519 florins. There were 11 

 navigation-schools, with 23 teachers and 850 

 pupil*. In the colony of Java there were 68 

 government schools, with 4,160 pupils, of 

 whom 2,852 received instruction free ; 29 pri- 

 vate schools were reported to have 2,000 pupils. 

 There were also 78 government and 114 pri- 

 vate schools for natives of which the number 

 of pupils was not given. 



The army of the Netherlands in Europe con- 

 sisted, in 1876, of 2,076 officers and 60,867 

 men; the East Indian army numbered 1,425 

 officers and 38,996 men. 



The navy of the Netherlands on July 1, 

 1876, consisted of 87 steamers, with 386 guns, 

 and 18 sailing-vessels, with 119 guns: total, 

 105 vessels, with 505 guns. 



The merchant-navy, on January 1, 1876, 

 consisted of 1,749 sailing-vessels, of 437,897 

 tons, and 86 steamers, of 76,828 tons: total, 

 1,835 vessels, of 514,725 tons. 



The aggregate length of railroads in opera- 

 tion was, on January 1, 1876, 1,602 kilometres 

 (1 kilometre = 0.62 English mile), of which 

 988 were state railroads. 



The aggregate length of the state telegraph 

 lines was, on January 1, 1876, 3,440 kilome- 

 tres; the aggregate length of the wires, 12,- 

 833 kilometres; the number of officers was 

 330 ; the number of telegrams carried in 1875 

 was 2,214,730 ; the revenue was 708,986 flor- 

 ins; the expenditures, 1,276,540. 



Early in January General Enderlein, War 

 Minister, retired from office, in consequence 

 of the unfavorable action of the States-Gen- 

 eral upon his plan for putting the country into 

 a condition for defense. Heer Klerck, for- 

 merly a counselor in the department of rail- 

 road affairs of the Ministry of the Interior, 

 was appointed War Minister in his place. The 

 questions concerning military affairs in refer- 

 ence to which the differences arose that led to 

 this change in the War Ministry were more 

 political than technical in their character, and 

 were closely connected with the increasing ob- 

 jections of the upper classes to military ser- 

 vice. In May the Second Chamber approved a 

 bill providing for the introduction into the 

 coinage of the exclusive gold standard of value. 

 The bill, however, authorized to be used still, 

 for change, gulden-pieces in silver and cents in 

 copper. A proposition to introduce the gold 

 standard into the Indian possessions was re- 

 ferred to the State Council. 



A cabinet crisis was brought abont in June 

 by the continued unfavorable action of the 

 States-General toward the military bills of 

 the Government. The Second Chamber de- 

 nied a motion for the increase of the con- 

 tingent from 11,000 to 14,000 men, where- 

 upon, June 19th, Heer Heemskerk, Minister 

 of the Interior, announced that the cabinet 

 had sent in their resignations to the King. By 

 the request of the King, the resignations were 

 held in suspense for several weeks. It was 

 found extremely difficult to form a new minis- 



