NETHERLANDS. 



597 



Batavia, the capital of Java, had on January 

 1, 1875, 99,109 inhabitants. 



The budget estimates of the Dutch colonies 

 for the year 1878 were as follows: 



The commerce of the East Indian colonies 

 in 1875 was as follows: Imports, 125,672,000 

 florins; exports, 177,075,000. The movement 

 of shipping in the East Indian ports in 1875 

 was as follows: Entered, 7,003 vessels, of 

 1,459,442 tons; cleared, 6,963 vessels, of 1,457,- 

 770 tons. The commercial navy in the same 

 year consisted of 1,270 vessels, of 117,982 tons. 



Java had 260'5 kilometres of railroad in 1878. 

 The length of telegraph wires in operation on 

 Java and Sumatra in 1876 was 6,885 kilome- 

 tres, and of lines 5,613 kilometres. The total 

 number of dispatches sent in 1876 was 842,- 

 016; number of stations, 66. The number of 

 letters sent through the East Indian mails was 

 3,436,494 ; number of papers, etc., 2,472,821 ; 

 number of postal cards sold, 269,935, 



The Government on February 27th brought 

 in a bill in the Second Chamber to authorize a 

 loan of 43,000,000 florins at 4 per cent., payable 

 in fifty-six years at par, for the purpose of 

 covering the deficits and carrying out public 

 works. The money required for the interest 

 and sinking fund was to be obtained by increas- 

 ing the receipts from the taxes on inheritances 

 by 2,333,000 florins. On March 4th M. Kap- 

 peijne, the Minister President, introduced a 

 new bill on the subject of elementary educa- 

 tion, maintaining the principles of the existing 

 act, but proposing various improvements in 

 the system of instruction, and, among other 

 things, an increase in the salaries paid to teach- 

 ers. The state is to bear 30 per cent, of the 

 expenditure, and the communes the remainder. 

 On the following day the Minister for the Col- 

 onies brought forward a proposal to increase 

 the Indian budget by 5,000,000 florins, the prin- 

 cipal part of which was to be devoted to the 

 construction of railways. It was further pro- 



Eosed that steps be taken for the introduction 

 i 1879 of a personal tax and a license tax into 

 the Dutch Indies. This bill was adopted on 

 May 14th, and a few days later the bill author- 

 izing the loan of 43,000,000 florins was also 

 passed by the Second Chamber. The bills were 

 afterward also passed in the Upper Chamber. 

 The bill regarding primary education was passed 

 on July 19th, after a debate continuing five 



weeks, with great opposition from the Catho- 

 lics and orthodox Protestants. Immediately 

 upon the passage of the bill in the Lower House, 

 its opponents began to prepare petitions to the 

 King and to the First Chamber for " the preser- 

 vation of the schools with the Bible." The new 

 law declared that the hours of instruction in 

 the public schools should be so arranged as to 

 leave certain hours for the religious instruction 

 to the different denominations, to be given out- 

 side of the schools, which were to be entirely 

 unsectarian. In spite of all the efforts of its 

 opponents, the bill passed the First Chamber 

 in the first days of August, and shortly after 

 received the royal sanction. On September 9th 

 the Colonial Minister presented the East Indian 

 budget for 1879, which showed a deficit of 

 10,000,000 florins, caused by the expenses of 

 the war in Atcheen and tfye expenditure for 

 the construction of war railways. The Minis- 

 ter proposed to cover the deficit temporarily 

 by advances from the Treasury to the Indian 

 Finance Department, and ultimately by a loan. 

 The expense attending the occupation of At- 

 cheen was estimated at 9,000,000 florins. 



The session of the Chambers was closed 

 shortly after, and the new session was opened 

 on September 16th by the King in person. In 

 the speech from the throne he expressed his 

 appreciation of the cordial affection manifested 

 toward the royal family on the occasion of the 

 marriage of the Prince and Princess Henry. 

 The relations of the Netherlands with foreign 

 Powers were most friendly. The national in- 

 dustry, and particularly agriculture, was in a 

 generally satisfactory condition. The state of 

 the finances called urgently for measures to 

 augment the resources of the state, in connec- 

 tion with which subject the King recommended 

 to the attention of the Legislature the question 

 of the reform of the system of taxation. The 

 Government would present to the Chambers 

 the draught of a new penal code. The speech 

 stated that the condition of affairs in the Dutch 

 East Indian possessions was satisfactory, al- 

 though the maintenance of the Dutch authority 

 in the north of Sumatra required fresh ex- 

 traordinary measures. In conclusion, he eulo- 

 gized the service of the army in Sumatra. 

 The address in reply to the speech from the 

 throne was passed on September 24th, it being 

 almost entirely a paraphrase of the royal speech. 

 On November 25th a bill was introduced for 

 the regulation of the financial relations between 

 the Dutch Indies and the mother country. It 

 provides that the Indian budget shall bear an 

 annual charge of 6,000,000 florins as repay- 

 ment to the Central Government of the costs 

 of administration. The colony will be further 

 required to furnish the sums necessary for the 

 payment of the rentes and the redemption of 

 the loans concluded by the state on behalf of 

 the Indies. The colonial bonds will be further 

 regulated by special legislative measures. So 

 far as they are not required to cover colonial 

 deficits, they will be devoted before all to pub- 



