588 



NETHERLANDS, THE. 



Gere . . , 

 Burks.. 

 Bell.... 



FOR REGENT OF THE UNIVERSITY. 



43,221 



88,113 



4,709 



A vote was also taken on a proposed amend- 

 ment to the Constitution, extending the right 

 of suffrage to women, with the following re- 

 sult : For the amendment, 25,756 ; against, 50,- 

 693. For Congressmen three Republicans were 

 elected : 



FIRST DISTRICT. 



"Weaver. 17,022 



Eedick 12.090 



Gilbert 3,70T 



Laird.... 

 Moore. . . 

 Harman. . 



SECOND DISTRICT. 



10.012 



8,060 



THIRD DISTRICT. 



Valentine 11,284 



Turner 7,342 



Hunger 9,932 



The Legislature, to meet in January, 1883, 

 will consist on joint ballot of seventy-one 

 straight Republicans, forty Democrats, and 

 twenty-two Anti-Monopolists, the Republicans 

 having a majority in the House, and the oppo- 

 sition in the Senate. 



NETHERLANDS, THE, a monarchy of 

 Western Europe. The Constitution, proclaimed 

 in 1848, vests the legislative authority in the 

 King and the two Houses of the States-General. 

 The First Chamber is composed of 39 members, 

 elected by the Provincial Councils from among 

 the class paying the highest taxes. The Sec- 

 ond Chamber is elected by ballot, at the rate 

 of one deputy to every 45,000 inhabitants, and 

 consists of 86 members. Every Netherlander 

 who is of age, is domiciled, and pays from 20 

 to 160 guilders of direct taxes, according to 

 the locality, has the right to vote. Clergymen, 

 judges, and provincial governors are ineligible. 

 The members of the Second Chamber receive 

 pay. One half the members of the Second 

 Chamber retire every two years, and one third 

 the members of the Upper House every three 

 years. The initiative in legislation is confined 

 to the Lower House, the Upper House possess- 

 ing only the rights of approval and amend- 

 ment. The ministers must attend the meetings 

 of both Houses, and have a voice in the delib- 

 erations, but no vote. The veto power, re- 

 served to the King, is never exercised. Either 

 or both Houses may be dissolved by the King, 

 but new elections must take place within forty 

 days. The executive authority is exercised in 

 the name of the sovereign by a responsible 

 council of ministers. The reigning sovereign 

 is William III, born in 1817, who succeeded 

 his father, William II, March 17, 1849. The 

 heir- apparent is Alexander, Prince of Orange, 

 his only son, born in 1851. The Cabinet is 

 composed of the following members: Baron 

 W. F. van Rochussen, Minister for Foreign 

 Affairs, and appointed June 19, 1881, who 

 replaced Baron Lynden van Sandenburg as 

 President of the Council in the latter part of 

 1882 ; Dr. C. Pynacker Hordyk, Minister of the 



Interior, appointed February 9, 1882 ; Dr. A. 



E. J. Modderman, Minister of Justice, ap- 

 pointed August 19, 1879; Baron Dr. C. T. 

 van Lynden van Sandenburg, Minister of Fi- 

 nance, appointed in August, 1881 ; Dr. O. W. 

 Stavenisse de Brauw, Minister of the Colonies, 

 succeeding Baron van Goltstein ; Baron G. J. 

 G. van Klerck, Minister of the Waterstaat, 

 Commerce, and Industry, appointed August 

 19, 1879 ; Major-General A. E. Reuther, Min- 

 ister of War, appointed August 19, 1879 ; W. 



F. van Erp Taalman Kip, Minister of Marine. 

 AREA AND POPULATION. The decennial cen- 

 sus of 1879 gave the area of the Netherlands 

 as 32,972 square kilometres, or 12,678 square 

 miles, and the population as 4,012,693, com- 

 prising 1,983,164 males and 2,029,529 females. 

 The total population in 1869 was 3,579,529. 

 The annual enumeration of December 31, 1881, 

 gives the population as 4,114,077, distributed 

 among the eleven provinces as follows : 



PROVINCES. 



North Holland 



South Holland 



Utrecht 



Zealand 



North Brabant 



Limburg 



Population. 

 713.238 

 835,112 

 197,638 

 189,306 

 475,493 

 242,122 



Guelderland 476,026 



PROVINCES. Population. 



Overyssel 277.946 



Drenthe 120,734 



Groningen 257,153 



Friesland 



Total population . 4,114,077 



The movement of population for four years 

 was as follows : 



The population was divided in 1879, as to 

 religion, into 2,469,814 Protestants, 1,439,137 

 Catholics, 81,693 Israelites, and 29,049 of other 

 beliefs. 



The population of the chief cities, on Decem- 

 ber 31, 1881, was as follows : 



CITIES. 



Population. 



Amsterdam 828,047 



Rotterdam 157,2TO 



The Hague 123,499 



Utrecht 71,387 



CITIES. 



Population. 



Leyden 41,631 



Haarlem 39,977 



Tilburg.... 



Leeuwarden 29,079 



Groningen 48,000 Maestricht 28,917 



Arnhem 42,761 I Dordrecht 27,722 



The number of domestic letters forwarded 

 by the post in 1881 was 44,144,240 ; of foreign 

 letters, 13,298,865; of postal-cards, 17,640,- 

 758 ; total letters, 75,083,863 ; of newspapers 

 for the interior, 36,646,830 ; for foreign parts, 

 3,308,804; total newspapers, 39,955,634. The 

 receipts amounted to 4,260,168 guilders; the 

 expenses to 3,005,286 guilders. (The guilder, 

 or florin, is equivalent to 38 cents.) 



The length of the state telegraph lines at 

 the commencement of 1882 was 3,943 kilome- 

 tres, or 2,460 miles; the length of wires 14,- 

 373 kilometres, or 8,980 miles. The state had 

 203 stations, the companies 215. The number 

 of dispatches sent in 1881 was 3,281,792, of 

 which 1,972,158 were of domestic, and 1,279,- 

 495 of foreign, destinations. The receipts 



