556 



NETHERLANDS, THE. 



24,771,942 for the department of finance, in- 

 cluding the estimated loss of 6,000,000 guil- 

 ders in the redemption of silver coins called in 

 under the act of April 27, 1884 ; 20,432,000 for 

 the Ministry of War; 13,932,204 for the Min- 

 istry of the Interior ; 31,819,023 for the Min- 

 istry of Commerce and Canals; and 11,662,915 

 for the Ministry of Marine. The total receipts 

 are taken as 114,166,025 guilders, of which 

 39,550,000 proceed from the excise taxes on 

 spirits and other articles ; 25,928,125 from the 

 land and personal taxes and patent dues ; 24,- 

 450,000 from stamps, registration, and succes- 

 sion duties ; 4,812,000 from customs and navi- 

 gation dues; and the remainder from domains, 

 posts, telegraphs, coast pilotage, railroads, etc. 

 If the receipts fall below the expenses, the 

 Government is empowered to issue treasury 

 bills to the amount of 28,300,000 guilders to 

 cover the deficit provisionally. 



The total amount of the public debt in 1884 

 was 1,004,252,250 guilders, including 10,000,000 

 guilders of paper money; 61 1,809,200 guilders 

 bear interest at 2 per cent., 90,312,050 at 3 

 per cent., 9,684,000 at 3| per cent., and the 

 rest at 4 per cent. 



The Army and Navy. The standing army in 



1883 numbered on the lists 2,325 officers and 

 62,689 men. The active tchutteryen, or militia, 

 numbered 37,198 men ; the sedentary, 77,103. 



The navy in 1884 consisted of 23 ironclads, 

 comprising 6 turret-ships with rams, 2 monitor 

 rams of the first and 5 of the second class, 5 

 monitors of the second class, and 5 vessels for 

 river-defense ; 93 steamers, of which 28 were 

 screw-corvettes, 12 paddle-steamers, 81 gun- 

 boats, and 22 torpedo-boats ; and 14 school- 

 ships and 10 other vessels. The navy was 

 manned with 6,821 men, not including 2,361 

 marines and 1,119 sailors in the East Indies. 



The Colonies. The colonial possessions of the 

 Netherlands have an area of 659,126 square 

 miles, and a population of about 29,000,000. 



Java and Madura, with an area of 131,733 

 square kilometres, contained in 1882 20,268,- 

 480 inhabitants, of which number 20,282,915 

 were natives. The native population of Su- 

 matra, Riouw, Banca, Billiton, Borneo, Celebes, 

 the Moluccas, Papua, Timor, Bali, and the 

 other Netherlandish possessions in the South 

 Seas, is estimated at about 8,400,000, their total 

 area at 1,728,000 square kilometres. The num- 

 ber of Europeans in the Dutch East Indies in 

 1881 was 41,706, of Chinese 345,372, of Arabs 

 16,775, of Hindoos, etc., 9,514. Batavia, the 

 capital, contained 92,497 inhabitants, Samarang 

 60,582, Soerabaya 119,592. 



The colony of Surinam, or Dutch Guiana, 

 has an extent of 119,321 square kilometres, and 

 contained in 1882 a settled population of 53,- 

 853 souls. Curacao, or the Dutch Antilles, with 

 an area of 1,1 30 square kilometres, had in the 

 settlements 44,066 inhabitants. 



The total receipts of the treasury in the East 

 India colonies are put down in the budget of 



1884 as 142,836,197 guilders, the expenses as 



146,935,361 guilders, leaving a-deficitof 3,899,- 

 164 guilders. This is a more favorable show- 

 ing than has been made for a long time, the 

 cost of the colonies to the mother-country usu- 

 ally amounting to 12,000,000 or 14,000,000 

 guilders a year. The increase in the income 

 was due to an advance in the price of coffee, 

 due to reports of a deficient crop in Brazil. 

 The proceeds from the sale of coffee are esti- 

 mated at 42,671,656 guilders, from the opium- 

 tax 21,207,200 guilders, from the land-tax 19,- 

 267,000 guilders, from customs 10,243,000 guil- 

 ders, from railroads 5,316,000 guilders, from 

 sales of tin 4,348,490 guilders, from the salt duty 

 7,081,000 guilders. The budget for 1885 esti- 

 mates the expenditure at 143,000,000 guilders, 

 producing a deficit of 1,250,000 guilders, with- 

 out reckoning the cost of new naval ships. An 

 increase in the tariff and various economies 

 were proposed, also certain taxes to provide 

 5,750,000 guilders for construction of railways. 

 The receipts of the colony of Surinam are 

 estimated at 1,226,898 and the expenditures at 

 1,465,827 guilders. The receipts and disburse- 

 ments in Curacao balance at 686,496 guilders. 



The imports of merchandise on the account 

 of the state in 1881 were in value 8,261,000 

 guilders, of specie 260,000, total 8,511,000 

 guilders; on account of private individuals 

 139,805,000 guilders of merchandise, and 10,- 

 345,000 guilders specie, total 150,150,000 guil- 

 ders ; total imports of merchandise 148,066,000 

 guilders, of specie 10,595,000. The exports of 

 merchandise on state account were of the value 

 of 32,181,000 guilders; the exports of merchan- 

 dise on private account 143,606,000 guilders, of 

 specie 1,339,000 guilders, total 144,945,000 guil- 

 ders; total exports of merchandise 175,787,000 

 guilders, of specie 1,339,000 guilders. The sales 

 of coffee on Government account in 1881 were 

 28,247,000 guilders in value, of tin 3,932,000 

 guilders ; the sales of coffee on private account 

 18,849,000, guilders, of tin 3,969,000 guilders, of 

 sugar 63,345,000 guilders, of indigo 3,415,000 

 guilders. Other exports were skins of the value 

 of 1,712,000 guilders, cloves and nutmegs 2,562,- 

 000 guilders, rice 1,110,000 guilders, tobacco 

 20,120,000 guilders, tea 1,542,000 guilders, gam- 

 bier 7,326,721 guilders, gutta-percha 6,101,398 

 guilders, gums 5,419,423 guilders, pepper 3,925,- 

 707 guilders, and ratany 3,762,647 guilders. 



The tonnage entered at the East Indian ports 

 in 1881 was 1,950,547, cleared 1,833,153. The 

 total tonnage of the colonial merchant-fleet was 

 138,266. 



The length of railroad lines in operation at 

 the beginning of 1884 was 707 kilometres. 

 The receipts in 1882 of the lines of the East 

 Indian Railroad Company were 3,912,496 

 guilders, expenses 1,378,291 guilders; the re- 

 ceipts of the state lines 1,378,291 guilders, ex- 

 penses 1,080,615 guilders. The number of pri- 

 vate internal letters carried in the mails in 1882 

 was 2,902,126, the number of foreign letters 

 851,499. The length of telegraph lines belong- 

 ing to the state in 1882 was 5,879 kilometres, 



