606 



NETHERLANDS. 



Waterstaat, 20,894,817 guilders ; and the de- 

 partment of finance, for which 23,435.236 guil- 

 ders are appropriated, of which sum 8,600,000 

 guilders are the indemnity due to communes 

 for the suppression of the octroi, and 5,000,000 

 guilders are the estimated loss on silver money 

 demonetized under the law of April 27, 1884. 



The public debt in 1866 consisted of 611,- 

 805,300 guilders at 2 per cent., 90,299,150 

 guilders at 3 per cent., 9,186,000 guilders of 

 amortization bonds, 218,863,000 guilders ot 

 national debt at 4 per cent., 18,303,700 guilders 

 of 4 per cent, bonds authorized in 1878, 59,- 

 088, 100 guilders authorized in 1883, 38,342,200 

 authorized in 1884, and 5,435,000 guilders is- 

 sued for the construction of the Amsterdam 

 Canal. The Chamber in 1886 authorized the 

 conversion of the 4-per-cent. bonds into 3 

 per cents., issued at 97, securing an annual 

 saving in the interest charge of 1.300,000 guild- 

 ers. 



The provincial expenditures in 1884 amount- 

 ed to 5,421,000, and the communal budgets 

 make a sum of about 66,000,000 guilders per 

 annum. 



Commerce. The value of the special imports 

 in 1884, including precious metals, was 1,128,- 

 471,000 guilders; of the special exports, 841,- 

 232,000 guilders. The values of the leading 

 articles of import and export were as follow, 

 in guilders: 



Great Britain furnished 317,232,000 guilders 

 of imports, and received 186,506,000 guilders 

 of exports ; Germany furnished imports of the 

 value of 284,653,000 guilders, and took 390,- 

 502,000 guilders of the exports. The imports 

 from Belgium were 146,326,000 guilders, and 

 the exports to Belgium, 129,779,000 guilders. 

 The total imports of European origin were 

 921,582,000 guilders, and the exports to all 

 European countries, 768,379,000 guilders. The 

 imports from the United States were 65,696,000 

 guilders, and the exports to the United States 

 22,435,000 guilders. The imports from Java 

 were 75,463,000 guilders, from the Dutch West 

 Indies 2,256,000 guilders, the exports to Java 

 43,341,000 guilders, and to the Dutch West 

 Indies 2,122,000 guilders. 



The Legislature in 1886 increased the duty 

 on foreign brown sugar, and fixed the rebate 

 on colonial sugar at 2| per cent, instead of 1 

 per cent. An act was passed in April,Jower- 

 ing the export duties of Netherlandish India, 

 and increasing the import duties from 6 to 10 

 per cent. 



Navigation. There were 2,326 sailing-vessels, 

 and 5,695 steamers entered at Dutch ports dur- 

 ing 1885. The largest share of the tonnage 

 was British. The number of Dutch sailing- 

 vessels was 968; of Dutch steamers entered, 

 1,488. The merchant navy on Jan. 1, 1885, 

 comprised 634 sailing-vessels, of 550,003 cubic 

 metres displacement, and 106 steamers, of 306,- 

 833 cubic metres. 



Railroads. The railroads on Dec. 31, 1885, 

 had a total length of 2,372 kilometres. 



The Post-Office, The number of letters for- 

 warded in 1885, inclusive of post-cards, was 

 87,582,607; the number of journals, 50,443,- 

 163. The receipts of the administration in 

 1885 were 5,311,118 guilders; the expenses, 

 4,034,516 guilders. 



Telegraphs. The length of the state tele- 

 graph lines on Jan. 1, 1886, was 4,700 kilome- 

 tres; the length of wires, 16,780 kilometres. 

 The number of messages transmitted during 

 1885 was 3,476,050, of which 2,001,743 were 

 internal, 1,442,955 international, and 31,352 

 official. The receipts were 1,057,923; the or- 

 dinary expenditure, 1,655,214; extraordinary 

 expenditure, 84,329 guilders. 



Legislation. A revised criminal code was 

 adopted by the Legislature, and went into effect 

 Sept. 1, 1886. Flogging of convicts is allowed, 

 but not pinioning in constrained postures. 



A treaty concluded with Germany throws 

 open the German North Sea ports to Dutch 

 coasting-vessels. 



Dissolution of the Chamber. In April the min- 

 istry, in consequence of an adverse vote, re- 

 signed in a body, but the King refused to in- 

 trust the direction of the Government to the 

 Right, who in the lower chamber counted 

 43 members against 43 who ordinarily voted 

 with the ministry, and in the upper Chamber 

 were decidedly in the minority. The chamber 

 was adjourned sine die on account of the min- 

 isterial crisis. After some weeks Heemskerk 

 and his colleagues withdrew their resignations, 

 and on May 20 the second chamber was dis- 

 solved. The provincial elections, on which 

 the elections to the first chamber depend, had 

 gone in favor of the Liberals, and in the popu- 

 lar elections in June the Government candi- 

 dates were victorious in 46 districts, while the 

 Orthodox Calvinists elected 16 deputies, the 

 Catholics 17, and the Conservatives only one. 



The New States-General. A second session of 

 the States- General was opened on July 14. On 

 September 19 the old Chambers were closed, 

 and on the following day the newly elected 

 States- General was opened by the Prime Minis- 

 ter. He announced legislation dealing with the 

 sugar crisis in Java and a change in the laws 

 relating to the rights of association and assem- 

 bly. A revision of the Constitution extending 

 the electoral franchise was expounded in Octo- 

 ber. Heemskerk had before declared that the 

 present Government would never support uni- 

 versal suffrage. The proposed reform imposes 

 limitations based on intelligence and certain 



