608 



NETHERLANDS. 



The budget for the East Indies for 1886 es- 

 timates the total receipts at 134,217,669 guild- 

 ers, of which amount 30,841,790 guilders are 

 derived from sales of coifee, 244,530 from cin- 

 chona, 4,351,346 from tin, 21,376,000 from the 

 opi-im monopoly, 10,291,200 from customs, 

 19,916,000 from the land revenue, 7,167,000 

 from the salt-tax, 1,338,000 from the post-office 

 and telegraphs, 1,015,000 from railroads in 

 Holland, 5,027,000 from railroads in India, and 

 32,649,803 from various other sources. 



The expenditures are taken at 139,655,706 

 guilders, leaving a deficiency of 5,438,037 guild- 

 ers. The hudget for the colony of Surinam 

 makes the revenue 1,321,543, and the expendi- 

 ture 1,513,021 guilders. The revenue of Cura- 

 sao is estimated at 614,947 guilders. 



The imports of the East Indies in 1884 

 amounted to 162,019,000 guilders in merchan- 

 dise and 12,740,000 guilders in specie; the ex- 

 ports to 189,715,000 guilders in merchandise 

 and 1,085,000 in specie. 



In the beginning of 1886 there were 587 

 miles of railroad completed in Java, and 

 120 miles in progress. The receipts of the 

 Netherlands India Railway Company in 1884 

 were 3,896,544 guilders, expenses 1,183,623 

 guilders ; the receipts on the Government lines 

 4,251,447 guilders, expenses 2,088,329 guilders. 

 There were in 1884 3,590 miles of telegraph 

 lines in Java and 1,290 miles in Sumatra. 



Crisis in India. Many Netherlander who are 

 familiar with the circumstances in Java are of 

 the opinion that the East Indian empire can not 

 long be maintained. Rumors of the prospect- 

 ive sale of these possessions are frequently cir- 

 culated, but they originate for the most part 

 in Germany. The chief reason for the failure 



of the operations for the subjugation of the 

 Acheeuese is that the East Indian army is un- 

 reliable, and that the soldiers fraternize with 

 the rebels. In March an extensive conspiracy 

 was unearthed in Banjumas, Java, and papers 

 implicating influential persons in many parts 

 of the island, including a number of Europeans, 

 were found in the house of a Mohammedan 

 hadji. On May 20 an insurrection in the dis- 

 trict of Buitenzorg was suppressed by the 

 troops, who killed 50 of the 500 insurgents, 

 who had risen against the demands of the pro- 

 prietor of the land on which they dwelt. 



The sugar industry, which has existed of 

 late years only by means of advances from the 

 banks, is threatened with extinction through 

 the withdrawal of credit and recall of their 

 loans by the capitalists. The stoppage of su- 

 gar-culture will greatly augment the political 

 and social dangers in the Dutch East Indies, 

 for the native aristocracy depend largely on 

 the rents from the sugar-plantations for their 

 incomes, and hundreds of thousands of the 

 working population are employed in this indus- 

 try. The amount paid in wages on the 195 

 plantations is 30,000,000 guilders per annum. 



The Advanced Liberals have advocated a 

 radical reform in the land and government 

 system of Dutch India, especially abolition of 

 the feudal arrangements, abandonment of state 

 ownership of land, and the opening of the 

 resources of Java, as well as the other isl- 

 ands, to private enterprise and capital of every 

 nationality. The Government proposed to as- 

 sist the sugar-producers with advances, but 

 the committee of the Chamber decided that 

 the amount of aid offered was entirely inade- 

 quate, and suggested the suspension or aboli- 

 tion of fiscal arrangements that weighed upon 

 the industry. The Chamber decided to grant 

 relief in this form. The bill, which was ac- 

 cepted by the Government, remits the sugar 

 export duty for five years, beginning with 

 1887-'88, abolishes the Government rents, 

 defers for five years the payment of half 

 the interest due the Government. 



The War in ieheen. The military policy th{ 

 has been adopted in Acheen is called the 

 centration system. It is simply the withdraw,' 

 of the troops from the occupied posts in the ene- 

 my's country and the abandonment of offensive 

 hostilities. The English in Penang, coveting 

 this rich district, have furnished the rebels with 

 arms and war materials of all kinds. Lately 

 they have raised complaints about the inability 

 of the Netherlands to establish settled order, 

 and urged Great Britain to interfere for the 

 protection of their pepper-trade with the 

 Acheenese. They speak of demanding damages 

 from the Netherlands Government for pira- 

 cies committed by the rebels. The troops in 

 Acheen suffer from a sickness called ~berri- 

 ~berri. The etiology of the disease is not 

 known, nor has any remedy been found. It 

 begins with lameness of the legs, which gradu- 

 ally lose their powers, become swollen, and are 



