NETHERLANDS. 



529 



indemnification of communes for the suppres- 

 sion of the octroi, 8,570,000 guilders; financial 

 administration, 7,774,585 guilders ; department 

 of justice, 5,108,559 guilders; loss from tlie 

 demonetization of silver under the law of April 

 27, 1884, 5,000,000 guilders; public worship, 

 1,978,660 guilders; foreign affairs, 681,151 

 guilders ; civil list, 650,000 guilders ; expenses 

 of the Cabinet, 616,007 guilders; unforeseen 

 expenses, 50,000 guilders. 



The amount of the public debt in 1887, in- 

 cluding 15,000,000 guilders of paper money, 

 was 1,059,132,450 guilders, and the interest 

 charge was 33,271,304 guilders, as compared 

 with a capital in 1886 of 1,066,322,450 guilders 

 and an interest charge of 34,389,288 guilders. 

 The saving in the annual interest charged was 

 effected by the conversion of 4 per cent, stock 

 into 3^ per cents. 



The concession to the Bank of the Nether- 

 lands was prolonged in 1887 till 1914. The 

 capital is fixed at 20,000,000 guilders, which 

 must be partly invested in public funds. All 

 profits over 5 per cent, are divided between 

 the stockholders and the Government, except 

 one tenth laid aside as a reserve fund. 



Extension of the Franchise. The Legislature in 

 1887 adopted a bill introduced by the Ministry 

 that increases the number of electors from 

 130,000 to 300,000. The principle of the bill 

 was approved by the Chamber on March 23. 

 All soldiers, except commissioned officers, are 

 excluded from the franchise. The electoral 

 law defining the qualifications of voters passed 

 the Chamber on June 14. The franchise is ex- 

 tended to all who pay 10 guilders in personal 

 or land taxes, as well as to lodgers. Amend- 

 ments aiming at a still wider franchise were 

 resolutely opposed by the Cabinet, and were 

 rejected. Under the former electoral law, en- 

 acted in 1878, the limitation was from 20 to 

 160 guilders of direct taxes. The first Chamber 

 adopted the proposed revision of the Constitu- 

 tion on November 5. After the promulgation 

 of the statute, November 30, the Chambers 

 were dissolved in order that elections might be 

 held under the new law. 



Socialist Disturbance. Domela Nieuwenhui?, a 

 wealthy Socialist and the acknowledged head 

 of the party, was condemned to one year's soli- 

 tary confinement for lese-majesty in 1886. In 

 January, 1887, the sentence was confirmed by 

 the Court of Cassation. On the King's birth- 

 day, the Socialists of Amsterdam, who mani- 

 fested much indignation at the fate of their 

 leader, held a meeting with closed doors. The 

 police broke open the hall. The persons inside 

 received them with revolver shots, and the 

 police fired back. Twenty-three persons were 

 carried to the hospital, some of whom had re- 

 ceived fatal wounds. 



Colonies, Java and Madura, with an area of 

 131,733 square kilometres, had a population in 

 1884 of 20,931,654 persons, of whom 20,665,- 

 510 were natives. The other Dutch possessions 

 in the East Indies, embracing Sumatra, Riouw, 

 VOL. xxvii. 34 A 



Banca, Billiton, Borneo, Celebes, the Moluccas, 

 part of New Guinea, Timor, Bali, and other 

 islands, have a total area of about 1.728,000 

 square kilometres, and a native population esti- 

 mated at 8,400,000 souls. The number of 

 Europeans in the Dutch East Indies in 1884 

 was 46,837, of whom 37,680 were in Java; the 

 number of Chinese, 364,028 ; the number of 

 Arabs, 16,194; the number of Hindus and 

 others, 8,324. Batavia, the political capital, 

 had a population of 89,401 souls. Other im- 

 portant cities are Soerabaya with 123,177, and 

 Samarang with 68,928 inhabitants. The budget 

 for 1887 estimates the revenue at 133,561,632 

 guilders and the expenditure at 136,899,953 

 guilders. The imports of merchandise in 1885 

 had a total value of 123,369,000 guilders; the 

 exports, 185,129,000 guilders. The imports of 

 specie were 15,499,000 guilders ; the exports, 

 2,942,000 guilders. The value of the exports 

 of coffee in 1884 was 49,152,000 guilders; 

 sugar, 71,807,000 guilders ; tin, 8,289,000 guild- 

 ers; indigo, 3,933,000 guilders; hides and skins, 

 2,097,000 guilders ; cloves and nutmegs, 1,899,- 

 000 guilders; rice, 1,467,000 guilders; tobacco, 

 16,879,000 guilders; tea, 1,774,000 guilders; 

 gambier, 2,270,000 guilders ; gutta-percha, 3,- 

 340,000 guilders ; gum, 4,623,000 guilders; pep- 

 per^, 568,000 guilders; rattan,3,200,000 guild- 

 ers. The number of vessels engaged in foreign 

 commerce that were entered at the ports of the 

 Netherlandish East Indies in 1885 was 4,749, 

 of the aggregate capacity of 3,201,199 cubic 

 metres. In the beginning of 1887 there were 

 in operation on the island of Java 940 kilo- 

 metres of railroads. The Government contem- 

 plates the construction of a line on the island 

 of Sumatra from Mocara Kalaban through Fort 

 de Hock, the seat of government, to the Bay 

 of Brandevvyns, for the purpose of utilizing 

 the coal-fields on the Umbili river. The rail- 

 road is expected to be completed in six years 

 at a cost of 16,000,000 guilders. The coal- 

 beds are supposed to contain 200,000,000 

 tons, and the Government expects to make a 

 profit of 600,000 guilders a year. The receipts 

 of the state lines in 1885 were 4,260,677 guild- 

 ers, and the expenses 2,355,665 guilders ; the 

 receipts of the Netherlands India Railway 

 Company were 3,537,156 guilders, and the 

 expenses 1,486,128 guilders. The length of 

 the state lines of telegraph in 1885 was 5,766 

 kilometres, with 7,806 kilometres of wires. 

 The lines in Java had a length of 3,629 kilo- 

 metres, while 2,068 kilometres were on the 

 island of Sumatra. The number of paid mes- 

 sages in 1885 was 370,629, including 91,100 in- 

 ternational dispatches. 



Surinam or Dutch Guiana has an area of 

 119,321 square kilometres, and contained 74,132 

 inhabitants in 1884. The capital is Paramaribo, 

 the population of which was 25,444. There 

 were 98 marriages, 1,962 births, and 1,522 

 deaths recorded in the colony in 1885. The 

 population, exclusive of Indians and the sav- 

 age colonies of escaped negro slaves, was reck- 



