NETHERLANDS. 



507 



the heading " Democratic " and the Secretary at 

 the same time asked the opinion of the court as 

 to how the names should be placed upon the bal- 

 lot. The decision of the court was against the 

 straight Democrats, the writ being denied. They 

 desired the court to direct the Secretary to give 

 a separate line to each party designation, and 

 also to add to the designation " straight Demo- 

 crat," the words "by petition." Each candi- 

 date's name appeared but once, and on the same 

 line with it was the name of the party or parties. 



At the election, Nov. 6, the Democrat-Populist 

 candidate for Governor, Silas A. Holcomb, was 

 elected by a vote of 97,815, to 94,613 for Majors, 

 Republican, and 4,439 for Gerrard, Prohibition- 

 ist. All the other State officers elected are Re- 

 publicans. Five of the 6 Congressmen are Re- 

 publicans. The Legislature stands as follows 

 on joint ballot : Democrats, 4 ; Republicans, 97 ; 

 Populists, 11 ; Populist-Democrats, 20. 



NETHERLANDS, a constitutional monarchy 

 in western Europe. The First Chamber of the 

 States General has 50 members, elected by the 

 provincial legislatures for nine years, one third 

 retiring every three years. The Second Cham- 

 ber is composed of 100 members, elected for four 

 years by all male citizens twenty-three years of 

 age who pay 10 guilders of land taxes or per- 

 sonal taxes above the limit of partial exemption, 

 or are entitled to the lodger franchise. The 

 reigning sovereign is Queen Willemina, born 

 Aug. 31, 1880, daughter of the late King Willem 

 III, whom she succeeded, Nov. 23, 1890. Her 

 mother, the Dowager-Queen Emma, a princess 

 of Waldeck-Pyrmont, acts as Regent during her 

 minority. The ministry, constituted Aug. 20, 

 1891, was composed as follows: President of the 

 Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. G. 

 van Thienhoven ; Minister of the Interior, Dr. J. 

 P. Tak van Poortvliet ; Minister of Finance, 

 Dr. N. G. Pierson; Minister of the Colonies, 

 Baron W. K. van Dedem ; Minister of Justice, 

 Dr. II. J. Smidt ; Minister of War, Lieut-Col. 

 A. L. G. Seyffardt; Minister of Marine, J. C. 

 Jansen ; Minister of Waterstaat, Commerce, and 

 Industry, C. Lely. 



Area and Population. The area of the 

 kingdom is 12,648 square miles. The popula- 

 tion, as computed at the close of 1892, was 

 4,669,576. Of this number, 2,309,547 were males 

 and 2,360,029 females. Of the total, 1,506,703 

 lived in 21 towns of more than 20,000 inhabit- 

 ants and 3,162,873 in rural communes 32*2 

 and 67*8 per cent, respectively. The principal 

 cities are Amsterdam, with 437,892 inhabitants ; 

 Rotterdam, with 222,233 ; and 's Gravenhage, or 

 The Hague, with 169,828. The number of mar- 

 riages in 1892 was 33,530; of births, 148,714; of 

 deaths, 97,530: excess of births, 51,184. The 

 number of emigrants was 6,290, all bound for 

 North America except 79 for South Africa. 



Finances. The budget estimate of the ordi- 

 nary revenue for 1894 is 128,263,725 guilders 

 (1 guilder 40 cents), and of expenditure 136,- 

 034,827 guilders. Of the revenue, 11,740,000 

 guilders are the estimated receipts from the 

 land tax, 11.611,000 guilders from the personal 

 tax, 1,456,000 guilders from patents, 6.800,000 

 guilders from the new tax on capital imposed 

 in 1893, 3,067,000 guilders from the other new 

 tax on incomes from trades and professions, 41,- 



950,000 guilders from excise duties, 19,677,000 

 guilders from indirect taxes, 5,761,000 guilders 

 from import duties, 215,815 guilders from the 

 assay tax on gold and silver, 2,335,000 guilders 

 from domains, 7.750,000 guilders from the post 

 office, 1,363,000 guilders from telegraphs, 661, 500 

 guilders from the state lottery, 132,000 guilders 

 from shooting and fishing licenses, 1,400,000 

 guilders from pilot dues, 4,515 guilders from 

 mine dues, 3,950,000 guilders from state rail- 

 roads, and 8,569,895 guilders from other sources. 



Of the expenditures, 804,000 guilders are for 

 the civil list, 666,872 guilders for the legislative 

 bodies and the royal Cabinet, 784,929 guilders 

 for foreign affairs, 5,364,574 guilders for justice, 

 12.860,117 guilders for the interior, 15,619,355 

 guilders for the navy, 19,031,217 guilders for 

 finance, 22,323,776 guilders for war, 22,052,550 

 guilders for Waterstaat and commerce, 1,431,075 

 guilders for the colonies, 35,055,359 guilders for 

 the public debt, and 50,000 guilders for contin- 

 gencies. 



The public debt in 1894 consisted of 607,220,900 

 guilders of 2^-per-cent. bonds, 89,068,550 guilders 

 of 3-per-cents., 1,470,000 guilders of redeemable 

 sinking-fund bonds, 376,959,000 guilders of 3- 

 per-cent. bonds or converted 4-per-cents., 2,013,- 

 700 guilders of assumed railroad bonds, and 

 15,000,000 guilders of paper money, making a 

 total of 1,091,732,150 guilders, against 1,098,- 

 966,950 guilders m 1893. The interest charge 

 for 1894 was 31,415,825 guilders, and the sink- 

 ing-fund charge 3.032,800 guilders. 



Commerce. The shares of the different coun- 

 tries in the special commerce for 1893 were as 

 follow : 



In the total value of the imports, 407,600,000 

 guilders represent alimentary substances, 510,- 

 400,000 guilders raw materials, 251,600,000 guil- 

 ders manufactured products, 218,200,000 guilders 

 miscellaneous merchandise, and 20,900,000 guil- 

 ders precious metals. In the total for exports, 

 374,700,000 guilders stand for alimentary arti- 

 cles, 373,200,000 guilders for raw materials, 

 252,900,000 guilders for manufactured articles, 

 111,400,000 guilders for miscellaneous articles, 

 and 4,400,000 guilders for precious metals. Some 

 of the largest imports and their values in 185)2, 

 when the total importation was valued at 1,282,- 

 000,000 guilders, were the following articles: 

 Cereals, 176,578,000 guilders ; drugs, 176,064,00( 

 guilders; iron and steel, 120,682,000 guilders; 

 textiles, raw and manufactured, 97,653 000 guil- 

 ders; sugar, 43,285,000 guilders; coal, 42,720,00( 



