402 



NETHERLANDS. 



were 266,589,000 guilders; manufactured articles 

 among the imports amounted to 212,811,000 guil- 

 ders, and among the exports to 202,545,000 guil- 

 ders; and of miscellaneous imports the value was 

 308,060.000 guilders, and of exports 308,152,000 

 guilders. The values of the trade in 1898 with 

 the principal foreign countries are given in guil- 

 ders in the following table: 



Railroads and Telegraphs. The Govern- 

 ment owned 961 miles of railroads in 1898, which 

 had a traffic of 6,199,000 metric tons and carried 

 10,828,000 passengers, and earned 22,044,000 

 guilders and paid for expenses 17,509,000 guil- 

 ders; private companies owned 761 miles, which 

 had a traffic of 3,833,000 metric tons of freight 

 and 15,206,000 passengers, earning 17,376,000 guil- 

 ders and costing 13,053,000 guilders for expenses. 

 The capital cost of the Government lines was 

 270,509,000 guilders. The canals have a total 

 length of 2,943 miles, and other navigable waters 

 3,000 miles. There were 818 miles of tramways in 

 1897. The length of the Government telegraph 

 lines was 3,671 miles, with 13,017 miles of wire; 

 messages transmitted in 1898, 4,957,691. 



Politics and Legislation. The Netherlands 

 Government sent war ships to South African 

 waters, as many Dutch citi/ens and Dutch vessels 

 were at Lourengo Marques, and when the 

 troubles broke out in China ships were dispatched 

 thither. The finances showed considerable elas- 

 ticity in 1900, but the compulsory education bill 

 made new demands on the revenue, and the Min- 

 ister of Finance had to look about for fresh re- 

 sources. In the session that began on Sept. 18 

 several measures were introduced to facilitate the 

 moral and material development of the Dutch 

 East Indies, where the financial conditions were 

 equally favorable, particularly on account of the 

 progress made in the pacification of northern 

 Sumatra, although it was still necessary at times 

 to bring the troops and the fleet into action. 

 New measures of internal interest dealt with 

 labor contracts, the accident insurance bill, which 

 was already before the Chambers in the former 

 >r--ion. and the working of coal mines in Lim- 

 bing by the Government. 



The Dutch East Indies. The Dutch posses- 

 sions in the East Indies have a total area esti- 

 mated al 736.400 square miles, and about 34,000,- 

 000 population. The territories are divided into 

 the lands under direct government, vassal lands, 

 and confederated lands. The Governor General, 

 at present W. Rooseboom, appointed June 1, 1899, 

 has power to make laws and regulations sub- 

 ject to the constitutional principles laid down in 

 1854, except in matters specially reserved for the 

 legislative action of the States General. The 

 States General in 1~!)S assumed the sovereign 

 powers which the Dutch Kast India Company had 

 exercised for two centuries, and in 1832 Gen. Jo- 

 hannes Graaf van den Boseh introduced the cul- 

 ture system into Java, under which Government 

 officials supervise the labor of the natives, mak- 

 ing them produce, in addition to their own food 

 supplies, large quantities of colonial products, 



such as coffee, sugar, pepper, and indigo, which 

 the Government sells abroad. The Government 

 plantations of pepper, indigo, tea, tobacco, and 

 sugar cane have been given up as the result of 

 the progress of the natives in intelligence and 

 the desire for liberty and of the growth of liberal 

 ideas in Holland. Forced labor is now required 

 only for the cultivation of coffee, which is sold 

 by the Government, most of it in Europe, but a 

 part in Java. The island of Java, with Maduro, 

 is distinguished from the outposts Sumatra, 

 Borneo, Riau-Lingga, Banca, Billiton, Celebes, 

 Molucca, Sunda Islands, and Dutch New Guinea 

 in which, excepting on the west coast of Su- 

 matra and the province of Menado in Celebes, the 

 culture system has never been established. 



The area of Java and Maduro is 50,554 square 

 miles, with 26,125,053 inhabitants in 1897. Su- 

 matra has 1,353,315 inhabitants on 31,649 square 

 miles of the west coast, 137,501 on 11,284 square 

 miles in Lampong, 692,317 on 53,497 square miles 

 in Palembang,and the population of the east coast. 

 35,312 square miles, is estimated at 335,432. and 

 of Benkulen, 9,399 square miles, at 158,767. The 

 Riau-Lingga Archipelago, area 16,301 square 

 miles, has approximately 107,861 inhabitants: 

 Banca, area 4,446 square miles, has 93,600: Bil- 

 liton, area 1,863 square miles, 41,558; western 

 Borneo, 55,825 square miles, approximately 370,- 

 775; southern and eastern Borneo, 156,912 square- 

 miles, 809,803 as roughly estimated; Celebes, an 

 estimated population of 1,448,722 on 49,390 square 

 miles in the .province of Celebes and 549,138 on 

 22,080 square miles in Menado; Molucca Islands. 

 area 43,864 square miles, population approximately 

 399,208; Timor Archipelago, area 17,698 square 

 miles, population approximately 119,239; Bali and 

 Lombok, area 4,065 square miles, population 

 1.044,757, as estimated; New Guinea to 141 of 

 east longitude, area 151,789 square miles, about 

 200,000 population. The number of Europeans 

 and persons assimilated to them living in 1 1n- 

 East Indies at the beginning of 1897 was :;.">. 4S!i 

 males and 27,826 females, of whom 33,055 males 

 and 27,222 females were of Dutch race, and 2.1.351 

 males and 23,648 females were Dutch born in tin- 

 East Indies. Of the rest 1,192 were Germans. :!1S 

 English, 300 French, 292 Belgians, 184 Swiss, and 

 168 Austrian*. Armenians, and others. There arc 

 about 460,000 Chinese, 24,000 Arabs, and 27.000 

 other Asiatics. Europeans and persons assimi- 

 lated to them are governed according to European 

 law, natives according to their own laws and 

 customs. 



The revenue for the financial year 1899 was 

 133,255,514 guilders, and expenditure ] 45.0.1(1. S26 

 guilders, leaving a deficit of 11,795,312 guilders to 

 add to the deficits of 17,013,300 guilders in is'.ts. 

 18,100,542 guilders in 1897, and 10.61 8.549 guil- 

 ders in 1896, and others in previous years since 

 the war in Acheen began. Taxation has been in- 

 creased in proportion as the revenue from sales of 

 products has fallen off. Of the revenue for 1S9H 

 taxes formed 42.6 per cent.; revenue from tli" 

 opium, salt, and other monopolies. 23.3 per cent.: 

 sales of coffee, cinchona, tin, and coal, 18.7 per 

 cent.; miscellaneous receipts. 15.4 per cent, l-'or 

 1900 the budget estimate of revenue was 141.251.- 

 247 guilders, of which 22,750,308 guilders are re- 

 ceipts in the Netherlands and 1 19,180,700 guilder- 

 receipts in the colonies; estimated expenditun, 

 145,251,247 guilders 28.08S.324 guilders in th- 

 Netherlands and 117,162,923 guilders in the colo- 

 nies: leaving an estimated deficit of 3.320.-J:! ' 

 guilders. The receipts in the Netherlands were 

 3,774,515 guilders from sales of Government cot- 

 fee, 178,200 guilders from cinchona, 14.15't.d.V) 



