Review 0/ EerietM, 1/S/OS. 



Dutch Goionial Tldministra'ion. 



M^ 



Buffalo In the Paddy Field. 



vatism of the Oriental makes him loth to attempt 

 any new — alt«it more lucrative — industry, especially 

 if the crop does not produce food that he can con- 

 sume. Van den Bosch, when Governor-General, 

 solved the problem by forced cultivation, and while 

 the system cannot be defended on ethical grounds, 

 it is questionable if it is really more injurious to the 

 natives than the British method of importing paid 

 alien coolies into their Dependencies, the result 

 being that the indolence of natives is accentuated 

 and the purity of their race impaired, by an ad- 

 mixture of Chinese or Tamil blood. 



Since 1848, when the control of Colonial affairs 

 was vested in the Dutch Legislature, many reforms 

 have been effected. The " culture " system was 

 largely abolished in 1871, and new taxes on Euro- 

 pean models imposed. It has also improved the 

 working of the taxation system by directly adminis- 

 tering those taxes that were formerly farmed out to 

 independent contractors, and has spent considerable 

 sums of money in the education of the natives. 



It has been sometimes said that the Dutch people 

 treat the natives with harshness. From my own ob- 

 servation I can sav that the statement is altogether 

 unfounded, and an unmerited slur on a humane and 

 enlightened nation. The natives are prosperous and 

 contented, civil, but not servile. The Dutch have 

 prevented their possessions from being overrun by 

 Chinese and other coolies, although by doing so an 

 equal development might have been attained at less 

 cost. Instead, they have trained the native popula- 

 tion to habits of industry. 



The privileges and rights of the natives are 

 strictly preserved, and, as in Papua, white people 

 and foreign Asiatics are not permitted to purchase 

 ail acre of land from the natives, nor are white 

 people allowed to acquire, even through the Go- 

 vernment, land occupied by the natives, except' in 

 exceptional cases. The employment of native labour 

 is also strictly guarded against abuse. No higher 

 testimonial to Dutch rule could be recorded than 

 the simple fact that, instead of the natives dying 

 out by reason of their contact with the white races, 

 they have increased in numbers since 1816 from 

 four to thirty millions in Java alone, an increase 

 that establishes a world's record. 



For over 300 years the Dutch have ruled in these 

 islands. From Batavia, in Java, Governor- General 

 Van Dieman fitted out Tasman, who discovered our 

 most southern State, and also from Java various ex- 

 peditions sailed to the northern and western coasts 

 of Australia, which were first discovered and 

 roughly charted by those hardy mariners, as the 

 names along our coast from Arnheim's Land to Cape 

 Leeuwin bear testimony. During the whole of that 

 time our Dutch neighbours have given us no cause 

 for complaint or uneasiness. It should be Aus- 

 tralia's policy to maintain and increase this good 

 feeling, and stimulate trade and intercourse that 

 would be mutually beneficial. As our immediate 

 neighbours in New Guinea, they have on more than 

 one occasion assisted us materially by their good 

 offices, and that mutual co-operation in the de- 

 velopment of our New Guinea possessions might be 

 usefully extended in the future. 



