DUTCH GUIANA. 61 



recent!}^ the miners have ascended the valleys, and have begun to attack the 

 primitive rocks in which the mineral is embedded. Thus the mining industry 

 has rapidly become one of the important branches of the colonial industry, which 

 had hitherto been limited to a small number of products. With a view to the 

 development of the gold-mines, a road 50 miles long has been opened between the 

 Surinam and Maroni rivers. 



Administration. 



Despite certain empty parliamentary forms, the colonial government enjoys 

 absolute authority. The governor, named by the Crown, is also president of the 

 " House of Assembly," comprising 13 members, of whom he nominates four. 

 The nine others, elected for six years, owe their nomination to notables enjoying 

 an income of at least 40 florins. 



The governor proposes, and, if he chooses, disposes. Should his advice be 

 rejected, he puts in writing the reasons of his dissent from the delegates, where- 

 upon the majority has to consider the matter settled. 



Instruction is obligatory for all children between the ages of seven and twelve, 

 and in 1887 nearly 5,400 pupils were attending the 48 public schools. The 

 annual budget amounts to about £100,000. 



Dutch Guiana is divided for administrative purposes into 16 districts with 

 variable circumscriptions. But all decentralised or provincial administration 

 can be no more than nominal in a country whose capital alone contains more 

 than half of the entire population, excluding the Bush Negroes, who are not com- 

 prised in the census returns. 



The German Government is said to entertain the idea of purchasing Dutch 

 Guiana with the view of converting it into a penal settlement like that of French 

 Guiana. 



