176 AUSTRAI^ASIA. 



them absolutely ; the cultivation of tea, tobacco, indigo, cochineal and cinnamon 

 has been left to private enterprise, the Government retaining the monopoly only 

 of sugar till the year 1890, and of coffee until the question is settled by legis- 

 lation. 



The system of forced labour, that is, of slavery in disguise, has had the natural 

 consequence, of retarding the intellectual and moral progress of the people. The 

 structures in different parts of the island dating from the Hindu epoch show 

 that the knowledge of industrial, scientific and artistic processes has greatly- 

 deteriorated since those times. Doubtless the initiative came from the Hindus, 

 but the works executed under their control attest the advancement made by their 

 disciples. But decadence was inevitable under an Administration which for 

 nearly three centuries closed the schoolroom to the natives, lest they should learn 

 to think and thus attempt some day to bridge over the gap separating them from 

 their masters. Even now, for a population of some twenty-three millions, Java 

 possesses only two hundred native schools, attended by some forty thousand 

 scholars. 



In the Javanese communes the land has remained unallotted, the sovereign 

 being still regarded as the supreme proprietor, while the collective usufruct of the 

 cultivated parts belongs to the peasantry. The cultivators thus form with the 

 communal land an organic whole, the so-called dessa, and they can scarcely under- 

 stand any other system of tenure. Efforts have in vain been made in some places 

 to introduce that of private holdings amongst the poor cultivators of the plains. 

 Doubtless there exist a certain number of plots inherited in the family ; but the 

 communal organisation everywhere prevails. Even where the jungle is cleared by 

 private enterprise, it lapses after a certain time to the commune, which, according 

 to the adat, or " custom," is the true owner and collectively responsible for the 

 taxes and the statute labourers. As in the Slav mir, each member of the dessa 

 keeps his cottage and garden, while all have equal right to the woods and waste 

 lands. But the tracts under tillage are distributed to the families either every 

 year, or every two or three years according to the districts. 



Unfortunately the enormous increase of population during the present century 

 has had the consequence of reducing to a mere fraction the portion assigned to 

 each individual, in some places five acres or even less, while the government 

 abstains from helping the communes by the grant of public waste or fallow lands. 

 On an average, the Javanese cottage is worth about sixteen shillings, and the 

 revenue of each family plot five pounds at the utmost. The peasant finds it 

 difficult to earn an equal sum on the Government plantations, so that the whole 

 population sees its substance constantly diminishing, and itself threatened with 

 still deeper poverty, although it at least contrives to live despite the imposts and 

 forced labour. 



Would they fare better were the principle of private property established in 

 the 40,000 communes, and were most of the holdings ra])idly reduced to proportions 

 too small for any practical purpose, or even bought up altogether, leaving the bulk 

 of the peasantry without any property ? Would not the condition of Java then 



