794 
The Dutch Agricultural Colonies 
THE DUTCH AGRICULTURAL COLONIES. 
Certaix advanced social reformers have lately been advocating 
the employment of the destitute and criminal classes in farming 
operations, apparently under the impression that the "submerged 
tenth'' will not only become expert agriculturists, but will make 
the farm on which they are engaged a paying concern. The 
system is by no means a novel one in Continental countries, and 
in Holland especially it has had an extended trial of nearlv 
three-quarters of a century. An opportunity having occurred 
of paying a visit to the agricultural colonies at Frederiksoord, in 
that country, I made last September a somewhat detailed and 
careful inspection of them, the results of which are summarised 
in the following pages. 
There is no poor-rate in the Netherlands, and the State does 
not interfere in the matter, except when no relief is to be had from 
private charity. In such a case, the pauper must be supported by 
the commune where he is living ; but the communes usuallv grant 
subsidies to the private societies de hienfaisance which exist in all 
parts of the countr}-, and which contribute the only organisation 
existing in Holland for the relief of the poor and destitute. 
The charitable institutions of Amsterdam are world-famed. 
They are upwards of a hundred in number, destined for the 
reception of sick, aged, and indigent persons, lunatics, foundlings, 
widows, &c., and are all almost entirely supported by voluntary 
contributions. One such society, the !Maatschappij tot Nut 
van't Algemeeu, whose object is the education and moral 
culture of the lower classes, has 16,000 members paying about 
half a guinea per annum, and its sphere of operations extends 
over the whole kingfdom of Holland. Another societv is the 
Maatschappij van Weldadigheid (Benevolent Society), which is 
of especial agricultural interest, because it seeks to prevent 
pauperism by providing rural training and employn\ent for 
destitute l)ut able-bodied and deserving persons. 
The estates owned by this society are situated near 
Steenwijk, on the heath-land on the borders of the provinces 
of Drenthe, Friesland, and Overyssel. After the conclusion of 
the great war in 1815, there was in Holland, as in other parts 
of Europe, great distress and misery ; and an official report of 
the Dutch ^Minister of the Interior, dated December 28, 181G, 
estimated the number of paupers in the northern provinces at 
over 190,000. In certain towns a third of the population 
received relief. General John van den Bosch, a Dutch officer 
