Oct, 2, 1893.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
261 
The reason for this change of policy is the feeling 
that the system, though necessary originally to 
develop the resources of the island, is at variance 
with the best interests of the natives and hinders 
the introduction of private enterprise and capital. 
Increased commercial prosperity is expected to com- 
pensate for the loss of revenue caused by the with- 
drawal of the Government from the work of production. 
In the meantime, it has been found necessary to 
impose various new and direct taxes. The most 
important of these is a poll tax on the natives, 
wliich has taken the place of the persoi al services 
formerly rendered by them on the Government 
plantations. Originally imposed in 1871, it yielded 
two and a half million florins in 1886. Another 
compensating source of revenue is the growth of 
the verponding. As already mentioned, this is a 
tax of three fourths per cent, on the capital value 
of house propeiLj .i.^; industrial plant. It is assessed 
every three years, and therefore is an accurate test 
of the growth of private wealth invested in the 
colony. In the fifteen years from 1871 to 1866, the 
amount yielded by this tax showed a growth of 
seventy-five per cent. 
It is not necessary to detail the various steps by 
which the Dutch have carried out this policy of 
abandonment- It is sufficient to note the general 
result. 
Today all industries, with the exception of coffee, 
opium, and salt, are free. In the production of the 
two latter, opium and salt, the Colonial Government 
maint'^ins a conn lete monopoly; in the case of coffee 
they compete with the planters. The extent of the 
shares respectively taken by the Government and 
Erivate enterprise in the trade of the island is ex- 
ibited by the following returns for 1889 : — 
Impobts. Expoets. 
Florins. Florins. 
Government .. .. 13,009,445 .. 33,072,175 
Private persons .. 160,375,326 .. 164,590,439 
Total 173,384,771 
197,662,614 
The Government still produces two-thirds of the 
coffee crop. In 1889 the amount produced respec- 
tively by the Government and the planters was 
678,000 and 356,000 piculs. 
Of the two chief industries of the island, sugar 
and coffee, the exports in 1890 amounted in value 
to fifty and fifteen million florins respectively. To 
these must be added two new industries — tea and 
cinchona bark. The former is only in its infancy, 
and is confined to the immediate neighbourhood 
of Soekaboemi, the head-quarters of the planting 
interest in Java. Here there are two important 
estates, Sinagar and Parakan Salak, which are from 
12,000 to 15,000 acres in extent. The latter industry 
is especially hopeful. In 1890 the area of cinchona 
Elantations was 22,500 acres, and 6,000,000 pounds of 
ark, containing four per cent, of sulphate of quinine, 
was exported. This amount is equivalent to half the 
world's supply for the year. 
Of the import trade it is not necessary to say 
more than that the most important item is that of the 
various cotton goods, coming mainly from this 
country, which serve the natives with material for 
clothing suitable for their tropical climate. It is 
also important to remember that there are a quarter 
of a million ("hinese residents in the island, by 
whom ail tlie retail, and part of the wholesale, trade 
is conducted. 
Lust year (1891) the administration of Java was 
tlie subject of severe criticism in the Netherlands 
Parliament, The complaints were chiefly directed 
against the conduct of the Achin war, the opium 
monopoly, and the continued interference of the 
Government in the coffee industry. The reply of 
Baron Mackay, the colonial minister at the Hague, 
was in subst-mce as follows : — 
The Achin war, he said, was the result of unavoid- 
able circumstances, and neither the Colonial nor 
the Home Ctoverinnont could be regarded as 
responsible ; for the loss of revenue involved in it. 
He added, ^however, _that " excellent results were 
expected from the blockade system " now adopted, 
and that there were already signs that the Atchi- 
nese would before long be brought to terms. "With 
1 regard to the sale of opium, he assured the States- 
General that "every possible means were being 
taken to reduce the sale of the drug, and to remedy 
Its evil effects " He frankly recognised the im- 
portance of the question of coffee-culture, but at 
the same time urged the advisability of maintaining 
the system for the present. It was not certain, in 
the first place, that the existing system could be 
changed with advantage; and, in the second, "no 
product in the immediate future could be looked 
for to replace coffee as a source of revenue." 
Undoubtedly the resources of Java are at the 
present time subjected to a heavy strain. On the 
other hand, it must not be forgotten that (1) the 
burden of the Achin war may be at any time re- 
moved, and (2) all public works are being paid for 
out of ciu-rent revenue without recourse to loans. 
There is, therefore, no reasonable grounds for sup- 
, posing that the present financial difficulties of the 
Colonial Government are more than temporary. A 
glance at the balance-sheet of the island for the 
year 1889 shows to what an extent the difficulties 
are due to an increasing sense of responsibility to- 
wards the natives, and to an intention to eventually 
open all the industries of this singularly fertile 
island to private enterprise. 
Heads of Revenue and Expendituee for 1889 
IN Million Florins. 
Revemie. 
Taxes 40 
Monopolies .. .. 31 
Sale of produce (of this 
coffee contributes 37, 
sugar 2) . . . . 49 
Other sources (railways, 
school fees, etc.) . . 14 
In round numbers 
134 
Expendit ure. 
Instruction .. 10 
Army and Navy . . 40 
Public works (of this 
railways cost 10) 20 
Administration, etc. 60 
130 
When the natives have been educated and the 
industries of the island free from unnatural restric- 
tions, financial and commercial prosperity will re- 
turn to Java.— T7ie Sugar Cane. 
THE " TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST." 
(From a Proprietor.) 
I wonder how many planters know what they lose 
in not subscribing to your wonderful publication ? 
The cost is absolutely nothing, compared to the 
convenience of having in a bound book all that is 
interesting and necessary in the literature of their 
calling. Information culled from a thousand sources, 
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advertisements not seen elsewhere, and a hundred 
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know. The T. A. is, in fact, a convenient file of 
useful information daily arising and permanently 
preserved. 
TEA, CINCHONA AND HELOPELTIS. 
{From an Old Planter.) 
We are having a good real cf datnags done to 
tea by helopeltis, tspeoiuUy in fi Ids where there 
is also cinchona growlDg. Cincliona s ems to have 
a greuttr attraction for the inject than tea, and 
BO have otber fruit and jungle trees, so it is to 
be hoped thaf, with abundnnoe of other food, i'. 
will not d.v l;p ::nv fxtra fondnrs? for tp.i 
Judging from the duuiago done and the small 
number of inseotg wa can catcb, one helopi.ltis 
muaC be oapable of injuriDg a large number of 
young shoots. 
