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Appendix No. 9.
NETHERLANDS.
CONTENTS.
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516
THE DUTCH EAST INDIES.
CONTENTS.
Page
General Statistics
Communications
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517
Vegetable Productions
Mineral Productions
General description of Country, with special reference to Military and Naval Operations Climate
Strength and Distribution of the Army, of the Navy, and Merchant Marine
The principal Inland Fortresses, the Hill Stations and Camps, and minor Forts of Java
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518
518
518
518
522
The principal Ports and Coaling Stations of the Dutch East Indies, with some account of the
Sources of Coal Supply
526
""
The Defences and Garrisons of the four chief Naval Stations of Java-Batavia, Samarang,
Soerabaia, Tjilatjap
527
The Defences and Garrisons of the minor Coast Places of Java The Defences and Garrisons of the Stations in the Outer Islands General Remarks ..
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543
General Statistics.
The Empire of the Dutch in the East Indies is so extensive that it can only be very briefly treated in a single paper, even one chiefly confined to the naval and military position. All extraneous statistics, and information geographical or other, has been reduced to the lowest possible limit, con- sistent with making the rest intelligible.
The Dutch claim in the East Indies a territory lying between 6° north and 11° south latitude and 95° and 141° east longitude, which includes the whole of Sumatra and adjacent islands, the Riouw Archipelago, as far as the open China Sea, Java and adjacent islands, Celebes and adjacent islands, Ternate Amboina and other islands in the Molucca Archipelago, the western portion of Timor (part of which a languishing Settlement belongs to Portugal), the Island of New Guinea, as far as a line drawn due north and south in 141° east longitude, and Borneo, as far on the west coast as Cape Datoe, on the east coast as St. Lucia Bay. The interior line is shown as running along the watershed, while a line drawn due east and west cuts across this from Lucia Bay. North of this line lie Sarawak, Broenai, and Soeloe, more or less under English influence.
The whole of this vast territory may be reckoned at 600,000 square miles. Java is four times as large as Holland; Celebes more than five times, Sumatra thirteen times, and the whole of Borneo twenty-two times.
But the control which Holland exercises over this area is very various, and in some cases very limited and vague.
Even in Java, the centre of Dutch power, there are still semi-independent Princes, while the greater portion of the remaining islands is governed through Residents, with partially independent States, or States only bound by Treaty to support the paramount Power, while considerable areas are entirely unoccupied, and even unexplored. This holds good especially with regard to New Guinea and the border which divides the Dutch and more or less English portions of Borneo.
A statement of the population brings out clearly how slight must be the hold which the Dutch have of this great Empire, as far as mere numbers are concerned. The total population has been reckoned-but of course this cannot be taken as strictly accurate at 25,000,000, of whom 18,000,000 are in Java, the most peaceful, and therefore most populous, island; but among these only 30,000, exclusive of the army, are Europeans, while there are 200,000 Chinese, a dangerous race much given to secret societies, who have at various times occasioned considerable trouble. There are a certain number of more or less pure Arabs; the remainder are composed of various Malayan races.
In the town of Batavia, including Meister Cornelis, there are 6,000 Europeans, 135,000 natives, 24,000 Chinese. In Samarang, 3,500, 50,000, and 10,000; in Soerabaia, 5,000, 110,000, and 8,000.
The regular army and navy will be given later in detail, but in 1880 there were in the army 17,000 Europeans, 16,100 natives; in the navy, 1879, 2,600 and 2,300.
The proportion of Europeans in other islands is of course much smaller; in Borneo, for instance, about 600 Europeans, exclusive of troops, to an estimated 700,000 natives and 30,000 Chinese, and in the whole, exclusive of Java, 8,000 Europeans to 4,000,000 natives and 100,000 Chinese. New Guinea may be considered as a merely nominal possession; no Return of European residents is given.
A few statistics will give an idea of the magnitude of the resources of the country under
notice.
The average revenue may be put at 10,000,000, about one-third of which is expended on the army and navy. In some years as much as 2,000,000l. and upwards has been saved, but not recently, owing to the Achin War.
The latest accessible Return gives the imports, chiefly to Java, as over 10,000,000, and the exports, also principally from Java. as 15,000,000. Two-thirds of the imports and four-fifths of the exports affect the mother country.
There were, in the year referred to, 7,652, of which 1877 were steamers, incoming ships of a
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