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The above coals are said to be fiery; two cargoes of these coals fired without any assignable cause. There is coal along the coast and rivers of West Borneo, but a Company attempting regular works failed. Small quantities are bought from the natives, chiefly along the Kapocas. The Commandant of the Navy reported these coals, especially those of Salimbou and Boenoet, as "very good." The coal is got in a primitive way, and sold in small amounts, 1,000 to 2,000 tons per annum. If the demand were greater, the supply might be increased.
Coals were for some time obtained from East Borneo, at a place called Pamintangan, on Poeloe-Laut, 3,400 tons in one year; but the Company failed, and the trade relapsed into native hands. Small quantities are still sold, amount not known, price 5 fl. (8s.) per ton.
Coal is also supplied, on the Berouw River, by the Sultan, to ships calling there.
A private Company has a concession of ground near Bandjermassin, where mines were formerly worked, but abandoned on account of native rebellion. Little appears to have been done.
The Benkoelen, West Sumatra, field, abandoned 1827, is said, by some accounts, to contain 44,000,000 tons of good coal adjoining Poeloe Bay; other accounts make out the coal to be bad, or in insignificant veins, not paying for working on a large scale. Nothing has been done.
Coal has been discovered, but nothing done, from similar causes, at Palembang, east coast of Sumatra; Tapanoeli Bay, and Nias Island, west coast of Sumatra; Maros Celebes.
Coals have been discovered at Ombilien, in the Padang Highlands, and great expectation raised. A proposal has resulted of making a railway and port at Padang, in connection with the coal- fields; 100,000 tons yearly is the estimated output, but as yet only 60 tons have been got on trial (1882). In calculating the profits, the estimate has been made that the Indian navy would take 25,000 tons, the semi-official Steam Company, 27,700 tons; while 50,000 tons more are assigned to the Companies plying to Europe not dependent entirely on the Indian supply, the railways, docks, and machinery works, sugar factories, &c.; the price of sale at Padang was to be 15 fl., or 25s., a ton; but all this is at present mere theory; more practical, as giving a true idea of the coal supply, is the Budget Report of 1880:-
1. Purchase in Europe and carriage, 50,0007.
2. State mines, 9,6007.
3. Purchase in India, including carriage, 30,0001. (mostly European coal).
4. Cost of depôts, &c., 4,2007.
The coals purchased for the Atchin war, 123,000 tons, appear to have averaged 28 fl., or 46s., a ton, but some batches of coals appear to have cost, at Singapore, as much as 51 fl., or 80s., per ton.
The nominal cost of State coals is put at 10 fl., but a Dutch writer shows that, including establish- ment of mines, &c., they really cost 23 fl., or 40s., per ton.
The price of coal at Singapore appears, of late years, to have been been between 20 fl. and 30 fl., or 33s. to 50s., per ton, the cost of coals direct to Batavia rather less.
The cost of sending the coals to outlying stations is very considerable, as much as 17. per ton in
some cases.
From the above remarks it will be seen that we were justified in making the statement in the earlier part of this paper that the Dutch East Indies are still dependent on Europe for their coal supply; the great bulk of it is, in fact, obtained either by direct shipments-chiefly from Wales to Batavia and other Java north-coast ports--or by contracts made at Singapore for delivery at Dutch stations. The amount obtained from Government mines and by local purchases of native-dug coals is comparatively insignificant, and the former source would be entirely cut off by the blockade or occupa- tion of the mouth of one river-the Barito, or Bandjermassin River-in Borneo.
The Defences and Garrisons of the four chief Naval Stations of Java.
In dealing with these, it will be convenient to make some general remarks which apply equally to all the Java ports.
There is a curious and important feature in connection with the climate of the northern coast, which is pointed out by a Dutch writer.
If a line be taken consisting of the streams which, rising in the central mountains, fall north into the sea at Indramajoe, south at Tjilatjap, dividing the island into two unequal portions, the deposit of the rivers east of this line is composed of, for the most part, volcanic sands, to the westward of alluvial mud; and as a result the low lands even when marshy to the east, are comparatively healthy; to the west, infested with plant growth, and deadly, and therefore, cæteris paribus, troops landed to attack either Samarang or Soerabaia might be expected to suffer less from marsh fevers than if directed against Batavia.
The generally shelving shores on the north are liable to constant alterations from two causes, the deposit of the numerous mud-laden streams, and the growth of coral islands, so that statements made of any port are only true for short periods.
Although there has been of late years a general advance of the whole Dutch East Indies in com- mercial resources, there has been a curious falling-off in the facilities for ship-building. Though many establishments have sprung up for marine repairs of machinery, boilers, &c., the actual construction of ships has of late been more and more relegated to Europe; in 1839-40, 100 per cent. of the ships, some of considerable size, were built in the Dutch Indies, while in 1874-78 only 19 per cent. were built there; and while the average tonnage of Indian-built ships was only 71 tons, those built in Europe out of Holland average 400 tons, and those built in Holland itself 600 tons. Although, there- fore, small craft are still built largely in almost every port in and out of Java, there appears to be no building-yard of any great importance, with the exception of that of Soerabaia Dockyard. This falling- off is attributed by some to the Government having put a stop to the indiscriminate cutting down of the teak forests, but it is more probably the result of natural commercial causes, the shallow shelving shores of the Java coast, combined with greater facilities of obtaining ships from Europe.
Appendix No. 9.
NETHERLANDS.
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