Directory_and_Chronicle_1924 — Page 1461

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NETHERLANDS-INDIA

Banka, Billiton, and Singkep, and in small quantities in Sumatra and some other islands; lead in Sumatra and Borneo; zinc in small quantities in Java and Sumatra; coal in Borneo, Sumatra, and Java; manganese in Java; jodium in Java; saltpetre in Java; marble in Java and in Sumatra. Salt of excellent quality is produced in Madoera and also in the other islands by evaporation of the sea water. Kerosene oil is produced in abundance in Java, Sumatra, and Borneo, and gives enormous profits.

The possession of the soil by the natives is strongly protected by law. As a gene- ral rule the ground cannot be sold to foreigners, not even to Dutchmen, nor to their descendants who are born in India. The Government is authorized to dispose of un- cultivated grounds and grant parts of them for a certain period to foreigners (erfpacht). On the 31st December, 1905, the stock of cattle in Java and Madoera consisted of 2,186,993 buffaloes, 2,654,461 other horned cattle, and 363,974 horses (ponies).

REVENUE AND FINANCE

The revenue of the colony is derived from different taxes, viz., import and export duties, excise, ground tax, capitation tax as an equivalent for abolished Statute Labour of natives, personal tax, income tax, taxes on various products, slaughter tax, licences, succession duties, stamp duties, duty on public sales, transfer and assignment duty, the rent of farms (pawnbrokers' shops, etc., etc.), monopolies (opium, salt, pawn- shops), tin mines, forests, railways, mining, and agricultural concessions, the cultiva- tion of coffee, and sundry petty articles. In former years the cultivation of coffee was the principal source of revenue, but of late years there has been a constant decrease. In the Residencies in Java (except Batavia, Bantam, Cheribon, Rembang, Soerabaja, Banjoemas, Soerakarta and Djokjakarta), where the ground is suitable for the cultivation of coffee, a certain number of natives are obliged to plant every year a number of coffee trees, to take care of the plantations, to dry the fruit, and to deliver it into the Government godowns. They are, therefore, free of ground tax and receive a remuneration at the fixed rate of fifteen guilders per picul.

The salt required for the Government monopoly is made in Madoera, where the people are obliged to deliver it into the Government godowns at a fixed rate per kojang. After a trial in Madura, in some Residencies of Java, and in the isle of Lombok the Government in 1898 resolved to take the management of the opium monopoly into its own hands and to sell the drug on the system of a "régie" to the population with- out the intermediation of farmers. The "régie" is in force now in the whole Indian Archipelago. Every where the sale of opium, otherwise than by the "régie," is prohibited. In some parts of the colony the use of opium is forbidden to everyone, in other parts it is only allowed to people who have got a licence for personal use, elsewhere it is per- mitted without a licence to one or more categories of the population, and for the rest prohibited to everyone who has no licence. The monopoly of the Government is strongly protected by penalties. The revenue of the opium "régie" was calculated for 1921 at 42,058,881 guilders (net).

After having given the matter a trial at Soekaboemi (since April 1st, 1901) and at several other places in Java, the Government resolved in 1903 to take in hand the management of the pawnshops, with the intention of protecting the native population from the evils they suffered from the old system of farming out those places. This applies also to the other islands of the Indian archipelago (outlying possessions), beginning in 1921. During 1921 the total number of pledges delivered at the 371 existing Govern- ment pawnshops was 34,522,743; the aggregate amount of money borrowed being f.142,529,062, with a calculated revenue for 1921 of 2,002,487 guilders.

The tin mines of Banka are exclusively worked by Government; the management of the exploitation, the melting of the ore, and the transport of the tin to the godowns being in the hands of Chinese mining corporations (kongsi's) or of private contractors and their labourers, while some of the valleys are worked in "regie." For the inost important districts a caloric electric power-plant has been erected. Two private com- panies hold concessions for tin mines, one in Billiton and the other in Singkep; the first (Billiton) pays a duty for the farming of the mines. The total quantity of tin produced in 1921 by the Government mines in Banka was

was 242,888 piculs net= 14,986,189 kilogrammes, value 27,203,456 guilders.

The monetary system of Netherlands-India consists of gold coins of the value of ten and five guilders, silver coins of two guilders and a half, of one guilder, and of half a guilder (these coins are the same as those in the Netherlands); besides silver coins of f.0·25, and f.0.10, bearing Malay and Javanese inscriptions; nickel coins of f.0'05, and copper