At the census of 1879 there were 68,971 persons of foreign birth living in the Netherlands, 42,026 of them being Germans, 18,816 Belgians, 1,614 English, and 6,515 from other countries. Emigration has not increased in recent years. In 1882 the number of Dutch emigrants was 7,304; in 1883, 4,855; in 1884, 3,729; in 1885, 2,146; in 1886, 2,024; and in 1887, 5,018, most of whom went to North America.

In the first 8 months of 1886 there were 453 persons accused before the courts of justice, and 456 convicted of serious crimes. Before the district tribunals 19,371 persons were accused, and 17,262 sentenced; 4,062 of them to fines. There is no poor-law or poor-rate in the Netherlands, but mendicity is treated as a crime. The com

munes grant small subsidies for poor relief, but this is largely effected by the religious bodies and organised private charity. The total number of poor relieved temporarily during the year 1885 was 211,520, or 4.7 per cent. of the total population.

The Netherlands possess a comparatively large town population. On January 1, 1888, the following towns had populations of above 25,000 inhabitants, namely:

In the provinces of North and South Holland the population of the towns is considerably larger than that of the country districts.

Trade and Industry.

The foreign commerce of the Netherlands, classified, like that of Belgium and France, into 'general and special,' is chiefly carried on with two countries, Germany and Great Britain. No official

returns are kept of the value of the general commerce, but only of the weight of the goods. The growth of the total commerce of the Netherlands may be seen from the fact that in 1872 the total imports were estimated at 6,451 million kilogrammes, and exports 2,955 millions; while in 1887, the former were 12,558 million kilogrammes, and the latter 6,869 millions, exclusive of goods in transit.

The following are the estimates of the imports for home consumption and the exports of home produce for the five years 1883-87 :

The following are the values of the leading articles of import and

The following table shows the value of the trade with the principal countries in 1887:

The total value of the exports from the Netherlands to Great Britain, and of the imports of British and Irish produce into the Netherlands, in each of the five years 1883 to 1887, is shown in the subjoined table, according to the Board of Trade

returns:

Years

1883

1884

1885

1886

1887

Exports from the Netherlands Imports of British Home Produce
to Great Britain
into the Netherlands

The principal articles of export from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom in the year 1887 were: butter, 843,2547.; butterine, 3,556,8801.; live animals, principally oxen and sheep, 1,195,4221.; cheese, 883,9771.; gin, 46,1187.; sugar, 1,414,6091.; iron and steel goods, 748,0097.; woollen manufactures, 1,541,2551.; cotton manufactures, 487,8371.; leather and leather goods, 879,2921. Enumerated also as exports from the Netherlands to Great Britain, in the official returns, are silk manufactures of various kinds, chiefly stuffs and ribbons, of the value of 2,114,9917. in 1887, but these must be considered as principally goods in transit, coming from the Rhenish provinces of Prussia, seat of the German silk industry. The principal articles of British home produce imported into the Netherlands in the year 1887 were cotton goods, mainly yarn, of the value of

2,560,6337.; iron, wrought and unwrought, of the value of 609,1597.; woollen-yarn and manufactures, of the value of 1,446,2847.; and machinery, 354,0051. A considerable amount of these British imports are not for consumption in the Netherlands, but pass in transit to Germany.

The surface of the Netherlands is divided as follows, in hectares (1 hectare 2-47 acres), in 1886: Uncultivated land, 711,095; water and morass, 135,362; dikes and roads, 44,357; untaxed land, 91,954; building land and houses, 36,830; cultivated land, 860,593; pasture, 1,135,096; gardens and orchards, 52,152; wood, 226,928.

The mean yield of the following products was, in 1886, per hectare: wheat, 22-7 hectolitres (hectolitre 2.75 bushels); rye, 18.5; winter barley, 40-8; summer barley, 31.2; oats, 42.5; potatoes, 158; buckwheat, 14.6; beans, 23-6; peas, 20-2; rape seed, 21.8; flax, 507 kilogrammes; beets, 21,450; tobacco, 2,190; madder, 2,500. The total yield of grain crops proper in 1886 was 36,297,250 bushels.

In 1886 there were 81,489 proprietors and 52,915 farmers, making the former 60-6 per cent. and the latter 39-4 per cent. or 134,404 who possessed or farmed from 1 to 20 hectares land, and 13,275 proprietors and 12,280 farmers, making 51.9 per cent. and 48.1 per cent. of 25,555 who possessed or farmed more than 20 hectares.

In 1886 there were in the Netherlands 272,700 horses, 1,530,800 cattle, 802,700 sheep.

In 1887, 196 vessels were engaged in deep-sea fishing, and 268 in coast-fishing.

The following table shows the number of the vessels belonging to the mercantile navy in 1887 :

In 1887, 8,642 vessels of 4,758,657 tons entered, and 8,623 of 4,694,346 tons cleared, Dutch ports. Of the ships entered 3,746 of 2,351,943 tons were British.

In 1887 there were railways of a total length of 2,551 kilomètres, or 1,584 English miles, open for traffic in the kingdom. The State owned 1,312 kilomètres, or 815 English miles, and private companies the remainder. The total earnings of the various lines in

year 1885 were 25,319,000 guilders, and the total expenses

14,466,000 guilders, leaving a balance of 10,853,000 guilders, or 904,4177. The earnings of the State railways in 1885 were 11,876,000 guilders, and expenses 7,210,000 guilders, leaving a balance of 4,666,000 guilders, or 388,8331. The total outlay upon the State railways up to 1886 was 218,733,736 guilders, or 18,227,8111.

In 1887 the number of letters which passed through the postoffice was 65,061,670; post-cards, 25,011,245; journals, and other printed matter, 76,230,071; samples, 2,574,032. The post-office did business to the amount of 31,744,386 guilders, or 2,645,3657., in money-orders, in 1887; and the postal savings-bank (started in 1881) received 7,643,432 guilders, or 636,9521., in deposits, till Dec. 31, 1887, the total deposits remaining at the end of the year being 11,152,726 guilders, or 929,3947.

The number of post-offices in 1887 was 1,235. The total income of the post-office in the year 1887 amounted to 5,771,099 guilders, or 480,9257., and the expenditure to 4,378,366 guilders, or 364,8611.

The length of State telegraph lines on January 1, 1888, was 4,903 kilomètres, or 3,047 English miles, the length of wires 17,233 kilomètres, or 10,710 English miles, and the number of State offices 358. Besides these are 299 offices of private companies. In the year 1887 there were 3,703,024 paying telegrams carried. The receipts amounted to 1,176,146 guilders, or 98,0127., and the ordinary expenses to 1,519,028 guilders, or 126,5857.

Colonies.

The colonial possessions of the Netherlands embrace an area of 766,137 English square miles. The total population, according to the last returns, was 29,009,267, or more than six times as large as that of the mother country..

The table on next page gives the area and population of the various colonial possessions, divided into three groups: first, the possessions in Asia or the East Indies; secondly, the West India islands; and thirdly, the colony of Surinam, in South America.

The Netherlands claim the whole of New Guinea to 141° E. long. Of the colonial possessions of the Netherlands, the East Indian are by far the most important.

Slavery ceased in the West Indian colonies on July 1, 1863. There were at this period 44,645 slaves, for all of whom the owners received compensation, the same amounting to 300 guilders, or 251., per individual, in Surinam, and to 200 guilders, or 167. 13s., in the rest of the colonies,

For a detailed account of the principal colonial possessions, the Dutch East Indies, see Part II. of the STATESMAN'S YEAR-BOOK.