- The census of Dec. 1889 gives in a population of 4,511,415: The Dutch belong to the Germanic race. At the census of 1889 there were 47,888 persons of foreign birth living in the Netherlands, 28,767 of them being Germans, 13,697 Belgians, 1,339 English, and 4,085 from other countries. 2,950,471 persons were born in the communes where they lived; 977,360 in some other communes in the province; 497,809 in other provinces of the realm; and 9,795 in the Dutch colonies. II. MOVEMENT OF THE POPULATION. The following are the statistics of births, deaths, and marriages: The emigration in the last five years has been as follows :— 75,956 7,527 In 1897, 433 were males, 197 females, and 162 children. from Dutch ports was, in 1897, 9,036. 1 The countries of destination are not mentioned in the records for 1897. III. PRINCIPAL TOWNS. On December 31, 1897, the following towns had a population of more than 20,000 inhabitants, namely: According to the terms of the Constitution, entire liberty of conscience and complete social equality are granted to the members of all religious confessions. The royal family and the majority of the inhabitants belong to the Reformed Church. The salaries of several British Presbyterian ministers, settled in the Netherlands, and whose churches are incorporated with the Dutch Reformed Church, are paid out of the public funds. The State Budget contained fixed allowances for the different churches; for Protestant Churches, 1,379,852 guilders; for Roman Catholics, 578,035; and for Jews, 12,775. The number of adherents of the different churches in the various provinces, according to the census of 1889, was as follows: The government of the Reformed Church is Presbyterian. At the end of 1897 the Dutch Reformed, Walloon, English Presbyterian, and Scotch Churches had 1 Synod, 10 provincial districts, 44 classes, and 1,348 parishes. Their clergy numbered 1,606. Nine other Protestant bodies had about 260 churches and about 280 clergymen. The Roman Catholic Church had one archbishop (of Utrecht), 4 bishops, 1,050 churches, and about 2,509 clergymen. The Jansenists had 1 archbishop, 2 bishops, 26 churches, and 27 clergymen. The Jews had about 180 places of worship.. Instruction. Public instruction (primary) is given in all places where needed, but education is not compulsory nor necessarily free; religious convictions are respected. From the beginning of this century elementary schools have been more or less under State regulation and inspection. In 1806, and more expressly in 1848, secular instruction was separated from religious or sectarian instruction. Elementary education is now regulated by the Primary Instruction Act, passed in 1857, supplemented by an Act of 1878, and again considerably altered by the Act of December 1889. By the last Act public instruction is diminished and a greater share in the education of the youths left to private instruction, which is now supported by the State. According to the regulations of the present Act the cost of public primary instruction is borne jointly by the State and the communes, the State contributing to the salaries of the teachers and being responsible for 25 per cent. to the costs of founding or purchasing schools. The following table is taken from the Government returns for 1896-97 : Besides the schools named in the table, there is a great number of special schools-viz., agricultural (1), horticultural (2), deaf and dumb (3) and blind (1) schools, 1 school for philology, geology, and demography of the East Indies (for the Indian Civil Service), several military schools, a national Academy of Art, a royal school of music, a national normal school for drawing teachers, several technical schools and normal schools for the training of teachers. Since 1880 there is also a private university, with 110 students in 1895-96. Of the conscripts called out in 1897, 40 per cent. could neither read nor write, the percentage being highest in Drenthe, 96. In 1875 the total percentage was 12.3. Of the total number of children from 6 to 12 years (school age) on 31 December, 1896, 9-22 per cent. received no elementary instruction, In 1885 it was 12.70. Justice and Crime. All Justice is administered by the High Court of the Netherlands (Court of Cassation), by 5 courts of justice (Courts of Appeal), by 23 district tribunals, and by 106 cantonal courts; trial by jury is unknown in Holland. Judges are appointed for life by the King (the Judges of the High Court from a list prepared by the Second Chamber). They can be removed only by a decision of the High Court. The number of penal sentences pronounced was : There The number of prisons in 1897 was 32, of houses of detention 44. The number of inmates in the prisons at the end of 1897 was 2,185 males and 155 females; in the houses of detention, 715 males and 39 females. are also 3 State-work-establishments specially for drunkards, beggars and vagabonds. The number of inmates was, at the end of 1897, 3,703. Children under 16 years placed in the 3 State reformatories numbered in 1897 573 boys and 102 girls. There are both State and communal police. The State police consists of field-constables and cavalry. The former are spread over the country, the latter guard the frontiers (eastern and southern). The cavalry police (maréchaussé) numbers about 19 officers and 778 men. There are about 800-appointed and paid by the Government-field-constables, divided into numerous brigades. Besides each commune has its own field-constables or police force. Pauperism. The relief of the poor is largely effected by the religious societies and organised private charity. The State does not interfere, except when no relief is to be obtained from private charity; in that case the pauper must be supported by the commune where he is living. The communes grant small subsidies to the private societies; there is no poor rate in the Netherlands. Mendicity and vagabondage are treated as a crime, and persons so convicted can be placed in a State-work establishment. Workhouses for the poor are found in very few communes. The number of poor relieved, either temporarily or continuously, during the year 1896 was 236,396 or 4.87 per cent. of the total population. The percentage for 10 years has been :-1887, 5·13; 1888, 5·12; 1889, 5'08; 1890, 5.34; 1891, 4.38; 1892, 5·43; 1893, 5·19; 1894, 5·25; 1895, 4.99. |