Area and Population. I. PROGRESS AND PRESENT CONDITION. Population at various census periods: The following table shows the area and the population of the eleven provinces of the kingdom, according to the census of December 31, 1899, and the communal population lists for December 31, 1903 : The rate of increase in each year has been :— Of the total population in 1903 there were 2,690,210 males and 2,740,771 females. The Netherlands possess a comparatively large urban popula tion, especially in the provinces of North and South Holland. 1 The towns with a population of more than 20,000 inhabitants. The census of Dec. 1899 gives in a population of 5,104,137: The Dutch belong to the Germanic race. At the census of 1899 there were 52,625 persons of foreign birth living in the Netherlands, 31,865 of them being Germans, 14,903 Belgians, 1,307 English, and 4,550 from other countries. 3,296,243 persons were born in the communes where they lived; 1,099,102 in some other communes in the province; 617,273 in other provinces of the realm; and 11,846 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: In 1903, 1,385 were males, 748 females, and 830 children. from Dutch ports was, in 1903, 53,590. III. PRINCIPAL TOWNS. On December 31, 1903, 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, about 1,373,000 guilders; for Roman Catholics, about 578,000; and for Jews, about 14,000. The number of adherents of the different churches in the various provinces, according to the census of 1889 and 1899, was as follows: The government of the Reformed Church is Presbyterian. At the end of 1904 the Dutch Reformed, Walloon, English Presbyterian, and Scotch Churches had 1 Synod, 10 provincial districts, 44 classes, and 1,349 parishes. Their clergy numbered 1,616. Ten other Protestant bodies had about 250 churches and about 260 clergymen. The Roman Catholic Church had one archbishop (of Utrecht), 4 bishops, 1,085 churches, and about 2,712 clergymen. The Jansenists had 1 archbishop, 2 bishops, 26 churches, and 27 clergymen. The Jews had about 176 places of worship. Instruction. Public instruction (primary) is given in all places where needed religious convictions being respected. Instruction was made obligatory in 1900; the school age is from 6 to 13. 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 1878, considerably altered by the Act of December 1889. By the latter 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 Act is supplemented by Act of 1901. The following table is taken from the Government returns for 1902-1903 : Besides the schools named in the table, there is a great number of special schools-viz., agricultural, horticultural, deaf and dumb and blind schools, several military schools, a national Academy of Art, a royal school of music, a national normal school for drawing teachers, several normal schools for the training of teachers. Since 1880 there is also a private university, with 148 students in 1902-1903. Of the conscripts called out in 1903, 2.1 per cent. could neither read nor write, the percentage being highest in Groningen, 50. In 1875 the total percentage was 12.3. Of the total number of children from 7 to 13 years (school age) on 15 January, 1903, 5.37 per cent. received no elementary instruction. Justice and Crime. 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. The Cantonal Court, which deals with minor offences, is formed by a single judge ; the more serious cases are tried by the district tribunals, formed by 3 judges; the courts are constituted of 5 and the High Court of 7 judges. All 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 cases was: The The number of prisons in 1902 was 31, of houses of detention 36. number of inmates in the prisons during 1902 was 11,599 males and 796 females; in the houses of detention, 26, 852 males and 1,835 females (persons convicted). There are also 5 State-work-establishments specially for drunkards, beggars and vagabonds. The number of inmates was, during the year 1902, 6,264 males and 162 females. Children under 16 years, placed in the 4 State reformatories, numbered in 1902 740 boys and 120 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 20 officers and 830 men. There are about 875appointed 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. 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 1902 was 183,747 or 3.43 per cent. of the total population. |