With regard to administration, the Dutch possessions in the East Indies are divided into residencies, divisions, regencies, districts, and dessas (villages). They are also very often divided into: (1) Java and Madura; (2) the Outposts-Sumatra, Borneo, Riau-Lingga Archipelago, Banca, Billiton, Celebes, Molucca Archipelago, the small Sunda Islands, and a part of New Guinea.

Java, the most important of the colonial possessions of the Netherlands, was formerly administered, politically and socially, on a system established by General Johannes Graaf Van den Bosch in 1832, and known as the 'culture system. It was based in principle on the officially superintended labour of the natives, directed so as to produce not only a sufficiency of food for themselves, but a large quantity of colonial produce best suited for the European market. That culture system' comprised the obligatory labour of the natives employed in the cultivation of coffee, sugar, indigo, pepper, tea, tobacco, and other articles. At present, the labour of the natives is only required for the produce of coffee, which is sold by the Government partly in the colonies, but mostly in the Netherlands. By the terms of a bill which passed the Legislature of the Netherlands in 1870, the obligatory cultivation of the sugar-cane is now totally abolished.

The whole of Java-including the neighbouring island of Madura-is divided into seventeen residencies, each governed by a Resident, assisted by several Assistant-Residents and a number of subordinate officials, called Contrôleurs. All these functionaries must have gone through an examination previous to their appointment by the Government. The Resident and his assistants exercise almost absolute control over the province in their charge; not, however, directly, but by means of a vast hierarchy of native officials. There is a regular and unceasing personal intercourse between the native chiefs and the Contrôleurs, who act as the immediate agents of the Resident. The native officials receive either salaries or percentages on the amount of the taxes gathered from the natives. In the Outposts' the 'culture' system has never been introduced, except in the province of Sumatra, west coast, and in the Residency of Menado (island of Celebes), where also the labour of the natives is required for the produce of coffee. These Outposts are administered by functionaries with the titles of 'Governor,' 'Resident,' Assistant-Resident, Contrôleur,' &c.

The superior administration and executive authority of Dutch India rests in the hands of a Governor-General. He is assisted by a Council of five members, partly of a legislative, partly of an advisory character. The members of the Council, however, have no share in the executive. The GovernorGeneral and the members of the Council are nominated by the Queen.

Governor-General.-J. B. vau Heutsz, appointed July 20, 1904.

The Governor-General represents not only the executive power of government, but he has a right of passing laws and regulations for the administration of the colony, so far as this power is not reserved to the legislature of the mother-country. However, he is bound to adhere to the constitutional principles on which the Dutch Indies are governed, and which are laid down in the 'Regulations for the Government of Netherlands India,' passed by the King and States-General of the mother-country in 1854.

Area and Population.

The following table gives the area and population of Java-including Madura-and of the Outposts :

1 Tolerably accurate.

2 Approximately.

3 Mere conjecture.

4 New Guinea belongs to the residency of Ternate, Molucca Islands.

5 Approximate total. The population of several unexplored countries is not included. In the official records the population is given every five years.

The total number of Europeans and persons assimilated to them was, in 1900, 75,927; of these 37,421 males and 34,598 females were Dutch, of whom 29,811 males and 31,211 females were born in the East Indies.; of the remainder, 1,382 were German, 232 French, 441 English, 232 Swiss, 350 Belgians; the remainder being mostly Austrians and Armenians. Of the remaining population about 537,000 were Chinese, 27,000 Arabs, and 17,000 other Orientals, and about 34,000,000 natives.

The movement of population between Europeans and persons assimilated to them, by marriages, births, and deaths, was as follows:

(Java and Madura

449 1,790

Outposts

121

569

534

The population of the three principal towns of Java was :

The whole population of Java is legally divided into Europeans and persons assimilated with them, and natives and persons assimilated with these. The former are generally living under the same laws as the inhabitants of the mother-country, while in the jurisdiction of the latter the Indian customs and institutions are considered. The division of the whole population into these two classes is a fundamental principle in the policy of the administration, and enacted in the code specifying the limits and conditions for legislation in Dutch East India. The Governor-General, however, is, in agreement with the Council, authorised to make individual exceptions on this rule.

Religion.

According to the terms of the regulations for the government of Netherlands India, entire liberty is granted to the members of all religious confessions. The Reformed Church counted in 1902, 38 ministers and 26 assistants, the Roman Catholic 32 curates and 17 priests, not salaried out of the public funds. The number of Christians among the natives and foreign Orientals

In 1902, 150 missionaries of various societies were working to propagate Christianity in the Dutch East Indies. In the same year 6,092 natives went to Mekka on pilgrimage, and 6,222 returned,

Instruction.

For the education of Europeans and persons assimilated with them there were in 1902, 6 public middle class schools, with 1,172 pupils and 112 teachers. The cost of these schools to the Government in the same year was 673,678 guilders, and the revenue out of the school fees 106,304 guilders.

In 1902 there were for Europeans 144 mixed public elementary schools, and 31 for girls only, with 27 private schools, or a total of 202 elementary schools. The 175 public schools had a teaching staff of 597, and an attendance of 16,587 pupils, whereof 2,494 natives, and the 27 private schools a teaching staff of 206, and an attendance of 3,832 pupils. The cost of the public elementary schools was, in 1902, 2,643,064, and the income 317,909 guilders.

The following statement relates to schools for natives:

In 1902 Dutch India had 8 normal schools, with 28 teachers and 213 pupils; besides there were 4 schools for sons of native chiefs, with 195 pupils. The elementary schools for natives were, for Java and Madura, in 1875: 104 Government schools, with 14,906 pupils, and 132 private schools, with 6,978 pupils; and in 1902, 265 Government schools with 50,734 pupils, and 326 private schools with 35,098 pupils. In the Outposts in 1881, 281 Government schools with 21,388 pupils, and 205 private schools with 19,696 pupils; and in 1901, 317 Government schools with 47,805 pupils, and 639 private schools with 34,190 pupils.

In 1875 the Government spent 803,906 guilders for the education of natives, and in 1902 1,676,668 guilders.

For foreign Orientals there were in 1901 about 470 schools with 8,070 pupils.

Justice and Crime.

The administration of justice is based on the principle that Europeans and persons assimilated with them are subject to laws nearly similar to those of the mother-country, while the natives are subject to their own customs and institutions. The administration of justice for Europeans is entrusted to European judges, while for natives their own chiefs have a large share in the trial of cases.

There is a High Court of Justice at Batavia-courts of justice at Batavia, Samarang, Soerabaya, Padang, and Makassar-Resident and Regent courts, courts of circuit, district courts, and courts of priests.

There

The number of persons committed for trial in 1899 was 17,028. are about 300 prisons; their population was 31,019 at the end of 1899. The relations of the State to pauperism are limited to subvention to Protestant and Catholic orphan-houses; for this purpose the budget contains about 100,000 guilders yearly.

Finance.

The local revenue is derived from land, taxes on houses and estates, from licences, customs duties, personal imposts, and a number of indirect taxes. Further from the Government monopolies of salt and opium, railways, and from the sale of Government products, chiefly of coffee, grown under the 'culture system,' and sold in India and Europe.

The following table shows the revenue and expenditure for 1890 and 1900-1904 :

The percentage of the different sources of revenue is shown in the follow

ing table:

The sources of revenue are stated as follows:

Receipts in the Netherlands from sales of Government coffee (3,282,187 guilders), cinchona (274,428 guilders), tin (16,943,616 guilders), railways (899,000 guilders), share of the State in the profits of the Biliton Company 1,550,000 guilders), various (617,800 guilders).

Receipts in India from sales of opium (17,137,700 guilders), import, export, and excise duties (17,963,000 guilders), land revenues (22,350,000 guilders), sales of coffee (3,189,500 guilders), sales of salt (11,940,000 guilders), railways (13,966,000), tax on trades (4,354,600), coal (2,838,000), from all other sources (29,438,860 guilders).

About one-third of the annual expenditure is for the army and navy, and another third for the general administration, both in Java and in the Netherlands.

Defence.

The army is purely colonial. At the end of 1902 the strength of the army was 1,416 officers and 35, 220 sub-officers and soldiers, comprising 12,925 Europeans, 29 Africans, 4,239 Amboinese, and 18,027 natives. The number of horses was 1,457. No portion of the regular army of the Netherlands is allowed to be sent on colonial service; but individual soldiers are at liberty to enlist, by permission of their commanding officers, and they form the nucleus of the army of Dutch India. The native and European soldiers are not divided into separate corps, but generally mixed together, though in separate companies in the same battalions. The artillery is composed of European gunners, with native riders, while the cavalry are Europeans and natives.

The infantry, which is the most important branch of the army in Dutch India, is divided into field, garrison, and depôt battalions. Each battalion is composed of four companies, two companies consisting of European soldiers and two of natives, or one of Europeans and three of natives. The 'halfcastes' are on a footing of perfect equality with the Europeans. The whole of the commissioned officers are Europeans, with the exception of a few natives of high rank to whom honorary ranks are given; in each of the companies composed of natives, at least one half of the non-commissioned officers must also be Europeans. A military academy is established at Meester Cornelis, near Batavia. Schools for soldiers are attached to every battalion.

Unlike the army, which is purely colonial, the navy in Dutch India is partly colonial, partly belonging to the royal navy, and its expenses are therefore borne partly by the mother-country and partly by the colony. (See 'Defence,' mother-country.) The personnel in the Dutch Indies numbered in 1902: 3,523 men, thus divided: 802 Europeans and 692 natives with the Indian marine (14 ships); 1,627 Europeans and 357 natives with the auxiliary squadron (6 ships).