profits from their production, an increase in excises, a special tax
upon the working of petroleum, and a tax on transport.
Agriculture. Sugar remained the chief agricultural product for export. War conditions affected the direction of commerce in this commodity: from the beginning of the century down to 1914 China and Japan and Australia were the chief customers for Javan- ese sugar; in 1915-8 England and India; later China and Japan reentered the market. The production in Java in 1918 was 1,778,- 207 tons. ' The sugar manufacturers united into a general syndi- cate with headquarters at Surabaya. The Government cultivation of coffee was abandoned in 1918-9, but the State began to exploit several rubber estates in Java and one in Sumatra, while the State Rubber Development Service was separated from the Forestry Service in 1919.
The following shows the number of estates, cultivating the lead- ing products named, in 1918:
| A table should appear at this position in the text. See Help:Table for formatting instructions. |
Coffee.
Rubber.
Tea.
Coco- nuts.
Cin- chona.
Java & Madura . Outer Possessions
310 98
393
284
268 27
95 131
104
4*
'Sumatra West Coast.
Among cultivations developed or considerably extended were those of kapok and sisal hemp, mainly in Java, manilla hemp in the Lampong districts of Sumatra, and the oil palm, principally in the Outer Possessions. It was estimated in 1917 that Java and Madura contained 63 million coconut palms, the Outer Posses- sions 44 million, of which 60 million were yielding nuts. The esti- mated annual production of copra was 368,000 tons in Java and Madura, and 213,000 tons in the Outer Possessions; in Java about 200,000 tons were used in the local oil factories. The large estates are not extensively planted with coconut palms: the production is almost wholly from native sources; but the Government started cultivation in 1913. The rice harvest in Java and Madura in 1919 was estimated to yield 3! million tons of hulled rice: informa- tion for the Outer Possessions is lacking. But the export of rice, maize, and other foodstuffs was prohibited, for the demand was in excess of the supply.
In 1919 there were 24 important irrigation works under con- struction in Java; no irrigation works on a similar scale existed elsewhere in the islands, excepting Bali, although, following upon an enquiry by the Government in 1910 in Sumatra and Celebes, some lesser works had been carried out.
Livestock. Estimated numbers in 1918 were: 40,000,000 cattle, 2,500,000 buffaloes, 300,000 horses, 3,000,000 goats, 2,500,000 sheep, 1,000,000 pigs.
Teak Forests. The area of these in Java and Madura was esti- mated in 1918 at 730,000 hectares, of which 36 % was organized in forestry districts under the State Forestry Service. The export of teak, 38,277 cubic metres in 1912, fell to 50 c.m. in 1917 and 1,185 c.m. in 1918, though the amount felled was not greatly lessened. The teak forests are of such outstanding economic importance that all other forests are classed in contradistinction as " wild," but the Forestry Service extended its supervision over them, and an experi- mental forestry station was established in 1913.
Mining. The Ombilin cojlieries near Sawa Lunto and those of Bukit Asem near Tanjong in Sumatra, those in the island Pulo Laut off the S. E. coast of Borneo, the Banka tin-mines, and gold and silver workings in the Benkulen district, Sumatra, were worked by the Government, which in addition received five-eighths of the profits of the Billiton tin-mines. Private concessions for working coal and oil and associated products ceased to be obtainable in 1919, except under special contract with the Government. The pro- duction of the coal-mines in 1918 was as follows: Ombilin, 504,201 tons; Pulo Laut, 121,421 tons; Bukit Asem, 50,300 tons, but the last was more fully developed after the Government took over the concession in 1919, in which year production reached 100,000 tons. Over half the total output from Ombilin and Pulo Laut was used in Government services; the rest was sold for bunkering at the ports of the respective fields, Emmahaven and Stagen, or exported thence as freight coal for bunkering at other ports in the archipelago.
Petroleum concessions had been granted to the number of 61 down to 1918, and 26 were sanctioned. The principal oilfields were in Surabaya and "Rembang (Java), Muara Enim and other points in Palembang and Langkat and Perlak (Achin) in Sumatra, Tara- ken I. and the Mahakkan delta in S. and E. Borneo, and Ceram. The Royal Dutch, Shell and subsidiary companies controlled the trade and working. In 1918 crude oil was produced to the amount of 1,764,203 tons, and among exports were benzine and gasoline, 317.073,000 litres; kerosene, 379,044,000 litres; residues, 291,057,000 litres; turpine (a substitute for turpentine), 2,556,000 litres; paraffin wax, 21,045 tons; candles, 4,080 tons; lubricating oil, 24,529 tons; asphalt, 1,719 tons; greases, 232 tons.
The production of gold, principally from Benkulen, Padang (central Sumatra) and the northern peninsula of Celebes amounted to 3,893 kgm. in 1917, and that of silver to 34,014 kilograms. The value of diamonds produced (in Borneo) in 1917 was 55,300 guilders, and in 1918, 116,360 guilders.
1 Metric tons are quoted throughout this article.
Manufacture. The disturbance of international commerce dur- ing the World War resulted in some extension of home manufac- ture in Netherlands India, and the same effect was produced by the increasing difference between the high wages in European and other manufacturing countries and the low wages paid to native workers in Netherlands India, though this was partly counter- balanced by the low scale of production in the latter. Among manu- factures noted for special development were ironfounding (but mechanical works suffer from the lack of skilled labour), and those of edible and essential oils, bricks and tiles, cardboard, rubber wares, cigars and cigarettes, chocolate, etc. A special division of industry was established in 1918 in the Department of Agriculture and Commerce, and the first official annual fair for Netherlands India was organized in 1920 in a building erected at Bandung.
Commerce. Exports and imports (exclusive of bullion, etc.) were valued as follows: in 1913, exports, 627,000,000 guilders; imports, 462 ,000,000 guilders; in 1918, exports, 676,000,000 guilders; imports, 537,000,000 guilders. The number of foreign firms maintaining representatives in Netherlands India has increased considerably, and the Government has extended its measures for fostering com- merce, as for example, by maintaining sample departments or exhibitions in European countries, the U.S.A., Australia, S. Africa, and Japan. The following figures of quantity of some of the chief exports show how the effects of the war operated favourably or adversely :
1913-
1918.
Sugar
1,471,423 tons
1,574,201 tons
Tea ...
26,548
30,452
Rubber
7-134
44,096
Coffee .
28,939
7-357
Tobacco
87,832
8,050
Copra .
229,339
68,578
Coconut Oil
1,682
33,237
Pepper . Tapioca & Cas-
18,965
25-899
sava products .
105,532 ,
28,129
Kapok .
10,145 '
9,253
Ground-nuts
20,141
8,080
Tin ...
27,645
H.584
Petroleum .
466,529,000 litres
379,044,000 litres
Examples of the manner in which the destination of exports altered have been mentioned above: many exports were diverted during the war from the mother-country as entrepot, and went direct to their destinations. The chief impqrts are soft goods, machinery, iron and steel, hardware, food-stuffsj and artificial manures.
Communications. Java has long possessed an excellent road- system, and it is a settled policy to use the road as a first means of opening up new districts in the Outer Possessions. In 1918 1,738,587 guilders were spent in Java and Madura, and 3,889,580 guilders in the Outer Possessions, on the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges. The Government maintains a number of motor services, as in Palembang, Benkulen, and Sumatra West Coast, as well as in Java (Cheribon-Kuningan). The length of State rail- ways in 1920 was: in Java 1,568 hi. of standard gauge (1^067 metre) and 65 m. of narrow gauge (0-6 metre) ; in Sumatra West Coast 153 m. standard gauge; in S. Sumatra 151 m. standard gauge; ia Achin and dependencies 320 m., gauge 0-75 metre. Private lines amount to 156 m. in Java, 260 in Eastern Sumatra (Deli Co.); and in Java there are about 1,375 m - f steam tramways under private management. Water power plants were established in the Chatur valley for the service of the State railway workshops at Madiun (Java) in 1917, and another power station has been set up at Lake Tais to suppjy the gold-mines in Benkulen (Sumatra). Extensive works were in construction or planned. The chief ports in 1920, according to tonnage of vessels using them, were Tanjong Priok (the port for Batavia), Surabaya, Semarang, Cheribon, and Tegal in Java; Padang, Belawan Deli, and Sabang in Sumatra; Balikpapan in Borneo, and Macassar in Celebes.
Recent History. Slow methodic progress in development, very thoroughly carried out, continued as the characteristic of Dutch administration in Netherlands India. It is probably correct to indicate, as the most difficult internal problems, the reconcilia- tion of European with native interests with justice to both, and the relations between Mohammedanism and the State. As for external relations, concern is sometimes expressed as to the relatively defenceless position of the colony against aggression: a commission reported on this matter in 1913. It was partly this consideration which dictated the strict neutrality of the Netherlands during the World War (for obviously the Dutch possessions were at the mercy of the British fleet) : but so far as apprehension found expression as regards any particular Power, that Power was Japan, a fact doubtless associated with the marked development of the economic position of the Japanese in the archipelago. The internal condition of the Outer Posses-
