in 1830. Before
leaving Holland he had made his proposals known, and obtained the
approval of the Netherlands Government. He took with him newly appointed
officials free from colonial traditions, and his reforms inspired such
confidence, that a number of well-educated and intelligent persons were
willing to emigrate with their families to Java in order to take up the
business of manufacturing the produce grown under the new system. Upon
his arrival in the island, a special branch cf the Colonial
Administration was created. The first work of the new department was to
found the sugar industry. It was necessary to supply the manufacturers
with both capital and income. Accordingly, a sum amounting to L14,000
was placed to the credit of each manufacturer in the books of the
department. Of this sum he was allowed to draw up to L125 per month for
the expenses of himself and his family during the first two years. From
the third year onwards he paid back one-tenth annually. Thus at the end
of twelve years the capital was repaid. The manufacturer was to apply
the capital so advanced to the construction of the sugar-mill, which was
to be fitted with the best European machinery, and worked by
water-power. Free labour, and timber from the Government plantations,
was supplied; and the customs duties upon the machinery and implements
imported were remitted. The building of the mills was supervised by the
_controleurs_, the officials of the new department, and had to be
carried out to their satisfaction. The department also undertook to see
that the peasants in the neighbourhood of each mill should have from
seven hundred to a thousand acres planted with sugar-canes by the time
the mills were in working order. In Java, as in other Eastern countries,
the landlord has the right of selecting the crop which the tenant is to
plant, and therefore the peasants saw nothing unusual in this action of
the Government. The controleurs ascertained, in the case of each
village, how much rice land was necessary for the subsistence of the
village, and they then ordered the remainder, usually one-fifth, to be
planted with sugar-canes. At the same time, they explained that the
value of the crop of sugar would be much greater than that of the rice
crop, and promised that the peasants should be paid not only for the
crops, but also for the labour of cutting the canes and carrying them to
the mill. When, at the end of two years, the mills had been built and