by this tax
showed a growth of seventy-five per cent.

It is not necessary to detail the various steps by which the Dutch have
carried out this policy of abandonment. It is sufficient to note the
general result.

To-day all industries, with the exception of coffee, opium, and salt,
are free. In the production of the two latter, opium and salt, the
Colonial Government maintains a complete monopoly; in the case of coffee
they compete with the planters. The extent of the shares respectively
taken by the Government and private enterprise in the trade of the
island is exhibited by the following returns for 1889:--

IMPORTS. EXPORTS.

Government 13,009,445 florins 33,072,175 florins
Private persons 160,375,326 " 164,590,439 "
----------- -----------
Total 173,384,771 " 197,662,614 "

The Government still produces two-thirds of the coffee crop. In 1889 the
amount produced respectively by the Government and the planters was
578,000 and 356,000 piculs.

Of the two chief industries of the island, sugar and coffee, the exports
in 1890 amounted in value to fifty and fifteen million florins
respectively. To these must be added two new industries--tea and
cinchona bark. The former is only in its infancy, and is confined to the
immediate neighbourhood of Soekaboemi, the head-quarters of the planting
interest in Java. Here there are two important estates, Sinagar and
Parakan Salak, which are from 12,000 to 15,000 acres in extent. The
latter industry is especially hopeful. In 1890 the area of cinchona
plantations was 22,500 acres, and 6,000,000 pounds of bark, containing
four per cent, of sulphate of quinine, was exported. This amount is
equivalent to half the world's supply for the year.

Of the import trade it is not necessary to say more than that the most
important item is that of the various cotton goods, coming mainly from
this country, which serve the natives with material for clothing
suitable for their tropical climate. It is also important to remember
that there are a quarter of a million Chinese residents in the island,
by whom all the retail, and part of the wholesale, trade is conducted.

Last year the administration of Java was the subject of a severe
criticism in the Netherlands Parliament. The complaints were chiefly
directed against the conduct of the Achin war, the opium monopoly, and
t