Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 8, 1885

No. 423.

Mr. Bell to Mr. Bayard.

Legation of the United States,
The Hague, October 14, 1885. (Received October 27.)

No. 56.]

Sir: The budget of the Netherlands East Indies for the year 1886 was recently presented to the second Chamber of the States General by the minister of the colonies.

As usual this budget was divided, into four chapters, one being the chapters of expenses in the Netherlands for the benefit of the Indies and two in the Indies for the benefit of the Indies. Three being the chapter of receipts in the Indies for the benefit of the Indies, and four in the Netherlands for the benefit of the Indies, arising principally from the sale of coffee, quinine, and tin.

The total of the budget is as follows:

		Florins.
Expenses in the Netherlands		25,184,803
Expenses in the Indies		114,766,211
	Total	139,951,014
Receipts in the Netherlands		31,078,805
Receipts in the Indies		104,425,109
	Total	135,503,914
Showing the deficit of		4,447,100
Compared to the budget of 1885, the total of the expenses is		4,148,580
Total receipts.		7,136,872
	Less than those of 1885.

The following table shows the financial situation of the Netherlands Indies during the past five years:

		Florins.
Expenses, 1881		146,935,037
Receipts, 1880		146,993,516
	Profit	58,479
Expenses, 1881		150,500,378
Receipts, 1881		137,613,985
	Deficit	12,886,393
Expenses, 1882		149,940,531
Receipts, 1882		130,532,735
	Deficit	19,407,796
Expenses, 1883		148,311,472
Receipts, 1883		141,609,749
	Deficit.	6,701,723
Expenses, 1884		145,482,985
Receipts, 1884		141,857,947
	Deficit	3,625,038

The total of the deficits in the receipts of former years, including the estimate for the year 1886, amounts to the sum of 54,868,794 florins, of which amount 45,157,365 florins is already covered by the loan of 1883, contracted by the State, so that at the end of the year 1886 there will be a deficit of 9,711,429 florins.

In regard to the fall in the price of coffee, the minister has only valued the article at 28 cents Dutch money (about 11¼ cents of our money) per half kilogram, being two cents less than the estimate for the current year, so that the proceeds of the sale of coffee in 1886 are estimated at a sum of 8,266,800 florins less than in 1885.

The minister expects, however, an increase in the receipts from the following sources:

	Florins.
Tobacco license	600,000
Stamp tax	75,000
Land rent	600,000
License privilege	374,000
State railways	544,000

The minister further announced that he expected to realize a benefit of 1,000,000 florins from a revision of the colonial customs tariff.

The abstract of the budget above referred to as showing the receipts and expenditures in the Netherlands for the benefit of the Indies and in the Indies for the benefit of the Indies numbered one, two, three, and four, are herewith inclosed.

I have, &c.,

ISAAC BELL, Jr.

[Inclosure 1 in No. 56.]

Statement of expenditures in the Netherlands for the benefit of the Indies.

		Florins.
1. Government and high colleges of the State		40,600
2. Department of justice		69,000
3. Department of finance		8,528,000
	(Of this sum 2,455,600 is due as interest, and 5,053,800 for pensions, &c.)
4. Department of interior		4,261,638
	(Of this, sum 3,885,494 is to be expended in the culture of coffee.)
5. Department of public instruction		577,280
6. Department of public works		3,478,000
	(Of this sum 2,876,000 is due the railways and tramways.)
7. Department of war		4,062,627
	(Of this sum 1,612,800 is due for the transportation and equipment of troops and 1,672,000 cost of materials.)
8. Department of marine		4,167,658
	(Of this sum 1,896,158 is due for personal services, and 2,220,100 for material.)
	Total	25,184,803

[Inclosure 2 in No. 56.]

Statement of expenditures in the Indies for the benefit of the Indies.

		Florins.
1. Government and high colleges		1,198,130
2. Department of justice		5,379,975
3. Department of finance		8,418,123
4. Department of interior		41,704,361
	(Of this sum 17,356,329 is to be expended in the culture of coffee.)
5. Department of public instruction		10,699,908
	(Of this sum 8,805,419 is to be expended in the public construction of Indians and Europeans.)
6. Department of public works		17,229,957
	(Of this sum 5,793,900 is to be expended in the construction of railways and tramways.)
7. Department of war		24,337,222
8. Department of claims		5,798,535
	Total.	114,766,211

[Inclosure 3 in No. 56.]

Statement showing the receipts in the Indies for the benefit of the Indies.

			Florins.
1.	Government, high colleges of the state, and department of justice.		372,200
	Taxes derived from license privileges, opium		21,376,000
	Slaughtering cattle &c		1,620,000
	License for the Chinese game (pho-en-topho)		833,000
	License for the sale of arac and other strong drinks in Java by retail		450,000
	Java and Chinese tobacco license		235,000
	Tolls fom bridges, sluices &c		183,000
	Bird’s nests		174,000
	Pepper tax (at —)		90,000
	Nipa and other woods		10,000
	Sale of sago		17,000
	Thousand Island’s privileges		3,200
	Gold mines at Borneo		9,600
	Fisheries at Makasser		9,800
	Sale of salt at Sumatra		12,000
	Government pawn houses		881,000
	Gutta percha (Sumatra)		17,000
	Various other taxes		140,800
2.	Customs:
		Importations	7,470,000
		Exportations	2,545,000
		Excises	159,000
		Government warehouses	53,000
		Other receipts	64,200
3.	Port privileges		278,000
4.	Personal taxes		758,000
5.	Ground tax, and taxes upon nutmegs, spices, &c., at Banda Island.		1,773,000
6.	Public sales		805,000
7.	Stamp tax		1,100,000
8.	Mutations		600,000
9.	Carriages and horses		211,000
10.	Right of succession		97,000
11.	Tax on certain possessions in Java		3,500
12.	License for Chinese gambling houses		36,000
13.	License for the sale of tobacco		1,200,000
14.	Right of slaughtering cattle in the regency of Preanger		50,000
15.	Tax on trades		3,318,000
16.	Special tax on privileges and possessions in Java and Madura.		1,859,150
17.	Repayment of the loans advanced to land pensioners		897,000
		Department of the interior:
18.	Islands to the north of Celebes		7,115
19.	Poll-tax in the Government of Java and Madura		2,540,000
20.	Cadastre		66,000
21.	Land rents		19,350,000
22.	Fisheries		325,000
23.	Rice and sugar in Celebes		241,020
24.	Sale of lands		716,800
25.	Emphytentic rent		105,000
26.	Tax from the registration of the contracts with the workmen at Sumatra and Banda		18,700
27.	Sale of coffee		7,556,500
28.	Tax on sugar plantations		5,682,374
29.	Sale of the products of forest		831,200
30.	Restitution of the advances made to the steam packet companies.		100,000
		Department of public instruction:
31.	Academic contributions		368,500
32.	Sale of the products of the botanical gardens at Buitenzorg		2,400
33.	State printing		200,000
34.	Tax upon lotteries		27,000
35.	Sale of tin		503,000
36.	Sale of salt		7,167,000
37.	Receipts from various sources		23,750
		Department of public works:
38.	Sale and location of houses		48,000
39.	Post		828,000
40.	Telegraph		510,000
41.	Railways and tramways		5,027,000
42.	Steam engines		18,000
		War department:
43.	Divers receipts		772,600
		Department of the marine:
43.	Divers receipts		460,500
		Total	104,425,000

[Inclosure 4 in No. 56.]

Statement of the receipts in the Netherlands for the benefit of the Indies.

			Florins.
1.	Sale of coffee		24,591,535
2.	Sale of quinine		244,530
3.	Sale of tin		4,351,346
4.	Reimbursement of advances made to the railways of Samarana.		1,015,000
5.	Other receipts from various sources		876,394
		Total	31,078,805