It Is Universally Admitted That When A Country Increases Rapidly
In Population, The People Cannot Be Very Greatly Oppressed Or
Very Badly Governed.
The present system of raising a revenue by
the cultivation of coffee and sugar, sold to Government at a
fixed price, began in 1832.
Just before this, in 1826, the
population by census was 5,500,000, while at the beginning of the
century it was estimated at 3,500,000. In 1850, when the
cultivation system had been in operation eighteen years, the
population by census was over 9,500,000, or an increase of 73 per
cent in twenty-four years. At the last census, in 1865, it
amounted to 14,168,416, an increase of very nearly 50 per cent in
fifteen years - a rate which would double the population in about
twenty-six years. As Java (with Madura) contains about 38,500
geographical square miles, this will give an average of 368
persons to the square mile, just double that of the populous and
fertile Bengal Presidency as given in Thornton's Gazetteer of
India, and fully one-third more than that of Great Britain and
Ireland at the last Census. If, as I believe, this vast
population is on the whole contented and happy, the Dutch
Government should consider well before abruptly changing a system
which has led to such great results.
Taking it as a whole, and surveying it front every point of view,
Java is probably the very finest and most interesting tropical
island in the world.
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