- Author:
- Moor, J. H
- Publication Info:
-
Singapore:
no recorded publisher,
1837,
pg 11
Text on page 11
RESIDENCY OF THE NORTH WEST COAST OF BORNEO.
It
The introduction also of copper money* and that at an increased valuation has tended to para* Ike industryaor, in other words, to decrease trade.
With the decrease of trade, the revenue has decreased; it now amounts to about nine thousand guldens per mensem, and is derived from the capitation tax on the Chinese, a fee for permitting them to settle, one for a license to quit the country; the pork, fish, arrack, prepared opium, Chinese gambling, and betel farms; the profits arising from the monopoly of thefea* monds, post-office and vendu departments, harbour dues, customs, stamps, and a tax on the transfer of property.
The current expenses of the Residency, excluding the interest on those ofthe wars with the Chinese and on the dead stock, may be estimated at forty five thousand guldens; from this, tbe average revenue being deducted, it would appear that Government sustains an acA tual monthly loss of thirty four thousand guldens in keeping up this Residency.
Have any ofthe objects of Government in forming these outposts been realized in any degree sufficient to counterbalance this enormous expense ? Truth requires a negative reply to this question.
Commerce is one of the principal means appointed by Providence for civilizing mankind, and is the only one which has hitherto operated in partially civilizing those Daya who are not equally savage with their brethren. The inland trade is notoriously less than heretofore, and therefore it is not uncharitable to conclude that the Daya are generally as barbarous as when the Netherlands commenced administering the government. The pirates established to the northward of Sambas, and those of Kayong in the interior of Matan commit as many depredations as ever and in as daring a manner. The state of the revenue has been shewn; and the small trade carried on with Java and its dependencies, cannot be considered as securing any^ peculiar commercial advantages; as the few articles imported from these parts would have been introduced had the European power not been established.
A mistaken line of policy can be the only cause of the failure, and were tbe writer capable of treating on these subjects he would attempt to point out a remedy. As it is* although aware of his inability, he ventures to hazard the following remarks, on the supposition that it be determined to retain these establishments, and he trusts that should this memoir be read by any of the officers of the Netherlands Government, they will believe his assertion that they are dictated by an anxious wish to be of service.
When the Government acquired the right to frame fiscal regulations, the trade was free to all flags, and it may be thought that their contracts with the native powers did not authorize an alteration. Be this as it may, reverting to that system, and levying a small and equal duty on all the trade, would conduce to its increase. Doing away with some of the farms, especially those on what are absolute necessaries, such as pork, fish, and betel, and which add but little to the revenue, and placing those which might be retained on a new footing, appear desirable measures. For instance, at present, opium pays a duty of 350 guldens per chest* whatever may be the value, must be bonded, and cannot be sold unless to the prepared opium farm, which is for the whole Residency. Might not the trade in opium, unless in smaller quantities, be opened, and separate farms established wherever the European power is paramoant ? It is true that the farms might fall ; but the duty on opium would be increased, and a small transit duty on the introduction if it in the interior would be equivalent to the paltry gain now derived from the prepared opium, which is sent to those places which are not actually under the control of Government. Formerly similar measures would have been considered injurious to the revenue, but at the present day, experience shews that such views are erroneous; and that a decrease of duty on any particular branch of trade, increases^* the revenue derived froni
* To prevent a recurrence to the subject of copper money in the body of the memoir, it may be well to mention that no other description of coin is sent to meet the expenses of Government, and that although 125 doits can be procured tor a gulden, too are the number assigned by the orders of fiovernment, dated tbe I8th Feb. 1826 No. 1, as equivalent to that coin.
t I hat the redaction of exorbitant duties on articles in general demand, has the effect of causing such ail increased consumpiion as win lead to an increase of the revenue, cannot be more forcibly illustrated than by a reference to the history of the coffee trade of Great Britain, and that reference cannot be better made than by laying before the reader the following passage from an able paper on the subject in the Edinburgh Review* a Previously,a says the writer, a to 1783, the various custom and^excise duties on coffee consumed in Great Britain, amounted to no less than 480 per cent, on its then average price ! in consequence of this enonueus duty almost all the coffee made use of was clandestinely imported ; and the duties produced only the trifling sAm of A2,862. 10s. 60}d. a year. In 17S3, however, Mr. Hitt reduced the duties to about one ffcird oiatheir former amount. Now mark the effect of this wise and politic measure* instead of sustaining any diminution, the revenue-t I hat the redaction of exorbitant duties on articles in general demand, has the effect of causing such ail increased consumpiion as win lead to an increase of the revenue, cannot be more forcibly illustrated than by a reference to the history of the coffee trade of Great Britain, and that reference cannot be better made than by laying before the reader the following passage from an able paper on the subject in the Edinburgh Review* a Previously,a says the writer, a to 1783, the various custom and^excise duties on coffee consumed in Great Britain, amounted to no less than 480 per cent, on its then average price ! in consequence of this enonueus duty almost all the coffee made use of was clandestinely imported ; and the duties produced only the trifling sA m of A 2,862. 10s. 60}d. a year. In 17S3, however, Mr. Hitt reduced the duties to about one ffcird oia their former amount. Now mark the effect of this wise and politic measure* instead of sustaining any diminution, the revenue-
