Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

ADinNISTEATION OF JAVA. 195for the natives the fiction is still maintained of a certain local rule by thedescendants of their ancient princes. The various provinces are divided intoregencies, whose " regents " or titular chiefs are members ofthe former dj-nasties.Although nominated by the crown, these adhipatti and tumengyung, that is, regents ofthe first and second class, have always the prestige commanded by wealth, for theyenjoy stipends ranging from £800 to over £7,000, besides a share in the j)roduccof the land. But at their side are the Dutch residents and assistants— prefectsand sub-prefects—who,although keeping more in the background, represent thereal authority. Even in the secondary divisions the rcdono, or native officials,are held in check by European controllers, these Dutch functionaries numberingaltogether about three hundred. They are even graduallj^ replacing the Javaneseofficials, who will doubtless sooner or later disappear altogether.In the two Vorsfcnlanden (" principalities ") of Surakarta and Jokjokarta, theold regime is still kept up with its primitive oiitward fonualities. Surakartaofiicially obej^s a Susukunan ("emperor"), while Jokjokarta is ruled by asultan ;but both alike are controlled by a Dutch resident, without whose sanctionthey cannot even leave their palaces for a stroll in the neighbourhood. Themonopolies formerly enjoyed by them have for the most part been bought up bythe Dutch Government.A supreme court of justice for the whole of the Dutch possessions has its seatin Batavia. Java itself is divided into three legal circuits, corresponding to thenatural divisions of the land, and under these courts, located in Batavia, Semarangand Surabaya, secondary tribunals are established in the provinces, regencies anddistricts.Each resident, assistant, and controller is at the same time a magistratewho pronounces sentences in conformity with precedent and after formal consultationwith the Mohammedan assessors learned in the Moslem law and the localusages. The communal mayors also enjoy a certain discretional power forrepressing crime and awarding penalties, and the same jn-ivilege, though to a lessextent, is possessed by the heads of the Chinese communities, the maj-ors, cajitains,and lieutenants, as they are called, being charged with the maintenance of orderamongst their fellow countrymen.Capital punishment, though not j-et removed from the colonial penal code, israrely enforced. The native convicts are for the most part emjjloyed on publicworks, in the arsenals and dockyards, on the road and canals.Except in the largetowns, there are no local police, the communes being directly responsible for thepreservation of peace in their several jurisdictions.The " colonial " revenue, two-thirds of which is apj)lied to local purposes, ispartly derived from the sale of the coffee raised by forced labour, the other chiefsources of income being the sale of land and the opium and salt monopolies.About a third of the budget is applied to defensive purposes, and another third tothe administration properly so called. The actual revenue is much larger thanwould appear from the official returns. Including the statute labour and estimatingthis burden at the lowest rate, it amounts, according to Brooshooft, to not lessthan £10,000,000.