Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/377

 COLONIAL POSSESSIONS. 34 1

Slavery ceased in the "West Indian colonies on July 1, 1863. There were at this period 44,645 slaves, for all of whom the owners received compensation, the same amounting to 300 guilders, or 25/., per individual, in Surinam, and to 200 guilders, or 16/. 13s., in the rest of the colonies. The whole of the emancipated slaves had to undergo an apprenticeship of three years, during which period one-half of their income was retained by the Government.

For a detailed account of the principal colonial possession of the Netherlands, Java and Madura, see Part II. of the Statesman's Year-book.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures of the Netherlands, and the British equivalents, are : —

Money. The Guilder, or Florin, of 100 Cents = Is. 8c?., or 12 guilders to £l sterling.

Weights and Measubes. The Netherlands adopted the French metric system of weights and measures in 1820, retaining, however, old designations for the same. Much confusion having arisen therefrom, an Act was passed April 7, 1869, establishing from January 1, 1870, a series of new inter- national names of weights and measures, with facultative use, during the first ten years, of the old denominations. The principal new names, aside with the old, are : —

The Kilogram (Pond)

„ Meter (El)

„ Kilometer (Myl)

„ Are (Vierkante Roede)

„ Hektare (Bunder)

,, Stere (Wisse)

„ Liter (Kan)

Hektoliter (Vat) All the other French metr

2 - 205 lbs. avoirdupois.

3-281 imperial feet.

1093 yards, or nearly 5 furlongs.

119-6 sq. yards, or 024 - 6 sq. acre.

2-47 acres.

35'31 cubic feet.

176 imperial pints.

22 imperial gallons.

c denominations are adopted with

trifling changes in the new code of names.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning the Netherlands.

1. Official Publications. _ Staats-Almanak toot het Koningrijk der Nederlanden. 1870. Met mag- tiding van de regering uit officiele opgaven zamengesteld. 8. s' Gravenhaee, 1870.

Statistisch Jaarboek voor het Koningrijk der Nederlanden. Uitgegeven door het departement van Binuenlandsche zaken. 's Gravenhage, 1870.