Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/720

 684 JAVA.

The direct revenue of Java has, even since the introduction of the 1 culture system,' never been sufficient to meet the expenditure of the government of the colony.

Army and Navy.

The peculiar system of government of Java necessitates a com- paratively large army, numbering, on the average, about 30,000 rank and file, commanded by 1,200 commissioned and non-com- missioned officers. More than one-half of the troops are natives, and the rest Europeans of all countries, the whole of them recruited by voluntary enlistment. No portion of the regular army of the Netherlands is allowed to be sent on colonial service ; but individual soldiers are at liberty to enlist, by the permission of their com- manding officers, and they form the nucleus of the garrison of Java. The native and European soldiers are not divided into separate corps, but mixed together in the same battalions. The artillery is composed of European gunners, with native riders, while the cavalry are chiefly Europeans.

The infantry, which is the most important branch of the army in Java, is divided into field and garrison battalions. In the former there is a greater proportion of Europeans than in the latter. Each company is composed separately either of Europeans or of natives, but the European and native companies are mixed in the same battalion, in the proportion of one-third to two-thirds. Each bat- talion is composed of six companies, the two flank companies con- sisting of European soldiers, and the four centre companies of natives. The European companies often contain ' half-castes,' negroes, and Christianised natives of India, all on a footing of perfect equality, except that of military rank. The native companies are composed of the different Mahometan and heathen tribes of Netherlands' India, mixed together so as not to allow of any great preponderance of race or religion. The whole of the commissioned officers are Europeans, and in each of the companies composed of natives, at least one-half of the non-commissioned officers must also be Europeans. The greater number of the soldiers, both Europeans and natives, are married, and are allowed to be always accompanied by their families, except when on active service in the field. Every man, when not actually quartered in a town, has a small plot of land which he may cultivate, and on which his family may live. Schools, both for adults and children, are attached to every battalion.

Unlike the Java army, which is purely colonial, the fleet of war in Netherlands' India forms a part of the royal navy, and its expenses are borne partly by the mother-country and partly by the colony. The fleet consisted, in the summer of 18G5, of two screw frigates, three corvettes, and twenty-five smaller steamers.