TERM “DUTCH” BANNED

Evening Star, Issue 22142, 24 September 1935, Page 12

TERM “DUTCH” BANNED

Expressions such as Dutch East Indies, Dutch Guiana and similar appellations are misnomers in English as written in The, Hague, now that Holland has officially banned , Dutch as an adjective, according to a bulletin from the National Geographic Society. Holland’s possessions in East Indias are now known as “ Netherland India,” while “ Surinam ” is the name applied to wliat was popularly labelled “ Dutch Guiana.” ■ _ , “ Although the Kingdom of Netherlands is not as extensive as the French and British domains upon which the ‘ sun never sets,’ it includes colonial possessions in both hemispheres that are nearly 60 times the area of the Homeland, which is, approximately the same size as the State of Maryland,” says the writer. , “ Only one segment of colonial Netherlands‘is on a Continental mainland— Surinam (formerly Dutch Guina), one of the European triplets that occupies tho northern coast _of South America. The remainder consists of islands, most of them off the south-eastern coast of Asia, between the Malay Peninsula and Australia. , “Netherlands’ holdings on the Island of Borneo are five times the size of the State of New York. One half of New Guinea is governed by Queen Wilhelmina. Sumatra, another Netherland possession, contains more square miles than the State of California, Java and its neighbour, Madura, are nearly equal in area ■to the State of Alabama; tho Celebes Islands are nearly the same size as the State of Louisiana, and thousands of other East Indian islands, large and small, if drawn together, would nearly equal the broad expanse of Texas. “ Surinam, which is slightly larger than the State of Pennsylvania, is largely undeveloped. The colony of Curacao, the only other important possession of the Netherlands in the New World, consists of a group of islands of the West Indies lying off the coast of Venezuela. They include the island of Curacao, “Continental Netherlands is the home of but a small portion of tho people under the Netherlands flag. A recent census revealed that there were only 8,061,571 Netherlander in the homeland, while the population of the colonial possessions was nearly eight times larger. Java, with 41,719,524. inhabitants, is the world’s most thickly populated land area—an average of 821 people Ifo the square mile. And still there is room on Java for many active and extinct volcanoes, 3,368 miles of railroads, about 30,000 miles or highways, and nearly 2,000,000 acres of teak forests.

“ Nearly all the islands of Netherland India lie near the equator and are blanketed with luxuriant tropical vegetation and fertile soil. Most of the natives are Moslems. They are accustomed to hard work and produce sufficient food for themselves.

“In Java, despite the thick population, the teeming millions support themselves and produce enough sugar Ito make the island the second largest *of the sugar exporters. In 1931 the Island sent nearly 3,000,000 tons of sugar into commercial channels. It also produces about 40,000,000 barrels of oil annually, and has an annual exportable surplus of rice, coffee, tea, cocoa, indigo, spices, tobacco, rubber, copra, and tin. “Surinam, like Java, is a of sugar, cocoa, rice, and rubber, while bananas and bauxite also are important products. It is a forest-covered region, the coastal zone of which is tho only portion settled extensively by white men. , “ Tho chief industry of the Curacao colony is oil refining, although the six islands, Boniface, Aruba, St. Eustatias, Saba, and a portion of St. Martins, are producers of maize, dulse, cattle, salt, and phosphates. In 1930 these 430 square miles of islands exported £ll- - worth of commodities to the United States alone, while Uncle Sara sold them goods worth £2,500,Q00. “ Tho present colonial empire of the Xctherland dates back only to 1602, when tho Government created the East India Company, The company acquired new territory in the East from time to time and governed >it until 1798, when it was turned over to the mother country.

“ Surinam was acquired by the Peace of Breda in 1667, when England traded the region for the colony of New, Netherlands in North America. Since that treaty, England has retaken possession twice—l 799 to 1802 and 1804 to 1816.”