THE DUTCH IN SUMATRA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4565, 6 November 1875, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE DUTCH IN SUMATRA.

The following interesting particulars relative to the progress of the Dutch in their war against the Acheenese, and regarding their settlements in Sumatra generally, are given in the Singapore letter of the Queenslander : The army and fleet of Holland have been fighting with these half-civilised Malays for more than three years, and have only been able to effect a landing, and that is all. If you listen to Dutch accounts of the war, you would imagine that they were playing with the Acheenese in the same way as a cat does with a mouse ; or that the war was maintained just as an exercise for their army and navy, to keep the muscles of the men from getting stiff, and their guns from becoming honey-combed. But listen to what others say, and who have had ocular demonstration of the real state of affairs, and you will hear that there is scarcely a man left of the original force that arrived off Acheen. What the fire of the brave little Malays spared, cholera, scurvy, and other causes have cleared off-. Among those " other causes," prominent is that of bad generalship. The Vans and Des have not produced more than a drill corporal as a soldier ever since they have had an army. By means of the guns of the fleet they managed during the first year's campaign to effect a lodgment on the land, and seize the "kratow," a fortified place in shore ; and there they are still, not having got an inch further, and don't appear as if they ever will. Meantime Penang waxes fat upon the war. The Chinese merchants in that island say that the " Acheen war very good thing." nor are the Dutch firms at all backward in making it a source of profit. Both sides draw their supplies and material from Penang, and 1 need scarcely say that both have to pay well for them. To show the efficacious way in which the war is carried on, I may mention that it took the Dutch eighteen months or more to construct a wooden jetty on piles, about fifty yards long, at which cargo boats could discharge. This was at the rate of about half a pile a-day ! At last a commission was sent out from Holland to make inquiry into the management of the war. That commission has taken six months to mV:e inquiries, and has now gone home to report. In the meantime the war is at a standstill, as though the army was waiting for the report as a signal to go on or leave off. The other settlement of the Dutch on Sumatra is at Deli, and here also troubles are arising, but not from the Acheenese or the Battiaks, the owners of the country. The settlers (planters of tobacco, sugar, &c.) are a motley crowd of all nations, and as labor is scarce all sorts of means have been resorted to get hold of it. The land was obtained cheap —to a certain extent it was a gift to all who chose to settle there—but without laborers to cultivate it the land was useless. They must, therefore, per fas aid nefas, be had, and accordingly crimps were set to work at Penang and Singapore, and the regions round about, to get hold of coolies, and some were obtained. These have rendered their employers prosperous. But there were not enough for all. Many planters had an insufficient number, and all sorts of dodges were tried to induce coolies to leave the employ they had been engaged in, and take on in other plantations. This at lest resulted in a kind of internecine war among the planters, and what the result will be it is hard to say. I will hazard a prophecy at the risk of being laughed at : If things go on in Acheen and in Deli as they are at present much longei-, the Dutch will ask the British Government to take the whole concern off their hands ; to this the Acheenese will, gladly agree, and Sumatra will be again an appanage of the British Crown.