. Java, Sumatra and the other islands of the Dutch East Indies . ey distrust the Chinese : to educate the Javaneseuntil he can defend himself against his own puerilecovetousness, and against the temptations of the Chinese,so that he may gradually collaborate with the Europeanin supplanting them. Such a task would be long andfar from easy, yet undoubtedly possible. Ten years agothe train running between Batavia and Surabaja tooktwo whole days for the journey; the passengers slept atMaos, as they were assured that the train could notproceed by night ; the thoughtlessness, irresponsibility,and id
. Java, Sumatra and the other islands of the Dutch East Indies . ey distrust the Chinese : to educate the Javaneseuntil he can defend himself against his own puerilecovetousness, and against the temptations of the Chinese,so that he may gradually collaborate with the Europeanin supplanting them. Such a task would be long andfar from easy, yet undoubtedly possible. Ten years agothe train running between Batavia and Surabaja tooktwo whole days for the journey; the passengers slept atMaos, as they were assured that the train could notproceed by night ; the thoughtlessness, irresponsibility,and idleness of the native drivers and stokers makingit out of the question to trust them for a night some time now they must have reformed themselvesin these particulars, for the train pursues its way bynight as well as by day. Such cases are seen every-where, and indeed it is probable that the Javanese, * The Sundanese, thanks to the Chinese, have begun to consumea deplorable amount of opium, although fifty years ago theyscarcely knew of its use, .^^^s. z 4 , ~ ■Ml l; < ORIENTAL FOREIGN ELEMENT 163 having hitherto played an absolutely subordinate partin all important undertakings, may nevertheless one daybe able, if only they are given an appropriate educa-tion, to assist the Europeans in ousting the is a desirable consummation. IV. In the meantime the harshness of the Chinese influ-ence might be mitigated by progressively abolishing theprocess of farming out monopolies, taxes, &c., therecovery of which is so oppressive, and often so unjust,that the State contracts for them in order to be rid ofthe business. Even the most case-hardened of Euro-peans sicken at the business, so that it passes almostentirely into the hands of the Chinese, who oftensqueeze double the legal tax from the poverty-strickennatives. The opium monopoly has already been almostentirely wrested from the Chinese by means of a schemeof excise based upon that employed in Indo-China,grea
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