The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

;222 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.tration of how a state monopoly may become a state duty, letus suppose that no gold existed in Australia, but that it hadbeen found in immense quantities by one of our ships in somesmall and barren island. In this case it would plainly becomethe duty of the State to keep and work the mines for the publicbenefit, since by doing so, the gain would be fairly dividedamong the whole i^opulatiou by decrease of taxation ; whereasby leaving it open to free trade while mei'ely keeping tlie governmentof the island, we should certainly produce enoi'mous evilsduring the first struggle for the precious metal, which wouldultimately subside into the monopoly of some wealthy individualor great company, whose enormous revenue would not equallybenefit the community. Tlie nutmegs of Banda and tlie tin ofBanca are to some extent parallel cases to this supi^osititious one,and I believe the Dutch Government will act most unwisely ifthey give up their monopoly.Even the destruction of the nutmeg and clove trees in manyislands, in order to restrict their cultivation to one or two wherethe monopoly could be easily guarded, usually made the themeof so much virtuous indignation against the Dutch, may bedefended on similar principles, and is certainly not nearly sobad as many monopolies we ourselves jiave till very recentlymaintained. Nutmegs and cloves are not necessaries of lifethey ai'e not even used as spices by the natives of the Moluccas,and no one was materially or permanently injured by thedestruction of the trees, since there are a hundred other productsthat can be grown in the same islands, equally valuableand far more beneficial in a social point of view. It is a caseexactly parallel to our prohibition of the growth of tobacco inEngland, for fiscal purposes, and is, morally and economically,neither better nor worse. The salt monopoly whicli we so longmaintainedin India was much worse. As long as we keep upa system of excise and customs on articles of daily use, whichrequires an elaborate array of oflicers and coastguards to carryinto effect, and which ci'eates a number of purely legal crimes,it is the height of absurdity for us to aftect indignation at theconduct of the Dutch, who carried out a much more justifiable,less hurtful, and more profitable system in their Easternpossessions. I challenge objectors to point out any jDhysical ormoral evils that have actually resulted from the action of theDutch Government in this matter ; whereas such evils are theadmitted results of every one of our monopolies and restrictions.^1 In the Daily NewD parliamentary report of March 2Stli, 1890, I read the following :^"Baron H. de Worms said it was true that in the Newara Eliya district of Ceylon landsales, affecting 1(1, 2SS men, women, and children, had taken place for non-pa}^nent ofthe paddy-tax, and that Obi persons had died of consequent want and disease, and 2,539Lad heen left destitute." Here is a dry official statement of the result of our taxing thepeople's food ; and it was such a very ordinary matter to our legislators that no furthernotice seems to have been taken of it. And we dare to abuse the Dutch of three centuriesback for destroying spice trees !—for which they paid a fair compensation, andthe results of which were probably beneficial rather than hurtful to the cultivators ofthe soil! (.See Chap. XXI.)