68 HOLLAND [INDUSTRY AND TRADE. and mussels are obtained at Bruinisse, Philippine, and Graauw, and anchovies at Bergen-op-Zoom ; while salmon, perch, and pike are caught in the Meuse, the Lek, and the Merwede, and eels in the Frisian lakes. The fisheries not only supply the great local demand, but allow exports to the value of 250,000. The numbers of men and vessels employed are as follows: Vessels Great " salt herring " fishery 114 German Ocean fishery 410 Zuyder Zpe fishery...! 1282 Grotiingen and Friesiand fishery 183 Zealand fishery 472 Total . 2461 In 1877 the produce (in cwts. ) amounted to Home Consumption. Herrings, cured and salted .. 10.648 Red hen-ings 291 Various fresh sea-fish 72,941 Salt cod 2,020 Shrimps Other smoked, salted, or dried fish 1,231 Oysters, lobsters, ;md crabs 405 Mussels 2,015 Stock-fish 56,160 River-fish . 2,518 Anchovies 384 148,613 Men. 1678 2965 3269 524 1026 9462 Exported 274,670 97,757 83,546 19,957 15,174 102,522 13.694 161,813 31.790 29,471 21,253 851,557 Trade. To obtain a correct idea of the trade of the Netherlands greater attention than would be requisite in the case of other countries must be paid to the inland traffic. It is impossible to state the value of this in definite figures, but an estimate may be formed of its extent from the number of ships which it employs in the rivers and canals, and from the quantity of produce brought to the public markets or daily transported by thousands of carts and delivered by the peasant direct to the salesman. Of the market traffic, even in places of secondary rank, the following facts may give some idea. There are yearly brought to market at Gorcum and Hoorn from 10,000 to 13,000 head of cattle ; at Barneveld, more than 20,000 sheep; at Alkmaar about 10 million and at Hoorn 5^ million lb cheese ; at Delft 1^ million lb butter and 2 million lb cheese ; at Meppel 3 million lb butter; at Leeu warden 9 to 11 million lb butter, 2 mil lion lb cheese, and 74 million lb of grain and seeds; at the Overyssel markets Zwolle, Deventer, and Kampen, and at Steenwijk and Almelo, 74 million lb butter ; at Utrecht 770,000 and at Groningen 330,000 bushels of grain and seeds. The turn-over at the cattle market at Leyden in 1877 was 639,278. In 1877 there were 700 steamboats afloat on the rivers and canals in the service of the inland traffic. The foreign trade, although less than it was formerly, still con tinues to be considerable in proportion to the size of the country. In 1878 the merchant marine consisted of 1277 vessels of 958,652 cubic metres (the register ton is equal to 2 83 cubic metres); of which 79 were steamships of about 200,000 cubic metres. In 1877 there entered 8166 vessels with 3,000,000 tons, and cleared 4936 vessels with 1,800,000 tons ; to which must be added 20,500 vessels with 2,400,000 tons, which came down the rivers in cargo from foreign countries, and 11,850 vessels, with 1,500,000 tons, v Inch passed the frontier upward bound. The extent of the trade and its increase or decrease from year to year is shown approximately in the following table : Yctirs. Total Imports for Tofal Transit Imports. Home Use. Exports. Trade.
1846-1850
17,183,000
18,660,000
1851-1855
27,458,000
18,418,000
23,500,000
9,083^000
1856-1860
34,918,000
25,208,000
29,292,000
9,583,000
1861-1865
40,542,000
30,000,000
33,833,000
8,750,000
1866-1870
48,183,000
38,375,000
40,125,000
9,500,000
1871
65,418,000
48,918.000
54 083,000
15,750,000
Tons.
Tons. Tons. 1872 3,200,000 51,500,000 1,467,000 439,000 1873 3,450,000 56,813,000 1,742,000 592,000 1874 3,132,000 55,918,000 1,572,000 627,000 1875 3,290,000 59,918,000 1,614,000 569,000 1876 3,780,000 59,418.000 1,717,000 705.000 1877 3,949,000 62,583,000 1,712,000 594,000 The six ports which take the largest share in the foreign trade arc Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Helder, Dort, Schiedam, and Harlin- gen ; at a considerable distance follow Gr.oningen, Middelburf , Vlaardingen, Purmerend, Zaandam, Edam, Zwolle, Kampen, and Delf/ijl. The returns of recent years show best in the case of the South Holland towns ; but it must be kept in view that the direct imports, the so-called "proper trade," are most important at Amster dam, while a great part of the commercial business at Rotterdam 1 The value of the total imports, exports, and transit trade cannot be given after 1871 in consequence of a ro.i al decree of 1872, providing for the simplification of the formalities of fiscal registration, in virtue of which the quantities are in certain cases given only in bulk-weight. belongs to the commission and transit trade. For exports Rotter dam is by far the most important, sending out nearly thrice a.s much as Amsterdam. An examination of its lists of exports and imports will show that Holland receives from its colonies its spiceries, coffee, sugar, tobacco, indigo, cinnamon ; from England, Prussia, and Belgium its manu factured goods and coals ; grain from the Baltic provinces, Archangel, and the ports of the Black Sea ; pease and beans from Prussia, timber from Norway and the basin of the Rhine, yarn from England, wine from France, hops from Bavaria and Alsace ; while in its turn it sends its colonial wares to Germany, its agricultural produce to the London market, its fish to Belgium and Germany, and its cheete to France, Belgium, and Hamburg, as well as" England. The briskest trade is carried en with Germany and England ; tlun follow Java, France, Russia, the United States, &c. The mineral resources of Holland give no encouragement to in- Irdi dustrial activity, with the exception of the coal mining in Limburg, triei the smelting of iron ore in four furnaces in Overyssel and Guelder- land, the use of stone and gravel in the making of dykes and roads and of clay in brick works and potteries, the quarrying of stone at St Pietersberg, &c. Still the industry of the country has de veloped itself in a remarkable manner since the separation of Belgium, and that in spite of the lack of iron and coal, and the rivalry of other productive forms of labour. The greatest activity is shown in the cotton industry, which especially flourishes in Twenthe (in Overyssel) and also at Haarlem and Veenendaal. In the manufacture of woollen goods Tilburg ranks first, followed by Leyden, Utrecht, and Eindhoven ; that of half woollens is best de veloped at Roermond and Helmond. The cotton and woollen manu factures together furnish employment to 20,000 hands. The linen manufacture is carried on especially in Meierij van den Bosch, Helmond, Boxtel, Woensel, &c. Even iron works and machine factories have greatly increased since the free importation of the raw material was permitted for example, at Amsterdam and at Fijenoord opposite Rotterdam ; and in this department more than 6000 workers are employed throughout the country. It need hardly be said that shipbuilding is of no small importance in the Nether lands, not only in the greater but also in the smaller towns along the rivers and canals ; and it is naturally associated with rope- spinning and other auxiliary crafts. Among the less noteworthy branches of industry are the making of cigars arid snuff, especially at Eindhoven, Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Kampen ; diamond-cutting at Amsterdam ; beetroot-sugar refining at Amsterdam ; paper- making in the Veluwe, on the Zaan, and in Limburg ; shoemaking and leather-tanning in Brabant (Langstraat); mat-plaiting and broom-making at Genemuiden and Blokzijl ; the manufacture of glass, crystal, and earthenware at Maestricht ; carpet-weaving at Deventer ; working in gold and silver in North and South Holland and on a smaller scale at Schoonhoven ; and the distillation of brandy, gin, and liqueurs at Schiedam, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam. The number of hands occupied in the manufactories throughout the whole of the Netherlands is estimated at about 100,000, of whom three-fourths are settled in North and South Holland, North Brabant, and Overyssel. The following table shows how great has been the industrial development of the last thirty years : Years, Steam Engines. Horse- rower. Workshops with Steam Engines. Steam boats. Locomo tives. Boilers. 1852 364 6,537 1862 983 15,824 1872 1,815 20,918 1876 2,873 76,271 2,393 707 617 4,691 1878 5,140 87,338 2,612 622 822 5,396 As the development of trade and industry and agriculture was Con promoted by the improvement of education and the abolition of icat transit and export dues and the lessening of import dues, so also has it been advanced by the improvement of the means of communi cation, and of the postal and telegraph systems. The waterways of the country have been already considered. The roads are divided into national or royal roads, placed directly under the control of the " waterstaat " and supported by the state; provincial roads, under the direct control of the states of the provinces, and almost all supported by the provincial treasuries ; communal and polder roads, maintained by the communal authorities and the polder boards; and finally, private roads. The system of national roads, mainly constructed between 1821 and 1827, but still in process of extension, brings into connexion nearly all the towns. The con struction of railways was long deferred and slowly accomplished : the " Holland Railway " was laid down in 1839-47, the Rhine Rail way in 1843-56, the Aix-Maestricht-Landen line in 1853-56, and the Dutch-Belgian in 1853-54. All the other lines, e.g., that from Maestricht to Liege, the Central Railway, the Nimeguen line, the Almelo-Salzberg line, the State Railway system, &c., have been con structed since 1861, a large number of them having been opened about 1863 and 1864. A great improvement has in consequence
been effected in the communication. The town of Utrecht, which
