STATE PAWNSHOPS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20268, 29 November 1927, Page 3

STATE PAWNSHOPS.

HOW THE DUTCH RAISE REVENUE IN JAVA.

Written for the Otago Daily Times. By Nellie M. Scanlan. JAVA. October 12.

Several modern Governments, responding to the urge for socialisation of certain services, have created monopolies. State ownership of commercial enterprises often results from the abuse of privilege by individuals or private organisations. In the Dutch East Indies the State has hung »ut its three balls. It has three State monopolies in Java—salt, opium, but, most interesting of all, the pawnshops. In New Zealand the State Advances to Settlers system has afforded financial assistance in a large way, but. in competition with other lending institutions. The Dutch monopoly in Java is not on these lines. It is a pawnshop pure and simple, or rather, a series of pawnshops, for they are to be seen in every town.

It was at Djokjakarta, the centre of the Batik and brass industry, that I first watched the State in the role of “ Uncle.” One has to remember that Java is smaller than 'the South Island of New Zealand, and that it supports a population of 36,000,000. There are some thousands of Dutch, but the teeming millions. Who are evenly spread over the whole area, are mostly Javanese and Sudanese, with a fair proportion of Chinese. The natives are almost entirely engaged in cultivation of the soil—such fertile soil !—growing rice, tobacco, tapioca, tea, rubber, sugar, coffee, etc. Divide that island among them and you have about 300 persons to every square mile. It is therefore obvious that there Is no great individual wealth. Their holdings of land must necessarily be •mall; their incomes are limited, but fortunately their needs are few._ The sarong is their chief garment and rice their principal food. Their pleasures are simple, and their hemes Just shells of cane and bamboo. But they are healthy and happy in their way. / family of five or sjx, all working, could live on less that five cents a day.

Like all natives, they love jewellery, trinkets, and glitter. Their garments, too matter how shabby, are vivid in colour. They have small resources beyond the day’s needs, these simple people, and live from day to day. So when they are short of a few guilders (a guilder is Is 8d) they promptly go to the Government pawnshop. Rings, bangles, anklets, a treasured kriss (curved dagger), a Batik sarong (native dress) find their way through the little windows. This constant need for temporary financial relief was proving a source of great wealth to the enterprising Chinese. The Chinese are the financiers, the accountants, the traders of the Bast. While the Javanese till the soil, carry the burdens and do the rough work “ John Chinaman ” is to be found in the more remunerative spheres, and pawnbroking was one of them.

• The habit of pawning little things to tide over a brief period gave the Chinese a hold over the native®. “ John" was exacting np to 30 and 40 per cent., and once in his hands,' it was difficult to escape. So the Dutch Government stepped in, and made the pawnshop a State monopoly. Th pawnshop looked more like a huge totalisator on the racecourse than any thing else. Under a long, projecting veranda, crowds of natives stood in queues at the various windows. At one window they were taking jewellery. A woman slipped oS two gold rings and a bracelet The clerk (a Chinese) rubbed the rings on a black slab, put a drop of acid on the mark left by the gold, and from the colour it turned estimated the carat of the gold. Then he dropped the rings on to tiny scales, and scribbled on a piece of purple paper the amount the State would fend. Next a kria with a silver sheath went through the little window; after that a bunch of silver banglee At the next window piles of Betik sarongs were being taken. Further along, bicycles beloved by the natives, were being sacrificed to meet an emergency. Again further, and cups, plates, and household treasures “ went up the spout. ■ The little pnrple ticket was presented at the cash window, and here the amount to be lent was handed out. The brown fingers grasped the guilders and 'cnts, and the Chinese clerks parcelled and labelled each article, and placed it on a shelf inside, to be redeemed later, and, if not, to be sold. The storing of the pawned goods was a miracle of orderliness. In rows and rows they stood, neat, accessible, awaiting redemption. The bicycles were hun? in rows; the crockery placed in wiokir baskets. It was a queer assortment of goods. There was a constant babble of voices and each of the 12 windows had a que-c of probably 20 to 50 people. This is an every-day sight, for some are taking cut what yesterday they pawned, and others are putting in what had been out only a week. All around were vendors of food aid clothing and brilliant-hued drinks. One old woman had a group of large bottbmedicine, so the guide told me; filth? looking stuff it was. There was every form of temptation to lure the fe v guilders from the fingers that held them. Monthly the unredeemed pledges are offered at auction, with the State’s reserve price. Articles which do not bring the reserve are passed in and sold across the 'couplers at the pawnshops. Fhj Chinese are eager buyers at ths sales and keep a close watch on the pawnshops. It is hero you may pick up valuable treasures in native jewellery, etc. but it is well to stand clear of the sarong and Batik, no matter how beautiful. The native’s standard of cleanliness is not quite ours. The State charges only 4 per cent, on these transactions, and even at this low sum it makes a profit of about 500,000 guilders a year. This sum is spent on improving the conditions of the natives, so that all the profits are actually returned to them indirectly. There are six women to every man in Java, so the problem of the Javanese father in mr -ying off his daughters often lands him in the hands of the moneylender. All the financial responsibility devolves upon the bride’s parents. The Javanese bridegroom has nothing to do but pay three guilders for the license and nang up bis hat. His wife’s people do the rest. With the liability of several daughters, th« Javanese may need several hundred guilders to make the marriage profitable. The marriage ceremony is quite a speculation in Java. Unless he is wealthy, the father of the bride borrows from a Chinese moneylender, for “John ’’ is still permitted to deal in larger loans and mort- ' gages. Invitations for thue wedding are sent broadcast, and as each guest is supposed to pay at least a couple of guilders as a present, it depends on the response to the invitations whether the wedding feast is a financial success of not.

If the wedding ia a failure. “John tightens his grip on the property, and perhaps with a succeeding wedding or two adding to the parent’s indebtedness, the Javanese ceases to be the owner of his bamboo house and rice field. And so “ John Chinaman ” adds to his wealth. There are many Chinese millionaries in Java.

It, is with the smaller transactions, the mere pawning of clothes and iewellery, that the State is concerned, and in protecting the poorer natives it has done much to stabilise that slender measure of prosperity—slender in our eyes—but enough to bring contentment to these simple, industrious people. Before the State turned pawnbroker the position was serious. One might now almost say that the Dutch had made pawning i pleasure.