The Besluit van 27 June 1924 on Atjeh-turpentine exploitation — the government decision of 27 June 1924 — was the colonial-government decree by which the Regeering of the Nederlandsch-Indië placed funds at the disposal of ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf for an exploitatie-proef (exploitation trial) of Atjeh-turpentine, to be carried out by ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf on behalf of the Dienst van het Boschwezen. The Besluit is the founding document of the Baleq enterprise — the colonial government’s turpentine and resin factory in the Gajo-Landen-Atjeh border region — and it is preserved by the Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet of 1930 as the principal documentary record of the founding decision.
The decision
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet records the Besluit in a single sentence: Bij besluit van 27 Juni 1924 stelde de Regeering gelden beschikbaar voor een exploitatie-proef, uit te voeren door ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf voor rekening van den Dienst van het Boschwezen — By decision of 27 June 1924 the Government made funds available for an exploitation trial, to be carried out by ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf on behalf of the Dienst van het Boschwezen. The Besluit thus placed the exploitatie-proef under the operational management of ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf — the state rubber enterprise — and under the financial responsibility of the Dienst van het Boschwezen — the colonial forestry service, which supplied the standing Pinus Merkusii forests.
The implementation
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet records that the implementation of the Besluit began on 14 September 1924 — Op 14 September d.o.v. werd die proef ingezet in de Semnenboschcomplexen Paja Djorok en Blangtekoer, betrekkelijk dicht gelegen bij den grooten weg van Takengon naar Bireuen (Atjeh) — On 14 September of that year the trial was begun in the Sumatran-pine forest complexes Paja Djorok and Blangtekoer, located relatively close to the main road from Takengon to Bireuen (Atjeh). The trial exploited the Pinus Merkusii forests of the two Semnenboschcomplexen — separated by the river Baleq, from which the enterprise took its name — and the first trial samples were produced in the laboratory of the Afdeeling Nijverheid at Buitenzorg from the balsam collected by the foresters of the Dienst van het Boschwezen.
The conversion of 1926-1927
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet records that the results of the trial were sufficient that the Regeering, in 1926, resolved haar per 1 Januari 1927 om te zetten in een definitieve exploitatie, en wel als afzonderlijke onderneming van ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf — to convert it per 1 January 1927 into a definitive exploitation, and indeed as a separate enterprise of ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf. The Besluit of 27 June 1924 was thus superseded — operationally — by the 1926 decision to convert the trial into a definitive exploitation, and the Baleq enterprise became a afzonderlijke onderneming (separate enterprise) of ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf with effect from 1 January 1927.
Significance
The Besluit of 27 June 1924 is significant in the historiography of colonial Aceh as the founding document of the Baleq enterprise — the colonial government’s turpentine and resin factory in the Gajo-Landen-Atjeh border region. The Besluit established the institutional framework — ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf for operational management, the Dienst van het Boschwezen for financial responsibility and the supply of standing timber — within which the Baleq enterprise would operate from 1924 onward, and it authorised the exploitatie-proef that would, in 1926–1927, be converted into the definitive exploitation that produced the factory-scale Atjeh-turpentine evaluated in the 1930 pamphlet.
See Also
- Baleq
- Atjeh-terpentijn (Spoor, 1930)
- Atjeh-terpentijn
- Pinus Merkusii
- ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf
- Dienst van het Boschwezen
- Paja Djorok
- Blangtekoer
- Takengon
- Bireuen
- Gajo-landen
- 27 June
- 1924
- 1927
Source
Atjeh-terpentijn: tegenwoordige kwaliteit en nieuwe beoordeelingen, by Ir. W. Spoon, Berichten van de Afdeeling Handelsmuseum van de Koninklijke Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut No. 57, Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussy, 1930, p. 5 (Winning van de terpentijn).