The Circulaire of 5 May 1930 to the V.V.V.F. — the circular letter addressed by L. P. de Bussy, Director of the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum of the Koninklijke Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut, to the members of the Vereeniging van Vernis- en Verffabrikanten en -Handelaren in Nederland (V.V.V.F.) — is the circular letter of 5 May 1930 by which sample H.M. no. 1607 of Atjeh-turpentine was distributed to the 28 members of the V.V.V.F. for evaluation. The Circulaire is preserved — as Bijlage II — in the Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet of 1930, and it is the principal documentary evidence of the institutional authorship of the 1930 market-reception survey of Atjeh-turpentine.
The address and signature
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet records that the Circulaire is dated Amsterdam, 5 Mei 1930 and addressed Aan de leden van de Vereeniging van Vernis- en Verffabrikanten en -Handelaren in Nederland. The Circulaire is signed W. g. L. P. DE BUSSY, Directeur der Afdeeling Handelsmuseum ten Koloniaal Instituut — signed L. P. de Bussy, Director of the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum of the Colonial Institute. The signature is the principal documentary evidence of the institutional authorship of the 1930 market-reception survey — the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum of the Koninklijke Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut, acting through its Director.
The 1924 consultation
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet records that the Circulaire recalls the 1924 consultation between the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum and the V.V.V.F. on the quality of Atjeh-turpentine: In 1924 mocht de Afdeeling Handelsmuseum van het Koloniaal Instituut met het Bestuur Uwer Vereeniging van gedachten wisselen over de kwaliteit van de Sumatraansche terpentijnolie, afkomstig van Pinus Merkusii, een dennensoort voorkomend in Noord-Sumatra (Atjeh) — In 1924 the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum of the Colonial Institute was able to exchange thoughts with the Board of your Association on the quality of the Sumatran turpentine oil, derived from Pinus Merkusii, a pine species occurring in North Sumatra (Atjeh). The Circulaire records that the V.V.V.F. had then de reuk van die terpentijnolie te zeer afwijkende geacht van dien van zuivere terpentijnolie uit Frankrijk of Noord-Amerika — considered the odour of that turpentine oil too different from that of pure turpentine oil from France or North America.
The conversion of the exploitation
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet records that the Circulaire recalls the conversion of the Atjeh-turpentine exploitation from an experimental to a definitive enterprise: Toentertijd was de exploitatie van de dennenbosschen in Atjeh nog slechts een proefbedrijf, hetwelk thans in een definitief bedrijf is omgezet, gevestigd te Baleq — At that time the exploitation of the pine forests in Atjeh was still only a trial enterprise, which has now been converted into a definitive enterprise, established at Baleq. The Circulaire records that the conversion was accompanied by a much-improved distillation: Met die omzetting is tevens de winning en verwerking van den verschen balsem op hars en olie veel verbeterd; sinds October 1928 n.l. geschiedt die scheiding in een geheel modern ingerichte fabriek, waarvan de destillatie-inrichting uit Frankrijk afkomstig is — With that conversion the production and processing of the fresh balsam into resin and oil has also been much improved; since October 1928, namely, that separation takes place in a fully modernly-equipped factory, whose distillation installation comes from France.
The sample and the data
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet records that the Circulaire encloses sample H.M. no. 1607 and the chemical data on samples 1504, 1553 and 1607:
| Sample no. | 1504 | 1553 | 1607 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Received in Netherlands | Dec. 1929 | Jan. 1930 | Apr. 1930 |
| Specific gravity at 15° C. | 0.8660 | 0.8661 | 0.8648 |
| Refractive index at 20° C. | 1.4677 | 1.4680 | 1.4680 |
| Rotation in 100 mm tube | +35.8° | +35.6° | +35.4° |
The Circulaire notes that Alle monsters lossen op in 8 volumina alkohol van 90% — All samples dissolve in 8 volumes of 90% alcohol — and that the current price of Atjeh-turpentine in the Netherlands is approximately f 22 per 50 kg. The Circulaire refers readers to the Vierde Afdeeling van de Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij te Amsterdam for further commercial details.
Significance
The Circulaire of 5 May 1930 is significant in the historiography of colonial Aceh as the principal documentary evidence of the institutional authorship of the 1930 market-reception survey of Atjeh-turpentine — the circular letter by which sample H.M. no. 1607 was distributed to the 28 members of the V.V.V.F. for evaluation. The Circulaire is the document of a particular moment in the colonial-commodity research programme of the Afdeeling Handelsmuseum: the moment at which the factory-scale Atjeh-turpentine, having been shown by chemical investigation to be markedly improved relative to the 1924 trial samples, was submitted to the European market for evaluation. The eleven written evaluations preserved in the Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet of 1930 are the principal documentary record of the European market reception of the factory-scale product.
See Also
- Atjeh-terpentijn (Spoor, 1930)
- Atjeh-terpentijn
- Vereeniging van Vernis- en Verffabrikanten en -Handelaren in Nederland
- Afdeeling Handelsmuseum
- Koninklijke Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut
- L. P. de Bussy
- Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij
- Baleq
- Pinus Merkusii
- 5 May
- 1930
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, pp. 29–30 (Bijlage II — Circulaire).