Javasche Bank te Koetaradja was the branch of the Javasche Bank at Koeta Radja, the first stone of whose building was laid by Governor H. N. A. Swart in 1915.
A photograph in du Croo’s book shows the ceremony: “Governor Swart lays the first stone of the building for the Java Bank at Koetaradja (1915).” It belongs among the visible signs of the economic normalisation of Atjeh in the second half of Swart’s governorship.
Account from Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh (1923)
The Javasche Bank te Koeta Radja — the agency of the Javabank in the capital of Atjeh, opened on 2 December 1918 in a building completed at the end of November of that year — was founded principally to give a good course to the circulation of silver and paper money, for which the Landskas (provincial treasury) was no longer adequately equipped, and became a visible ornament of the place whose first stone Governor H. N. A. Swart himself had laid.
Foundation
Already in 1915 the Direction of the Bank conceived the plan of erecting an agency at Koeta Radja; in 1916 the building of an office was begun, completed at the end of November 1918 and taken into use on 2 December of that year. As the book’s photograph shows (“het gebouw een sieraad voor de plaats” — “the building may be called an ornament of the place”), it answered all requirements that can be made of a modern office building in the Indies. At the foundation of the agency the heer J. Straatemeier was appointed agent, with the heeren Ch. Chr. Ouwerling and J. Boon Jzn. as commissarissen; at the time of the book (1922–1923) the heer H. A. Burlage acted as agent with the heeren H. J. E. Moll and J. Boon Jzn. as commissarissen. Governor Swart laid the first stone for the bank building.
Working and figures
Beside its functioning as centre for the circulation of silver and paper money, the agency proved already in the short period it worked to fulfil a need for the exchange traffic with the Bank’s other Indian establishments; since that traffic generally indicates the extent of the trade movement, Langhout quotes from the Javasche Bank year-reports the remittances (algiften) of the Indian offices to Koeta Radja and vice versa:
- book-year 1919–‘20: f 3,107,042.50
- book-year 1920–‘21: f 3,763,503.75
- book-year 1921–‘22: f 5,761,201.91
— a tripling within three years that mirrors the post-war recovery of Atjehnese trade. It was after a discussion of the Bank’s President-Director with Governor Swart that the opening of the agency had been decided.
See Also
- H. N. A. Swart
- General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh (1943)
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
- Atjeh
- Koeta Radja
- Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij
- Economische Vereeniging te Koeta Radja
Source
Generaal Swart, Pacificator van Atjeh (“General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh”), by M. H. du Croo, Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with the collaboration of H. J. Schmidt, Titular Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with a foreword by His Excellency Lieutenant-General K.N.I.L. (retired) G. K. Dijkstra (Maastricht: N.V. Leiter-Nypels, 1943), illustration, Chapter XVI.
Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh, by Joh. Langhout (The Hague: N.V. Boekhandel v/h W. P. van Stockum & Zoon, 1923), pp. 111, 181, 183–184, illustration caption p. 183.