The Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij — the Netherlands Trading Society — was the Amsterdam-based Dutch trading company that, in 1930, acted as the principal European distributor of Atjeh-turpentine from the Baleq enterprise. The company is named in the Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet of 1930 as the importer of the January 1930 and April 1930 Amsterdam shipments of Atjeh-turpentine — samples H.M. no. 1553 and H.M. no. 1607 — and as the addressee of the circular letter of 5 May 1930’s reference for further commercial details.
The distribution of Atjeh-turpentine
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet records that the verkoop van de terpentijn in Ned.-Indië gaat veel minder vlot (the sale of turpentine in the Netherlands Indies goes much less smoothly) than the sale of the resin — een groot gedeelte wordt dan ook jaarlijks door de Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij naar Amsterdam verzonden en in Europa verkocht (a large part is therefore annually sent by the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij to Amsterdam and sold in Europe). The pamphlet’s Table II records the production figures and the proportion sold in the Netherlands Indies:
| Year | Produced (kg) | Sold in N.-I. (kg) | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925 | 5,110 | 1,378 | 27% |
| 1926 | 25,876 | 8,458 | 33% |
| 1927 | 51,130 | 21,337 | — |
| 1928 | 61,788 | 31,036 | — |
| 1929 | 104,288 | 42,685 | 41% |
With the exception of 1928, telkenjare tot dusverre slechts de kleinste helft van de geproduceerde terpentijn in het land zelf verkocht is kunnen worden — each year up to now only the smallest half of the produced turpentine could be sold in the country itself. The remainder was shipped to Amsterdam by the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij and sold in Europe.
The Amsterdam shipments
The Atjeh-terpentijn pamphlet records that two of the three samples evaluated in the 1930 pamphlet were drawn from Amsterdam shipments imported by the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij:
- H.M. no. 1553 — drawn from a January 1930 Amsterdam shipment.
- H.M. no. 1607 — an original tin from the April 1930 shipment per m.s. Poelau Roebiah.
The third sample — H.M. no. 1504 — was received in December 1929 directly from the Baleq enterprise, and was not part of an Amsterdam shipment.
The Vierde Afdeeling
The Circulaire of 5 May 1930 records that voor nadere bijzonderheden daaromtrent gelieve U zich te wenden tot de Vierde Afdeeling van de Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij te Amsterdam — for further particulars thereon please apply to the Fourth Department of the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij at Amsterdam. The Vierde Afdeeling — the Fourth Department — was thus the unit of the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij that handled the European distribution of Atjeh-turpentine.
Significance
The Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij’s significance in the historiography of colonial Aceh is as the principal European distributor of Atjeh-turpentine from the Baleq enterprise — the trading company that, from 1925 onward, shipped the surplus of Atjeh-turpentine production from the Netherlands Indies to Amsterdam for European sale. The company’s role in the European distribution of Atjeh-turpentine illustrates the way in which colonial commodity production was channelled through metropolitan trading companies, and the company’s Vierde Afdeeling at Amsterdam was the principal point of contact for European buyers of Atjeh-turpentine in 1930.
Account from Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh (1923)
The Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij (NHM; Netherlands Trading Society) was the Dutch trading and banking house which, named as the “first trading institution” to interest itself in Atjeh, ran the pepper-washing establishment and backed the pepper gardens, supported the Sabang coal-station concession and directed its early exploitation, opened a sub-agency at Oelèë Lheue on 20 October 1901 followed by offices at Koeta Radja (1904–1905), Lho Seumawè (1903–1907) and Langsar, and conducted the banking business — advances, discounting, exchange, collections — that underpinned the province’s exports of pepper, pinang, copra, hides, patchouli and timber.
Pioneer work
“As first trading institution which interested itself in the Government of Atjeh and Dependencies, may be named the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij”: she had supported the Batavia firm De Lange & Co in obtaining the concession for the coal station at Sabang, and her Factory conducted the direction of the N.V. “Zeehaven en Kolenstation” from 1897. With the transfer of her enterprises on Poelò We her task in that part of the province seemed ended; but in 1901 she renewed her relations with Atjeh by opening on 20 October of that year a sub-agency at Oelèë Lheue. Under Governor J. C. van der Wyck she administered the pepper-washing establishment erected at Koeta Radja with Government support, and took care that the product there treated was carried to Amsterdam. Earlier, under Governor Van Heutsz, the opening of an office in Groot-Atjeh by the NHM had been furthered by the Governor.
Offices
Various circumstances moved the company in 1904 to transfer her office from Oelèë Lheue to Koeta Radja, in which year a start was made with the building of a new office; it was taken into use in 1905 (photograph: “Kantoor der Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij te Koeta-Radja”). The work having greatly increased, a temporary agency equal to that of Koeta Radja had to be instituted at Lho Seumawè from 1903 to 1907, during the building of the coastal tramway. The important years were not the most favourable for trade: the import had become independent of the Straits Settlements, but the export still ran chiefly over Penang and was financed from there. After the tram connection Seulimeum–Padang Tidji was finished in 1908 the state materially improved; the revival traced itself in the results of the NHM’s Koeta Radja sub-agency, and was cause that also at Langsar a sub-agency came to be opened.
War and after
The world war brought first some stagnation in imports and exports; the import passed temporarily into Japanese hands while the export lived through a time of high prices, unscathed by the scarcity of shipping space of 1917–1918: “De hooge prijzen maakten het gebrek aan scheepsruimte in elk opzicht goed.” When in 1919 the tram connection from Koeta Radja to Medan came into being, the Dependencies advanced economically: the export of pepper from the Dependencies, 70,000 picols in 1901, had in 1920 risen to 200,000 picols, marketed at f 6 to f 7 per picol; the export of koelit bakau (mangrove bark, chiefly to Japan) amounted in 1920 to 5,000,000 kilogram; that of patchouli leaves (chiefly to France) to 1,195,000 kilogram in 1920; of wood not less than 3,400 M³ was exported in that year, beside a great quantity of copra and rubber.
Bank business
Besides what the NHM did for Atjeh in a general sense by her cooperation in the K.P.M., the Sabang Maatschappij etc., her local work at the time of the book consisted principally in “bankzaken, beleeningen, voorschotten op producten en onder hypothecaire zekerheid, disconteeringen, wisseloperatiën, giroverkeer, geldhandel, incassi, telegrafische en andere uitbetalingen” — banking business, lendings, advances on products and under mortgage security, discountings, exchange operations, giro traffic, money trade, collections, telegraphic and other payments — “welke werkzaamheden den economischen bloei van het gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden mede in niet geringe mate ten goede komen”. She had opened at once upon her coming a modestly paying exchange- and bank business that benefited both trade and industry. With the Atjehsche Handelmaatschappij (a Padangsche House), the Deli-Atjeh and the agency of the Javasche Bank she completed the banking landscape of the province.
See Also
- Atjeh-terpentijn (Spoor, 1930)
- Atjeh-terpentijn
- Baleq
- Afdeeling Handelsmuseum
- Koninklijke Vereeniging Koloniaal Instituut
- ‘s Lands Caoutchouchedrijf
- W. Spoon
- L. P. de Bussy
- Circulaire of 5 May 1930 to the V.V.V.F.
- Vereeniging van Vernis- en Verffabrikanten en -Handelaren in Nederland
- Amsterdam
- 1930
- Javasche Bank te Koeta Radja
- Atjehsche Handelmaatschappij
- Maatschappij Zeehaven en Kolenstation Sabang
- Koeta Radja
- Pacification of Atjeh
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Provided financial support for de Lange & Co.’s coal station at Sabang.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 205, 281.
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. 9–10, 29–30 (Winning van de terpentijn; Bijlage II — Circulaire).
Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh, by Joh. Langhout (The Hague: N.V. Boekhandel v/h W. P. van Stockum & Zoon, 1923), pp. 87, 144, 178–182, illustration captions pp. 178, 181.
Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 205, 281.