J. Roest was a Dutch colonial official and author of railway and harbour studies for the Tijdschrift voor het Binnenlandsch Bestuur (Journal for Home Administration) at Batavia. He wrote — in the December 1912 issue of that journal — the article Belawanhaven en Atjeh-tram (Belawan harbour and the Atjeh tram) and, four years later at Weltevreden on 4 December 1915, its sequel De spoorwegverbinding tusschen Deli, Atjeh en de Aroebaai (The railway connection between Deli, Atjeh and the Aru Bay), published in volume XLIX of the same journal in December 1916.
The author of the Aru Bay railway history
In his 1916 article Roest judged the whole dispute between the Cultuurraad of the East Coast of Sumatra, the Deli Spoorweg Maatschappij, and the Netherlands Indies Government on its merits: he showed why the Government’s choice of the Aru Bay had been reasonable while the assumption that Telok Taboehan would become the ocean harbour was weakened year by year; he analysed the cost estimates of the rival connection lines (Pematang Pandjang–Pangkalan Brandan, Besitang–Tandjong Slamat); he preserved the Cultuurraad debates of 26 September 1912 and 20 February 1913 and the Government decisions of 17 June and 16 October 1913; and he defended the Government’s course that the interest of the company in avoiding competition must yield to the general interest if a state connection between the Atjeh-tram and the Deli railway were ever required. His articles are the principal printed sources for the railway controversy and the history of the Aru Bay ports.
See Also
- De spoorwegverbinding tusschen Deli, Atjeh en de Aroebaai
- Deli-Atjeh railway connection controversy (1912-1916)
- Atjeh-tram
- Aroebai
Source
De spoorwegverbinding tusschen Deli, Atjeh en de Aroebaai, door J. Roest, in Tijdschrift voor het Binnenlandsch Bestuur, Deel XLIX, Afl. 6 (Batavia, December 1916), pp. 464–478.