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Raffles' ideas on the land rent system in Java and the Mackenzie land tenure comission

Bastin, John - Nama Orang

This study was suggested by Dr H. R. C. Wright's artic1e
"Muntinghe's Advice to Raffles on the Land Question in Java".1
It does not pretend to be exhaustive. I have not examined
the working of the land rent system during the British administration/~
nor, in deed, have I carried the story further than the early
months of 1814. I hope that at some future date it may be possible
to analyse the system during the years 1814-1816. For that reason,
I have not developed the theme, so ably stated by Professor D. H.
Burger, of the penetration of a money economy into the native
society during Raffles' Government,3 nor have I examined Furnivall's
related argument that the industrial position of England at the beginning
of the 19th century necessitated an increase in the welfare
and consuming power of the Javanese.4 The English land tax,5 the
ideas of Adam Smith, Sir James Stuart, Sinc1air and ot her Political
Economists of the 18th century, and the pervasive humanitarian
influence engendered by the writings of Montesquieu, Voltaire and
Raynal, all properly fall within the scope of my subject. Vet I have
treated none of these questions. I have merely examined the effect
of local influences in Java upon the development of Raffles' thought

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