Leidsch Dagblad
- THE DISASTER AT KATWIJK.
- INDIES WEEK IN LEIDEN.
- AFTER THE STORM.
The Leidsch Dagblad of 13 October 1926 led with the human cost of the North Sea storm for Katwijk-aan-Zee. The paper's management appealed to readers to send gifts, by giro or through the Amsterdamsche Bank, for the families of the logger KW 152, who had lost the income their fathers earned at sea. A separate report from Katwijk described how Jan Dijkhuizen, mate of the KW 134 "Katwijk II", was swept overboard by a breaking sea, while two shipmates washed off with him were thrown back on board. The page also reported on an Indies Week in Leiden, where a lecturer argued that the Volksraad of the Dutch East Indies had more than met expectations and developed faster than intended.
Translation
THE DISASTER AT KATWIJK.
came to the fishing village of Katwijk-aan-Zee. Many families have been plunged into mourning and must go without the income that Father earned at sea through hard work. Is it not the duty of all of us to help, so as to ease this heavy grief to some extent? Wait no longer, but pay your gifts to our office this very day, by giro No. 57055 or through the Amsterdamsche Bank, marked "K. W. logger 152". THE MANAGEMENT. STA [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] WS. INDIES WEEK IN LEIDEN. Through the cooperation of the Ministry of Colonies and the various Senates
INDIES WEEK IN LEIDEN.
considered desirable? It was the desire to strengthen the bond between the native population and Dutch authority. Various population groups would, after all, be represented in this body, and the Volksraad would deliberate in public. For the speaker, one of the chief merits of the new institution for the government is that it can now hear, from the mouths of the representatives of the various strata of the population, what people think of the policy pursued and what they expect from the Government. Seen from this standpoint, the speaker dared to assert that the Volksraad has more than met expectations. It has developed faster than actually seems to have been the intention, as Mr. Schumann demonstrated on the basis of the facts.
AFTER THE STORM.
storm reached, has not occurred within living memory. * * * We are informed from Katwijk-aan-Zee: Once again we must bring our readers sad news. Scarcely had the telephone office here opened to the public this morning when word passed from mouth to mouth that yet another human life was to be mourned. On the K. W. 134 "Katwijk II", skipper Amerik de Best, of the shipowners Gebrs. Taat of this place, Jan Dijkhuizen sailed as mate; he went to sea last Wednesday. In the heavy weather they were overwhelmed by a breaking sea, which washed 3 men of the crew overboard. Two of them were fortunately thrown back on board, but Dijkhuizen vanished into the depths. This young man too leaves a widow
Context
Why fishermen's families depended on public appeals
The notice signed by the paper's management asks readers to help families who must now do without "the income that Father earned at sea," and to mark their gifts "K. W. logger 152." That wording points to a long-standing gap in Dutch fishing communities. A history of Dutch fishing disasters notes that when a husband or father did not come back, the survivors often had no income left and had to rely on charity, and that from the nineteenth century associations arose to raise funds for the bereaved of drowned fishermen. The Leidsch Dagblad's appeal fits that charitable pattern: it collects money directly at the newspaper's own office and bank account. The page itself does not say how many men from KW 152 died, nor who would administer or distribute the money collected.
The storm of 9–10 October 1926 beyond Katwijk
The Katwijk reports describe only part of the storm's toll on the Dutch fleet. The Scheveningen fishermen's name monument records the logger VL 213 "Theodoor" as lost in a storm on 9/10 October 1926 and lists seven of its men by name, among them Huibert Dijkhuizen, aged 35. He is not the man in this newspaper: the paper's Jan Dijkhuizen was mate of Katwijk's KW 134 and was swept overboard from a vessel that survived, so the two records name a different ship and a different person. A history of Dutch fishing disasters notes that by the time of the First World War the flat-bottomed boats of the coast had been replaced by stable, seaworthy loggers. The Katwijk report shows that a single breaking sea could still wash three men overboard at once.
What the Volksraad was
The Indies Week lecture defends an institution that was only about a decade old. A Dutch law created the Volksraad, from 1916, as an advisory body in which natives of the colony also sat, without any legislative powers, and the governor-general formally installed it in Weltevreden, Batavia, on 18 May 1918. The lecturer's chief argument, that the government could now hear from representatives of different strata what people thought of its policy, matches how historians describe the council's main use to the Dutch: a means of learning Indonesian opinion. The report's talk of strengthening the bond between the native population and Dutch authority thus reflects the official Dutch rationale, presented in Leiden at an event the paper says was organised with the Ministry of Colonies and the university senates.
The Volksraad's powers between 1922 and 1927
In October 1926 the Volksraad stood in the middle of a constitutional transition. The 1922 revision of the Dutch constitution delegated authority to the East Indies unless specially reserved, and the 1925 Wet op de Indische staatsinrichting worked out that revision. The Dutch parliamentary reference site parlement.com notes that the revision made greater autonomy possible, but that the governor-general's position barely changed in practice because the minister could still give instructions. In 1927 the Volksraad became a co-legislative body, while the governor-general kept a veto. The lecturer's claim that the council had developed faster than intended is therefore a Dutch assessment of these changes, made from inside the colonial system. Earlier, a 1918 motion from the Volksraad's 'Radicale Concentratie', calling for an elected parliament with the right to pass laws, had been rejected in 1920 on a government commission's advice, so the council's development still fell well short of what its radical members had demanded.
Original
DE RAMP TE KATWIJK.
visschersdorpje Katwijk-aan-Zee gekomen. Vele gezinnen zijn in rouw gedompeld en moeten de inkomsten, welke Vader op zee met hard werken verdiende, derven. Is het niet ons aller plicht te helpen ten einde het zware leed eenigermate te verzachten? Wacht niet langer doch stort nog heden uwe giften aan ons Bureau, per giro No. 57055 of per Amsterdamsche Bank onder vermelding " K. W. logger 152 ". DE DIRECTIE. STA [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] WS. INDISCHE WEEK TE LEIDEN. Door samenwerking van het ministerie van Koloniën en de verschillende Senaten
INDISCHE WEEK TE LEIDEN.
schelijk achtte? Het was het verlangen om den band tusschen de inlandsche bevolking en het Nederlandsch gezag te versterken. Verschillende bevolkingsgroepen zouden immers in dit lichaam vertegenwoordigd zijn en de Volksraad zou in het openbaar beraadslagen. Voor spr. is een der voornaamste verdienslen der nieuwe instelling voor de regeering dat deze nu uit den mond der vertegenwoordigers van de verschillende lagen der bevolking kan vernemen hoe men over het gevoerde beleid denkt en wat men van de Regeering verwacht. Van uil dit standpunt gezien durfde spr. beweren, dat de Volksraad meer dan aan de verwachtingen heeft voldaan. Hij heeft zich sneller ontwikkeld dan eigenlijk wel de bedoeling schijnt geweest te zijn, wat door den heer Schumann aan de hand der feiten werd aangetoond.
NA DEN STORM.
storm bereikte, is bij menschenheugenis niet voorgekomen. * * * Men meldt ons uit Katwijk-aan-Zee: Wederom moeten wij onzen lezers droeve mededeelingen doen. Nauwelijks was hedenmorgen het telefoonkantoor alhier voor het publiek geopend, of het ging van mond tot mond, dat weer een menschenleven te betreuren viel. Op de K. W. 134 " Katwijk II " schipper Amerik de Best van de reederij Gebrs. Taat alhier, voer als stuurman Jan Dijkhuizen, die vorige week Woensdag naar zee ging. Met het zware weer werden ze door een stortzee overvallen, die 3 man der equipage van boord spoelde. Twee daarvan werden gelukkig weer aan boord geworpen, doch Dijkhuizen verdween in de diepte. Ook deze jonge man laat een weduwe
Source: Source: Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken (leiden.courant.nu)