Residency

Definition and stakes

Portrait of Multatuli Multatuli,  Max Havelaar (1868)

“ A Residency, so called—some of them have a population of one million souls,—is divided into three, four, or five departments or regencies, at the head of each of which is an Assistant Resident. Under these the government is carried on by controllers, overseers, and a number of other officers, who are required for the gathering of the taxes, the superintendence of agriculture, the erection of buildings, for the waterworks, the police, and the administration of justice. ”
Source: Wikisource

Portrait of Sir Richard Francis Burton Sir Richard Francis Burton,  To The Gold Coast for Gold: A Personal Narrative…

“ The Residency is a fine large building in an advanced stage of decomposition; the glorious vegetation around it—cotton-trees, caoutchouc-figs, and magnificent oleanders—making the pile look grimmer and grislier. And here we realised, to the fullest extent, how thoroughly ruined is the hapless settlement. The annual income is about 24,500l., the expenditure is 20,000l. in round numbers, and the economies are said to reach 25,000l. ”
Source: Gutenberg

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