264 PLANTING ENTEBPEISE IN THE WEST INDIES. [Feb., 



resources and productions of the soil, any carefully compiled sta- 

 tistics, connected with them, should indicate the extent and position 

 of those industries, and the measure of success to which they have 

 attained. 



The British possessions in the West Indies, using the term in 

 the sense above indicated, have a total area of nearly 100,000 

 square miles : that is, an extent of country nearly equal to that 

 of New Zealand, and more than four times that of the island of 

 Ceylon. 



With regard to the population of the West Indies, it is often 

 believed to be either stationary or declining. This, however, is by no 

 means the case with the Creole, or negro population, or even with the 

 whites. The population of the West Indies in 1881 was 1,493,062, 

 as compared with 1,279,507 in 1871, and 1,107,667 in 1861. This 

 shows an increase of population equal to 16 per cent, on the 

 returns for 10 years ; and an increase of nearly 35 per cent, on those 

 for 20 years. It would appear, therefore, that the rate of increase 

 of population in the West Indies is much greater than that of 

 the United Kingdom, in which the rate of increase at the census of 

 1881 was under 11 per cent. This large increase appears to be general, 

 and not confined to any particular locality. Moreover, it is only very 

 slightly influenced by coolie immigration. The total number of free 

 and indentured coolies in the West Indies according to the latest 

 returns, viz., those for 1882, was not quite 90,000 ; of these more 

 than two-thirds, or 62,000, were in British Guiana. As compared 

 with other British Colonies, the population of the West Indies is 

 greater than that of any of the larger Australian Colonies ; and more 

 than three times that of Xew Zealand. 



The total export and import trade of the West Indies in 1881, 

 amounted to an aggregate value of nearly 17 millions — the exact 

 figures being: exports, £8,913,014; imports, £7,746,470. This is an 

 increase of nearly oh millions on the value of the export and import 

 trade in 1866, and is nearly one-half of the total value of the export 

 and import trade of British North America. 



The annual revenue of these possessions in 1881 was £1,866,782, 

 which, as compared with that of 1866, shows an increase of more 

 than half a million. The public debt in 1881, incurred chiefly in the 

 extension of railways and public works, was £2,023,913, or only a 

 little over one year's income. Since 1881 a large reduction of this 

 debt has taken place, especially with regard to British Guiana, which 

 lowers the amount to about £1,586,000, or considerably less than that 

 of twenty years. 



The statistics of the several Colonies are given in the subjoined 

 table ; — 



