CAPE COLONY AND BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA. 



79 



Greenback and Democratic factions in the Con- 

 vention, and the latter organized separately. 



The returns of the United States census 

 make the total population of the State 864,686, 

 showing an increase in ten years of 304,439 in 

 the population, which the last census gave as 

 560,247. The male population is 518,271, the 

 female 346,415. The number of inhabitants 

 in the Stats of foreign birth is 292,680; of 

 American birth, 572,006. The white popula- 

 tion numbers 767,266; the colored, 97,420. 

 The population of San Francisco is given as 

 233,956. Oakland contains 35,010 inhabitants 

 against 10,500 in 1870 ; Sacramento has grown 

 in population in the ten years from 16,283 to 

 about 23,000; Los Angeles from 5,728 to 11,- 

 050; San Jos6 from 9,089 to 12,635. 



CAPE COLONY AND BRITISH SOUTH 

 AFRICA.* By an official declaration, dated 

 January 8, 1879, the Whale Bay was annexed 

 to the Cape Colony. In consequence of the 

 conflicts between the English and the natives 

 of Caffraria, the remnant of independent Caf- 

 fraria, Pondoland, was in 1878 occupied by the 

 English. Chief Umquikela was declared to 

 have forfeited his land, and on August 31, 

 1878, a military post was erected by the Eng- 

 lish on the left bank of the St. John River or 

 Umzimvubu. Including these new annexations, 

 the area and population of the British domin- 

 ions in South Africa are as follows (area 

 expressed in kilometres ; 1 kilometre = '386 

 square mile) : 



Of the population of Cape Colony proper 

 236,783 belong to the white race, and 484,201 

 to the colored. Of the former more than one 

 half (143,000) is connected with the Dutch 

 Reformed Church; next in order are the 

 Anglican Church (26,000), Roman Catholics 

 (8,600), Methodists (7,900), Lutherans (6,200), 

 Presbyterians (3,400), Independents (2,500), 

 and Baptists (2,100). 



The present Constitution of the Cape Colony 

 vests the executive power in the Governor and 

 an Executive Council, composed of certain of- 

 fice-holders appointed by the Crown. The leg- 

 islative power rests with a Legislative Council 

 of twenty-one members, ten of whom are 

 elected for ten years, and eleven for five years, 

 presided over ex-officio by the Chief -Justice ; 

 and a House of Assembly of sixty-eight mem- 

 bers, elected for five years, representing the 

 country districts and towns of the colony. The 

 qualification for members of the Council is pos- 



* Fora statistical account of the races and religious denom- 

 ination* of the Cape Colony, see ''Annual Cyclopaedia" for 

 1S79, article CAPE COLONY. 



session of immovable property of 2,000, or 

 movable property worth 4,000. Members of 

 both Houses are elected by the same voters, 

 who are qualified by possession of property, or 

 receipt of salary or wages, ranging between 

 25 and 50 per annum. There were 45,825 

 registered electors in 1878. The Governor is, 

 by virtue of his office, commander-in-chief of 

 the forces within the colony. Pie has a salary 

 of 5,000 as Governor, besides 1,000 as u her 

 Majesty's High Commissioner," and an addi- 

 tional 300 as " allowance for country resi- 

 dence." The administration is carried on, under 

 the Governor, by a Ministry of five members, 

 called the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney- 

 General, the Treasurer-General, the Commis- 

 sioner of Crown Lands and Public Works, and 

 the Secretary of Native Affairs. 



The^ revenue of the colony is derived mainly 

 from import duties, which produced, on the 

 average of the five years from 1874 to 1878, 

 not far from a million pounds sterling per an- 

 num. Comparatively little is derived from 

 rent or sales of public lands, although vast dis- 

 tricts are waiting to be cultivated. The great- 

 est part of the expenditure is for interest on 

 the public debt. The estimated revenue of the 

 year 1879 was 2,309,000, and the expenditure 

 2,226,164. The colony had a public debt of 

 10,500,000 on the 31st of July, 1879. The 

 debt dates from the year 1859, when it amount- 

 ed to 80,000. The interest in 1879 amounted 

 to 483,365. The debt is under promise of 

 repayment by installments extending to the 

 year 1900. The imports were valued in 1877 

 at 5,158,348, the exports at 3,634,073. The 

 commercial intercourse of the colony is mainly 

 with the United Kingdom, and the value of the 

 wool shipped annually from the colony to 

 Great Britain constitutes alone nearly nine 

 tenths of the total exports. The railway lines 

 had, in June, 1879, an aggregate length of 580 

 miles, and 420 miles were in the course of con- 

 struction. The number of post-offices was 

 248 ; the revenue of the department amounted 

 to 57,870, and the expenditures to 151,220. 

 The telegraphs in the colony, which were con- 

 structed entirely at the expense of the Govern- 

 ment, comprised, in 1878, 3,380 miles of wire, 

 with 92 offices. The number of messages sent 

 was 183,120. 



The Right Honorable Sir HERCULES GEORGE 

 ROBERT ROBINSON, G. C. M. G., who was ap- 

 pointed Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, 

 December, 1880, was born in 1824, and edu- 

 cated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. 

 He held for some years a commission in the 

 Eighty-seventh Foot, but retired from the service 

 in 1846, and was employed in various capacities 

 in the civil service in Ireland until 1852. He 

 was in 1854 appointed President of the Island 

 of Montserrat in the West Indies, and in 1855 

 Lieutenant-Govern or of St. Christopher. He 

 succeeded Sir John Bowring as Governor of 

 Hong-Kong in 1859, when he received the 

 honor of knighthood, was promoted to the 



