400 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM OF. 



peninsula, of 1,845,366 square miles, and 261,- 

 201,491 inhabitants. The possessions and pro- 

 tectorates in Africa have an area of nearly 

 500,000 square miles and a population of about 

 3,000,000. They include Gambia, the Niger 

 Districts, Sierra Leone, Lagos, part of the Gold 

 Coast, St. Helena and Ascension Island, Tris- 

 tan d'Acunha, Socotra, Mauritius, St. Paul and 

 Amsterdam, Cape Colony, Basutoland, Bechu- 

 analand, Zululand, Natal, and Berbera and its 

 vicinity. In America the colonies of Great 

 Britain are the Dominion of Canada, New- 

 foundland, the Bahamas, Bermudas, and Bar- 

 badoes, Jamaica and Turk's Island, Leeward 

 Islands, Windward Islands, Trinidad, Honduras, 

 Guiana, Falkland Islands, and South Georgia. 

 Their aggregate area is 3,648,140 square miles, 

 and their population, according to the latest 

 enumerations, is 6,215,000. In Australasia and 

 Polynesia the colonies of Australia and New 

 Zealand, with the Norfolk Islands, British New 

 Guinea, the Kermadec Islands, and Auckland, 

 Lord Howe, Caroline, Starbuck, Maiden, and 

 Fanning islands, have a total area of 3,27<>.-:i-J 

 square miles, and contain altogether 3,607,811 

 inhabitants. 



The island of Cyprus, in the northern part 

 of the Levant, is administered by Great Brit- 

 ain in behalf of the Ottoman Empire, hav- 

 ing been ceded to England by the convention 

 concluded on June 4, 1878. Great Britain 

 agreed to pay a perpetual tribute of 92,800 

 a year, which was calculated on the net reve- 

 nue derived from the island by the Porte at the 

 time of the cession. The present High Com- 

 missioner is Sir Henry Ernest Bulwer, who 

 carries on the Government with the aid of a 

 Legislative Council of eighteen members, of 

 whom six are appointed by the Government, 

 nine are elected by the Christian inhabitants, 

 and three are elected by the Mohammedans. 

 The area is 3,584 square miles, and the popu- 

 lation in 1881 was 186,173, of which number 

 45,458 were Mohammedans and 137,031 be- 

 longed to the Orthodox Greek Church. When 

 Sir Garnet Wolseley took possession in the 

 name of the Queen in July, 1878, he issued a 

 proclamation promising great benefits to the 

 people. None of the promised blessings have 

 resulted from the connection with England, 

 except a reform of the judiciary. The Gov- 

 ernment has done nothing to give the people 

 improved roads and harbors, or to ameliorate 

 the primitive agriculture of the country or 

 promote education, while collecting 43.000 

 more taxes on the average than were paid 

 under the Ottoman administration, ami since 

 there has been no influx of English capital the 

 productive resources of the island have not 

 improved. The expenses of British administra- 

 tion are so much greater that Parliament has 

 been compelled each year to vote money to 

 make up the Turkish tribute, and many peo- 

 ple in Great Britain consider Cyprus a useless 

 incumbrance, since its strategical value has been 

 called in question in recent years. The grant 



in aid was 78,000 in 1882, 90,000 in 1883, 

 30,000 in 1884, 15,000 in each of the fol- 

 lowing two years, and 18,000 in 1887. The 

 imports have increased from 333,512 iu 1883 

 to 355,795 in 1887, and the exports from 

 276,129 to 312,797. The revenue in 1886- 

 '87 was 187,044 and the expenditure 110,- 

 044. Of the total expenditures the sum of 

 66,171 was for salaries, 10,723 for police, 

 and 10,024 for public works. The chief 

 sources of revenue are tithes, yielding 56,159, 

 and Verghi taxes, yielding 26,862. The trib- 

 ute to the Ottoman Government was paid over 

 at Constantinople according to the stipulation 

 as long as Lord Beaconsfield remained in power. 

 When the Liberal Government of 1880 came 

 in, the covenant was broken and the tribute 

 from that time has been detained, first to repay 

 advances made by the English and French 

 governments to meet the interest on the guar- 

 anteed Ottoman loan of 5,000,000 which was 

 raised in 1855 and on which the Turkish Gov- 

 ernment defaulted in 1875, and, after these 

 were cleared off, to provide the annual interest 

 on that loan in excess of the Egyptian tribute. 

 This absorbs 82,000 of the Cyprus tribute, 

 leaving 10,800 which is also detained toward 

 meeting the sinking-fund of 1 per cent, on the 

 guaranteed loan. In 1887 Cyprus suffered 

 from drought and deficient harvests, and the 

 administration was compelled to resort to ex- 

 traordinary measures to relieve famine and to 

 expend a larger sum than usual on the police 

 in order to check agrarian crime. Consequently 

 the surplus revenue for 1887-'88 fell off, and 

 the Governor informed the Colonial Secretary 

 that a grant in aid of not less than 60,000 

 would be required to restore the financial equi- 

 librium. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, 

 however, refused to sanction a larger vote than 

 30,000, and suggested a temporary reduction 

 of the salaries of the English officials. The 

 Legislative Council had already resolved to cut 

 down some of the higher salaries, but the pro- 

 ceedings were disallowed by Lord Knutsford, 

 who announced, however, that when the next 

 vacancy occurs the salary of the High Commis- 

 sioner will be fixed at 2,000 instead of 4,000, 

 and the salaries of other superior officials will 

 be reduced. The people of Cyprus, groaning 

 under the load of oppressive taxation, clamor 

 for the repudiation of the Turkish tribute, 

 which with the cost of the British official es- 

 tablishment consumes the bulk of the revenue, 

 leaving but a fraction to be applied to public 

 works or other useful objects. The arrange- 

 ment by which the Turkish tribute has been 

 diverted for the benefit of the British and 

 French treasuries does not rest on a definite 

 understanding with France, but continues only 

 during the good pleasure of the British Gov- 

 ernment. The total sum of the grants in aid 

 up to 1888 is 294,000, which is less by 77,- 

 200 than the half of the eight years' tribute 

 that has been appropriated by the British Ex- 

 chequer since 1880. 



