632 



SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



postal revenue was 15,875,213 francs, and ex- 

 penses 14,677,349 francs. The Government tele- 

 graphs in 1899 had a length of 8,808 miles, with 

 26,342 miles of wire; the railroad telegraphs had 

 a length of 5,763 miles, with 19,179 miles of wire. 

 The number of paid internal despatches was 

 1,444,019; of international despatches, 918,403; in 

 transit, 366,643; service despatches, 86,541. 



Norway. The Norwegian Diet is called the 

 Storthing, consisting of 114 members elected for 

 three years, 38 by the towns and 76 by the rural 

 districts. The Storthing elects one-fourth of its 

 members to form the Lagthing, which has a veto 

 power over the acts of the Odelsthing, composed 

 of the rest of the members. The Minister of State 

 presiding over the Council of State at the begin- 

 ning of 1901 was Johannes Wilhelm Christian 

 Steen, and the Councilors of State were: Eccle- 

 siastical Affairs and Public Instruction, Vilhelm 

 Andreas Wexelsen; Justice, Ole Anton Qvam; 

 Interior, Minister of State J. W. C. Steen; Agri- 

 culture, Wollort Konow; Public Works, Jorgen 

 Gundersen Lovland; Finance and Customs, Soren 

 Tobias Arstad; Defense, Lieut.-Col. Hans Georg 

 Jacob Stang; Public Accounts, W. Konow; dele- 

 gation at Stockholm, Minister of State Otto Al- 

 bert Blehr and Councilors of State Elias Sunde 

 and Commodore Christian Sparre. 



Area and Population. The area of Norway 

 is 124,445 square miles. The provisional reports 

 of the census of Dec. 3, 1900, made the total popu- 

 lation, 2,231,395. Christiania, the capital, had 

 225,686 inhabitants; Bergen, 72,179. School at- 

 tendance for seven years in the country and seven 

 and one-half years in towns is compulsory. There 

 were 5,966 public primary schools with 255,433 

 pupils in the country districts in 1896, and in the 

 towns 2,165 classes with 69,466 pupils. The cost 

 was 8,302,943 kroner, of which the state supplied 

 2,462,541 kroner and towns, counties, and parishes 

 the rest. The University of Christiania had 1,350 

 students in 1899. Of 6,699 emigrants in 1899 no 

 fewer than 6,466 went to the United States, and 

 of the rest 51 went to British America. 



Finances. The budget estimate of revenue for 

 the year ending March 31, 1901, was 99,641,070 

 kroner, of which sum the income-tax receipts 

 give 5,100,000 kroner, customs 35,000,000 kroner, 

 spirit excise duties 4,300,000 kroner, malt excise 

 duties 4,000,000 kroner, succession duty 560,000 

 kroner, stamps 1,070,000 kroner, judicial fees 

 900,000 kroner, mines 445,920 kroner, the post- 

 office 5,100,000 kroner, telegraphs 2,350,000 kro- 

 ner, state property 3,283,741 kroner, railroads 12,- 

 224,400 kroner, various sources 7,186,696 kroner, 

 loans for national defense and railroad construc- 

 tion 14,357,113 kroner, cash surplus from prece- 

 ding year 3,763,200 kroner. The expenditure for 

 1901 balances the receipts in the budget, and of 

 the total sum the civil list absorbs 542,147 kroner, 

 the Storthing 881,500 kroner; the ministries take 

 1,627,938 kroner, churches and schools 9,117,571 

 kroner; 7,039,562 kroner are the expenses of jus- 

 tice, 4,769,251 kroner of the Interior department; 

 posts and telegraphs cost 12,849,141 kroner to 

 operate and maintain, the Government railroads 

 22,036,470 kroner, roads, canals, and harbors 

 4,677,717 kroner, and mines 597,130 kroner; the 

 administration of finance and customs costs 4,084,- 

 958 kroner; for amortization of the debt 2,380,376 

 kroner are required, for interest 6,436,422 kroner; 

 the expenses of the army are 14,471,160 kroner, 

 and of the navy 4,485,000 kroner; the depart- 

 ment of Foreign Affairs requires 782,020 kroner, 

 and 2,862,707 kroner are left for miscellaneous 

 expenses. 



The amount of the public debt on June 30, 



1899, was 198,549,146 kroner, having been in- 

 creased 20,880,000 kroner in twelve months. The 

 sinking-fund for the year was 2,502,115 kroner 

 and the interest charge 5,992,888 kroner. 



The Army and Navy. The Norwegian mili- 

 tary forces are raised by conscription, but re- 

 cruits are required only to train forty-eight days 

 for infantry and mountain and fortress artillery, 

 sixty days for engineers, eighty days for field- 

 artillery, and ninety days for cavalry, and for 

 two or three years to exercise twenty-four days 

 annually. The troops of the line number about 

 900 officers and 30,000 men, but not above 18,000 

 may be summoned to arms at one time, even in 

 case of war, except with the consent of the 

 Storthing. The army for war purposes is organ- 

 ized in 5 brigades of infantry, each brigade com- 

 posed of 4 corps, and each corps of 1 battalion 

 of the active troops, 1 battalion of Landwehr, 

 and 1 battalion of Landsturm; 3 corps of light 

 cavalry from each ban, armed and trained as 

 mounted rifles, 2 corps having 3 and 1 having 2 

 squadrons; 3 corps of field-artillery, each corps 

 containing 1 battalion from each ban, the battal- 

 ion consisting of 3 batteries of 6 pieces ; 2 batteries 

 of mountain artillery; 5 fortress battalions of 

 seacoast artillery, with 5 signal companies and 5 

 torpedo companies; and 1 corps of engineers, con- 

 sisting of 1 battalion each from the line, the 

 Landwehr, and the Landsturm, the battalion con- 

 sisting of 2 companies of sappers, 1 company of 

 pontoon troops, 1 company of telegraphists, and 

 1 company of equipage; 1 corps of train, composed 

 of 1 battalion of 3 companies from each ban ; and 

 1 corps of sanitary troops, composed of 3 com- 

 panies from each ban. The total effective strength 

 is estimated at 1,700 officers and 80,000 men. 



The Norwegian fleet has 4 armor-clad coast- 

 defense turret-ships of 3,500 tons, 4 monitors of 

 older construction, 3 first-class and 8 second-class 

 gunboats of different dates, 1 torpedo despatch 

 boat, and 8 first-class and 17 second-class torpedo 

 boats. 



Legislation. In addition to the ordinary 

 army estimates, amounting to 14,000,000 kroner, 

 Col. Stang obtained appropriations for extraordi- 

 nary purposes, including 1,180,000 kroner for de- 

 fenses of the land approaches to Christiania, 

 1,400,000 kroner for the purchase of quick-firing 

 guns, 800,000 kroner to continue the construction 

 of forts near Christiansand, and 120,000 kroner 

 to complete laying mines near Bergen. 



Commerce and Production. The chief agri- 

 cultural products of Norway are oats, barley, and 

 potatoes. The forests cover 26,320 square miles, 

 three-fourths of this area consisting of fir or 

 spruce. The Government has 3,870 square miles 

 of forests managed by state foresters. The value 

 of rough lumber exported in 1899 was 39,571,700 

 kroner; of manufactured lumber, 19,435,800 kro- 

 ner. The total value of mineral products in 1898 

 was 3,793,800 kroner; of furnace products, 1,299,- 

 000 kroner; of manufactured iron and steel, 

 76,000 kroner; of silver, 345,000 kroner; of copper 

 ore, 1,575,800 kroner; of copper, 884,000 kroner. 

 There were 89,292 persons in 1898 engaged in the 

 cod fisheries, 21,203 in herring-fishing in the sum- 

 mer, and 2,659 in fishing for mackerel, while all the 

 mining establishments employed only 2,359. The 

 value of the cod catch in 1898 was 8,934,234 

 kroner; of herring. 5,829.030 kroner; of mackerel, 

 386,223 kroner; of salmon and sea trout, 839,310 

 kroner; of lobsters, 479,920 kroner; of oysters, 

 7,864 kroner; total, 21,714,253 kroner, not includ- 

 ing mackerel fisheries in the North Sea, bank 

 fisheries, and whale, walrus, seal, and shark fish- 

 eries, producing 3,600,000 kroner more. 



