386 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The 

 leader of the House of Commons and First Lord 

 of the Treasury is W. H. Smith. The other 

 members of the Cabinet, which was constituted 

 on Aug. 3, 1886, are as follow : Lord High Chan- 

 cellor, Lord Halsbury, formerly Sir Hardinge S. 

 Giffard ; Lord President of the Council, Vis- 

 count Cran brook, formerly Gathorne Hardy ; 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Joachim 

 Goschen ; Secretary of State for the Home De- 

 partment, Henry Matthews ; Secretary of State 

 for War, Edward Stanhope ; Secretary of State 

 for the Colonies, Lord Knutsford ; Secretary of 

 State for India, Viscount Cross; First Lord of 

 the Admiralty, Lord George Hamilton; Lord 

 Chancellor of Ireland, Lord Ashbourne, formerly 

 Edward Gibson ; Chief Secretary of the Lord 

 Lieutenant of Ireland, Arthur J. Balfour ; Chan- 

 cellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Duke of 

 Rutland, formerly Lord John Manners; Presi- 

 dent of the Board of Trade, Sir Michael Hicks- 

 Beach ; Lord Privy Seal, Earl Cadogan ; Presi- 

 dent of the Local Government Board, Charles 

 Thomas Ritchie ; President of the Board of Ag- 

 riculture, Henry Chaplin. 



Area and Population. The area of the 

 United Kingdom is 121,481 square miles. The 

 population of England increased from 15,002,443 

 in 1841 to 24,613.926 in 1881 ; that of Wales, 

 from 911,705 to 1,360,513 ; and that of Scotland 

 from 2,620,184 to 3,735,573 ; while that of Ire- 

 land decreased from 8,196,597 to 5,174,836. The 

 population of the whole United Kingdom on 

 April 4, 1881, was 35,241,482. The number 

 speaking the Celtic languages was 2,067,359. 

 About 70 per cent, of the people of Wales and 

 Monmouthshire could speak Welsh ; 6'20 per 

 cent, of the population of Scotland could speak 

 Gaelic ; and 18-2 per cent, of the people of Ire- 

 land codld speak the Irish language. From the 

 tables of births and deaths the population of 

 England and Wales on June 30, 1889, was com- 

 puted to be 29,015,613 : of Scotland, 4,077,070 ; 

 of Ireland, 4,716,209 ; the total for the United 

 Kingdom, 37,808,892, exclusive of soldiers, sea- 

 men of the navy, and merchant seamen abroad. 

 The population of the inner ring of the me- 

 tropolis or London proper in 1888 was esti- 

 mated in 1888 at 4,282.921. The part included 

 in the registration district contained 4,351,738 

 inhabitants in 1889. The other towns in Eng- 

 land having more than 100,000 inhabitants in 

 that year were Liverpool, 604,562 ; Birmingham, 

 454,835 ; Manchester, 378,800 ; Hull, 234,283 ; 

 Leeds, 357,449 ; Sheffield, 327,227 ; Bristol, 229,- 

 361; Bradford, 235,056; Nottingham, 237,812; 

 Salford, 208,017; Newcastle, 160,983; Ports- 

 mouth, 141,253 ; Leicester, 150,520 ; Sunderland, 

 134,193; Oldham, 142.405; Brighton, 121,807; 

 Blackburn, 121,275 ; Bolton, 114,670 ; Preston, 

 104.194; Cardiff, 112,712; Birkenhead, 102,541. 

 In Scotland, at the last census, Glasgow had 

 674,095; Edinburgh, 236,002: Dundee, 140,239; 

 Aberdeen, 105,189. In Ireland the only cities 

 with more than 100,000 population were Dublin, 

 with 349,648 within the metropolitan limits, and 

 Belfast, with 208,122. 



The number of marriages in England and 

 Wales in 1888 was 203,456; of births, 879.263; 

 of deaths, 510,690 ; the number of marriages in 

 Scotland, 25,281 ; of births, 123,233 ; of deaths, 



71,162 ; the number of marriages in Ireland, 

 20,018 ; of births, 109,557 ; of deaths, 85,962. 



The number of emigrants from the United 

 Kingdom, including foreigners, in 1889, was 

 343,551, against 398,491 in 1888, and 396,494 in 

 1887. The emigration to the United States was 

 241,029, against 293,087 in 1888, and 296,901 in 

 1887 ; to British North America, 38,132, against 

 49,107 in 1888 and 44,406 in 1887 : to Australia, 

 29,040, against 31,725 in 1888 and 35,198 in 1887 ; 

 to other countries, 35,350. The number of Brit- 

 ish-born emigrants in 1889 was 254,568, against 

 279,928 in 1888 ; and of these 64,972 were Irish, 

 against 73,233 in 1888, 25,371 were Scotch, 

 against 35,873, and 164,225 were English, against 

 170,822. The immigrants in 1888 numbered 

 128,879, of whom 94,133 were of British origin. 

 Since 1876, while 3,050,000 people of British and 

 Irish origin have left the United Kingdom, 

 995,000, or nearly one third as many, have im- 

 migrated. In the five years 1876-'80 the net 

 emigration was 434,000, an average of 87,000 per 

 annum ; in 1881-'85 it was 934,000, an average 

 of 187,000 per annum ; and in the four years 

 1886-'89 it was 685,000, or about 171,000 per 

 annum. The movement, though not so great as 

 in several other countries of western Europe, 

 has in the four years been equal to 5 per 1,000 

 of the population annually, or five twelfths of 

 the average yearly excess of births over deaths. 

 Two thirds of the emigration has been to the 

 United States. 



Education. Compulsory education was in- 

 troduced in 1870, when board schools were estab- 

 lished in the towns and country districts, under 

 the control of school boards, in the election of 

 which female rate payers participate, and for 

 which women are eligible. The Government 

 paid, under the code that has been in force till 

 1890, a fixed grant of 4s. Qd. per annum for every 

 pupil taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, 

 and for various degrees of excellence, as deter- 

 mined by the examinations of the school in- 

 spectors appointed by the Council of Education, 

 Is., 2s., or 3s. extra, also Is. or 2s. for each pupil 

 instructed in English, geography, history, draw- 

 ing, or needlework, and 4s. for mathematics, 

 physics, chemistry, botany, Latin, French, or, in 

 the girls' schools, cookery. A large part of the 

 cost of the schools is defrayed out of the school 

 rates levied on householders, which average 3 or 

 4 per cent, of the rent. In addition to this and 

 to the Government grants the school boards are 

 empowered to exact a fee from each pupil, not 

 to exceed 9d. a week. Rarely is the fee so high, 

 and commonly it is only Id., which is brought 

 to the teacher every Monday morning. The 

 Government hesitates to accede to the popular 

 demand for gratuitous education, falling back on 

 the old argument that the school fees make the 

 advantages of education appear more valuable 

 in the eyes of parents, although Lord Salisbury 

 held out the prospect of the abolition of school 

 fees not long before the new education code was 

 promulgated. The real obstacle was the attitude 

 of the supporters of the voluntary schools con- 

 trolled by the Anglican and other religious 

 bodies. These depend, to a great extent, on 

 voluntary contributions and school fees. Many 

 of them were in existence before the board 

 schools were established, and they have been 



