332 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



home and foreign trade in 1894 was 16,547, of 8,716.- 

 285 tons, employing 240,458 seamen, of whom 31,050 

 were foreigners. The total number of vessels reg- 

 istered as belonging to the United Kingdom was 

 21.206, of 8,956,181 tons, of which 12.943. of 2.9S7.- 

 161 tons, were sailing vessels and 8,263, of 5.969,020 

 tons, were steamers. The total shipping of the 

 British Empire comprised 36,181 vessels, of 10.512,- 

 272 tons. During 1894 there were 322 sailing ves- 

 sels, of 258,700 tons, and 521 steamers, of 434.091 

 tons, built and first registered in the United King- 

 dom. There were 7,920 sailing vessels, of 503.727 

 tons, and 2,597 steamers, of 404.684 tons, engaged 

 in the coasting trade; 246 sailing vessels, of 31,669 

 tons, and 338 steamers, of 222,462 tons, engaged 

 partly in the home trade and partly in the foreign 

 trade, and 1,845 sailing vessels, of 2.286,829 tons, 

 and 3.601 steamers, of 5,266,914 tons, engaged ex- 

 clusively in the foreign trade. 



Communications. The railroads in operation 

 at the beginning of 1895 had a total length of 

 20,908 miles, of which 14,536 miles were in England 

 and Wales, 3.328 miles in Scotland, and 3,044 miles 

 in Ireland. The share and loan capital amounted 

 to 985,387.355. There were 911,412,926 passengers 

 carried during the year, exclusive of holders of sea- 

 son tickets. The receipts from passengers amounted 

 to 36.495.488 and from goods traffic 43,379,078 ; 

 the total receipts from all sources were 84,310,831. 

 The working expenses amounted to 47,208.-! 13, 

 which was 56 per cent, of the gross income. The 

 canals of the United Kingdom have a total length 

 of 8,813 miles, of which 1,204 miles belong to rail- 

 road companies. The total capital is 20.959,820. 

 The Manchester ship canal, completed in 1894, has 

 a length of 35 miles and is 26 feet deep, with a 

 width at the bottom of 120 feet. The capital of the 

 company is 15,412,000. 



The number of letters delivered during 1895 was 

 1,502,000,000 in England and Wales, 156.000,000 in 

 Scotland, and 113,000,000 in Ireland; total, 1.771.- 

 000,000. The number of post cards, which have 

 partly taken the place of letters, owing to an exten- 

 sion of facilities, was 271.600.000 in England. 28,700, 

 000 in Scotland, and 12,500,000 in Ireland ; total, 312,- 

 800.000, showing an increase of nearly 26 per cent, 

 over the previous year. The number of book packets 

 was 522,500.000 in England, 60,800.000 in Scotland, 

 and 31,300,000 in Ireland; total, 614.600,000. The 

 number of newspapers was 117,500,000 in England, 

 17,300,000 in Scotland, and 17,000,000 in Ireland; 

 total. 151,800,000. The number of parcels was 47,- 

 200,000 in England. 6,100.000 in Scotland, and 3,800,- 

 000 in Ireland ; total, 57,100.000. The total num- 

 ber of money orders was 10.685,206. of the amount 

 of 28.923,127, of which 9,190,304, of the amount of 

 24,953,532, were inland orders; the total number 

 of postal orders was 60,681,078, of the amount of 

 22.759.282. The gross revenue of the post office, 

 exclusive of telegraphs, was 10,748,014 and work- 

 ing expenses 7,978,284, leaving a net revenue of 

 2.769,730. 



The telegraph lines of the British post office had 

 on March 31, 1895, a total length of 33,062 miles, 

 with 193,095 miles of wire, besides which there were 

 27,880 miles of private wire. The number of mes- 

 sages sent was 71,589.064, of which 60,216,708 were 

 sent in England and Wales. 7.334.094 in Scotland, 

 and 4,038,262 in Ireland. The gross revenue was 

 2.598,985 and the working expenses 76,354 greater, 

 causing a total deficit for the year of 452,803, in- 

 cluding interest on the price paid for the telegraphs 

 when they were sold by the companies to the Gov- 

 ernment in February, 1870. 



Currency. When the United Kingdom provided 

 in the coinage art of 1816 for the resumption of 

 specie payments, which was effected three years 



later, after having had an inconvertible paper cur- 

 rency since 1797, the single gold standard was 

 adopted. Previous to the French war silver was 

 the principal currency. The unit of value adopted 

 in the act of 1816 was the gold sovereign, contain- 

 ing 123-27447 grains of standard gold, 22 carats or 

 G'91666 fine, equal to 113 grains, or 7'3224 grammes 

 of gold, equivalent to a pound sterling or 20 shil- 

 lings of silver, whereas the guinea, which the sover- 

 eign superseded, was worth 21 shillings. The value 

 of the sovereign, or pound sterling, in United States 

 currency is $4.8665. The quantity of English gold 

 coin in actual circulation was estimated in July, 

 1896, at 62,500,000 ; the reserves in the banks at 

 1 7.500,000, and the foreign coin and bullion reserve 

 of the Bank of England at 30.000,000 ; total. 120,- 

 000,000. Silver is legal tender up to 40 shillings. 

 The silver coin in circulation amounts to about 

 25.000.000. The paper currency circulating at the 

 end of 1895 amounted to 41,400,000, of which 25.- 

 900,000 consisted of notes of the Bank of England, 

 1,800,000 of issues of English joint-stock and pri- 

 vate banks. 7,300,000 of notes issued by chartered 

 and joint-stock banks in Scotland. 2,500,000 of 

 Bank of Ireland notes, and 3,900,000 of those of 

 Irish joint-stock banks. The Bank of England 

 notes are legal tender, but the bank is obliged to 

 redeem them on demand in gold. The bank is also 

 required by its charter to give its notes in exchange 

 for gold bullion at the rate of 3 17*. 9r/. per ounce 

 of standard gold, the persons presenting the gold 

 having to bear the cost of assaying. The mint. 

 price thus established by law is less than the value 

 of the gold when coined by Id., which thus con- 

 stitutes the mint charge for coining an ounce of 

 gold. 



The Session of Parliament. The parliamen- 

 tary session of 1896 was opened on Feb. 11. The 

 Queen's speech, after mentioning the Venezuelan dis- 

 pute, the Armenian troubles, the Transvaal affair, 

 the Afghan boundary settlement, the Siamese 

 boundary arrangement with France, the subjuga- 

 tion of Ashanti. the conquest of Chitral, and the 

 extension of naval defenses, enumerated twelve 

 principal measures as representing the legislative 

 policy of the Government. The list comprised bills 

 dealing with naval defense, relief of agriculture, 

 elementary education, employers' liability, Irish 

 land. Scotch public health, trade conciliation, light 

 railways, alien immigration, metropolitan water 

 supply, an Irish Agricultural Department, and the 

 law of evidence in criminal cases. Measures for 

 mitigating the distress of classes engaged in the 

 agricultural industry were placed at the head of 

 the list, and the condition of agriculture was de- 

 clared to be disastrous beyond recent experience. 

 The creation of voluntary schools, the regulation of 

 pauper immigration, and the construction of light 

 railways for the rural districts were mentioned next 

 in order, and then the employers' liability bill, the 

 Irish land bill, and the formation of an Irish Board 

 of Agriculture. Some of the bilJs, dealing with the 

 less urgent of these subjects, were introduced, but 

 never came to discussion, and others, notably those 

 relating to the liability of employers and alien im- 

 migration, were not brought before Parliament at 

 all. Certain subjects, on the other hand, demanded 

 more than one measure, such as the English agri- 

 cultural rating bill, which involved equivalent legis- 

 lation for Scotland and Ireland, and the British 

 light railways bill, which was accompanied by a bill 

 for similar railways in Ireland. Ministerial meas- 

 ures were introduced that were not mentioned in 

 the Queen's speech twice as many as were men- 

 tioned and several of these consumed much time in 

 their discussion, such as the cattle diseases bill, the 

 coal mines regulation bill, the London cabs bill, the 



