GREAT BRITAIN. 



871 



The statistics for the total amount annually 

 ised |.\ l< ;il taxation and other locul revenue, 

 provide for the expenditure, connected with 

 relief <>(' tlio poor, county and borough po- 

 roads and bridge*, drainage and lighting 

 town-, etc., an- not of later date than the 

 ending March 81, 1872, when they were 

 follows : Receipts from locul taxes, 26,- 

 4,186 = $132,22tU580; other receipts, 1 2,- 

 Ai;i.-j:;:,,yoO; total local revenue, 

 .28=$193,450,640. Of this, 11,244,- 

 ^$66,920,360 was tor poor-rates and the 

 lintciiaiice of tho poor. The aggregate of 

 is local taxation and revenue does not prob- 

 ably differ materially now from the aggregate 

 of 1>72 ; as, though the poor-rates have some- 

 what increased, other expenditures have been 

 slightly diminished ; but they show that, taken 

 with the national revenue, the sum of 116,- 

 081,486 = $580,407,480 is annually raised by 

 direct and indirect taxation in the United 

 Kingdom, or about $17.90 per head of the 

 population. 



2. National Debt. The national debt, in- 

 cluding terminable annuities, was, on the 31st 

 day of March, 1874, 779,283,245 = $3,896,- 

 416,225 ; and the interest charges thereon 

 26,706,726=$133,538,630. The principal of 

 the debt has fluctuated greatly since 1817, 

 when the English and Irish Exchequers were 

 consolidated ; at that time it stood at 840,- 

 850,491 =$4,204,252,465; in 1836 it had been 

 reduced to787,638,816=$3,938,194,080, a re- 

 duction of nearly $266,000,000. In 1860 it had 

 risen again to 802,190,300=$4,010,951,500. 

 This was exclusive of about $250,000,000 of 

 terminable annuities. So that the entire debt 

 at that time was really about $4,261,000,000. 

 From that date it has been constantly though 

 slowly diminishing, till it has reached its pres- 

 ent amount. This is equal to $120.21.5 per 

 head of the population of the United King- 

 dom. 



ARMY AND NAVY: 1. Army. The total 

 force of the United Kingdom during the year 

 ending March 31, 1875, is, by vote of the 

 House of Commons, to consist of 6,989 com- 

 missioned officers, 16,280 non-commissioned 

 officers, trumpeters, and drummers, and 105,- 

 725 rank and file, being a total of 128,994 men 

 of all ranks. These are the effectives, and do not 

 include officers on the retired lists, pensioners, 

 militia, yeomanry-cavalry, volunteers, or rifle- 

 men. Nor does it include the British army in 

 India, which, for the same year, amounted to 

 62,840 men of all ranks, a slight diminution 

 from the previous year, while the home army 

 shows a very material increase of about 23,000 

 men. The militia force provided for in 1874- 

 '75 was 139,018 ; the yeomanry-cavalry, 15,378 ; 

 the volunteers, which included the riflemen, 

 153,266 ; and the enrolled pensioners and army 

 reserve force, 33,000, of whom 10,000 belonged 

 to the first class and 23,000 to the second. 

 There is thus preparation for a military force, 

 in case of emergency, of 582,496 men of all 



arms. The array estimates of expenditure for 



tin-, force and for building, fortification*, sup- 

 plies, and non-effective gcrviecH, in 1874-'76, 

 were 14,485,300 =$72,426,500. The educa- 

 tional condition of the army, January 1, 1874, 

 waa as follows: Out of regimcntM and corps, 

 amounting to 178,856 men, 10, 724 could neither 

 read nor write, 9,543 could read but not write, 

 99,910 could read and write, and 68,179 were 

 better educated. There is now compulsory 

 education in the army, the rule laid down in 

 the Queen's Regulations being that every re- 

 cruit is obliged to attend school until he is in 

 possession of a fourth-class certificate of edu- 

 cation. 



2. Ncwy. On the 1st of January, 1874, there 

 were in commission in the British navy 112 

 sea-going steamers of all grades, 72 reserve 

 steamers, and 55 sailing-vessels, making in all 

 239 vessels of all grades in commission. Of 

 these only the 112 sea-going steamers were in 

 active service, away from the home-ports or 

 the coast-guarding service. The most efficient 

 portion of the navy is the iron-clad fleet, which 

 consisted, in January, 1875, of 62 vessels, in- 

 cluding four not yet completed. A number of 

 these are the most formidable naval vessels 

 yet constructed by any nation. The first class, 

 consisting of the Devastation, the Thunderer, 

 the Fury, and the Inflexible, are iron ships, 

 without masts, with two turrets, of from 5,600 

 to 8,000 indicated horse-power, and a displace- 

 ment of from 9,157 to 11,165 tons, with armor- 

 plates of twelve inches average thickness, and 

 carrying each four 700-pounder guns in their 

 turrets. The second class are two rams, the 

 Rupert and Hotspur, of extraordinary power 

 and speed, capable of crushing and destroying 

 any armored vessels with which they may 

 come in contact at full speed. They carry two 

 18-ton guns. The third class consists of nine 

 mastless single-turret ships for coast-defense 

 very strong, but not adapted for long cruises. 

 The fourth class, of five full-rigged ships, of 

 great speed for cruising, well armored, and gen- 

 erally carrying seven or eight guns of 18 tons 

 each. The fifth class consists of ten second- 

 rate rigged ships for cruising. The sixth class, 

 of seventeen third-rates, generally of consider- 

 able speed, but not very formidable as fighting- 

 ships. The seventh class consists of eleven 

 iron-clads, of small size, for coast-defense. 

 There are also four iron unarmored frigates, of 

 large size and great speed, with a heavy arma- 

 ment, twenty to twenty-six guns each, and re- 

 puted to be the swiftest vessels in the navy. 

 The number of seamen and marines provided 

 for the different departments of the service, in 

 1874-75, was, for the fleet, 33,500 seamen and 

 7,000 boys, including 3,000 for training ; 7,000 

 marines afloat and 7,000 on shore; for the 

 coast-guard, shore-duty, officers and men, 4,800 ; 

 for the Indian service, officers and men, 1,200 ; 

 making a total of 60,000 men and boys in the 

 naval service. The estimates of expenditure 

 for the naval service for the year ending March 



