638 FIJI 



tion includes merchants (shopkeepers and employees), fishermen, carpenters and 

 builders, smiths, boatmen and teachers named in order of their numerical impor- 

 tance. As the inhabitants are mostly small-holders, many of them combine several 

 occupations. 



Weihaiwei is now a regular port of call for many China coasting steamers sailing north- 

 wards from Shanghai, and there is also a regular weekly service, carrying mails and passengers 

 between Shanghai and Weihaiwei, subsidised by the Government. The mails are landed 

 and shipped at Port Edwar;', where the main Post Office has been established and which is 

 now the principal anchorage for steamers, instead of, as formerly, on the Island of Liu 

 Kung. The shortest time in which a mail has arrived from London via Siberia is 15 days. 

 The number of steamers that called during 1911 was 615, net tonnage 519,399. 



Of the total area, which is 285 square miles, it is estimated that not more than two-fifths 

 is arable land. The principal export crop is ground-nuts (Arachis 'hypogaea), the export of 

 which amounted in 1911 to 547 tons of nuts and 8510 tons of seeds. Shark fishing has been 

 carried on by the Japanese since 1908, but only seven boats were engaged during 1911. 



Revenue in 1911-12 was $74,673, expenditure 153,591, and grant-in-aid 6000. 



The 1911 census returned 8637 males and 40 females of the Chinese population as able to 

 read and write; that is, just below 6 per cent of the total population, or over II per cent of 

 the male population. The people of the territory have voluntarily agreed to levy a small 

 tax on theatrical performances for the improvement of the standard of education in village 

 schools, which is very low. The government Free School during the year 1911 had an aver- 

 age attendance of 60 pupils. There are several other schools for boys and girls under the 

 management of Europeans. From the Chinese treaty ports and Hong Kong, boys are now 

 sent to the Weihaiwei School for European Boys. The average attendance is about 50 

 and the school is now the home of the First North China Troop of Boy Scouts. 



The inhabitants of the territory are, for the most part, of an orderly nature, and crime is 

 rare. In 1911 there were 786 convictions. Gambling is responsible for a large proportion 

 of these. The prisoners are employed on labour of a useful kind, such as roadmending and 

 treeplanting. The total strength of the police force is 3 European inspectors, 3 Chinese 

 sergeants and 52 constables; an average of one policeman to 2830 of the population. 



The territory is remarkable for the number of suicides 31 males and 63 females in 1911. 



In 1909 the Provincial Assemblies were inaugurated in China. On the Weihaiwei reg- 

 ister of the electors entitled to vote or to become members of the Provincial Assembly of 

 Shantung, appeared about 500 names. 



An ordinance was introduced in 1909, prohibiting generally the importation, sale and 

 smoking of opium, or any other hypnotic except on medical grounds. A refuge was opened 

 under the control of a medical officer for those who desired to rid themselves of the opium 

 habit. The number of persons licenced to smoke opium in 1911 was 42 as compared with 

 50 in 1910 and no in 1909. The licensed smokers are either over 50 years of age or suffer 

 from a chronic disease. The opium habit is becoming less prevalent and there are few 

 young men who indulge in it. On the other hand cases of drunkenness, which till recent 

 years were very rare among the Chinese of Weihaiwei, are now becoming more numerous. 



The Revolution in China in 1911 caused an outbreak of disturbances on the Weihaiwei 

 frontier, which necessitated employing marines to guard the boundary. On the withdrawal 

 of the marines a force of a hundred men of the Royal Innis-killing Fusiliers was sent from 

 Tientsin to take their place. The city of Weihaiwei, following the lead of the Treaty port 

 of Chefoo, declared itself in favour of the Republican party on the I4th of November. 



The Commissioner of Weihaiwei is Sir James Haldane Stewart Lockhart, K.C.M.G. 



(H. SPOONER.) 



Fiji 1 



The total population at the end of 1911 was 142,761, as compared with 137,588 in 

 1910. During 1911 4,216 Indian immigrants entered as against 3,879 during 1910. 



The colony continues to progress satisfactorily. A large area of native land has 

 been taken up on leasehold and the industries have increased. The Sigatoka dis- 

 trict, now opened up, promises to be one of the principal sugar-producing districts. 

 The field work of the trigonometrical survey of Viti Lcvu was completed during 1911. 



In March iqio the colony was visited by a hurricane which did considerable damage 

 to buildings and plantations. Banana plantations and many acres of sugar-cane were 

 entirely destroyed, the latter being affected more particularly by floods in the low-lying 

 country where cane is principally grown. Damage to coco-nut plantations was also 

 considerable, but rubber plantations were unaffected by the wind. 



Finance. The revenue for 1911 amounted to 240,395 or 28,442 more than for 1910, 



1 See E. B. x, 335. 



