SINGBHUM 



SINOPE 



473 



In 1896 the exports were 26,697,041 ; imports, 

 31,389,324. The imports embrace nearly every 

 kind of European manufacture ; whilst the exports 

 consist of the productions of the East Indies, 

 China, Japan, and the islands of the Western 

 Pacific. The tonnage of the vessels entering the 

 port has heen known to increase at the rate 

 of 74 per cent, annually : in 1897 the harbour 

 was entered by 9777 vessels of nearly 8,145,378 

 tons. The vessels of the P. and O. Company, 

 the Messageries Maritimes, and other large com- 

 panies trading to China, Australia, and the East 

 put in regularly at Singapore. The population 

 has grown at tlie same rapid rate as the com- 

 merce : in 1824 the town had 10,603 inhabitants ; 

 (1850)50,000; (1871)97,111 ; (1881)139,208; (1891) 

 160,000. This number included about 90,000 

 Chinese, 25,000 Malays, 12,000 natives of India, 

 and 1300 Europeans. There is a vast disproportion 

 between the numbers of the male ( 105,423) and the 

 female (33,785) inhabitants. The death-rate is high, 

 yet the climate, in spite of Singapore being situated 

 little more than 1 N. of the equator, is uniform 

 and agreeable, the nights being particularly cool 

 and refreshing. The thermometer ranges between 

 67 and 94 F. and has a mean of about 82. The 

 rainfall varies from 65'6 to 92'2 inches in the year. 

 There was a former town on the site of the present 

 city, which was founded by Malay converts to 

 Hinduism from Java or Sumatra, apparently in 

 the 12th century ; but it had wholly disappeared 

 when Sir S. Raffles laid the foundations of the 

 existing Singapore (i.e. 'Lion City'). It was 

 made the capital of the Straits Settlements ( q. v. ) 

 in 1830, superseding Penang. 



Sintfbhlim, one of the four districts of the 

 division of Chota Nagpore (q.v.), with no large 

 towns. 



Singer, Isaac. See SEWING-MACHINE. 



Siiighara \ut. See TRAPA. 



Singing. See Music, OPERA, ORATORIO, SOL- 

 FA SYSTEM, SOLFEGGIO, SONG, SOUND, THROAT, 

 VOICE. For Singing- flames, see FLAME. 



Single-stick. See FKXCING, Vol. IV. p. 578 ; 

 and Broadrword and Singlestick, by Allanson-Winn 

 and Phillipps-Wolley (1890). 



Sing Sing, a post-village of New York, 

 pleasantly situated on the left bank of the Hud- 

 son ( here 3 miles wide, and called Tappan Bay ), 

 31 mile* by rail N. of New York City. It contains 

 many villas and a number of boarding-schools, and 

 has some busy manufactories ; but it ia most 

 widely known as the site of the large state-prison 

 which rises from the bank of the river, and 

 has been built since 1825. The Croton Aqueduct 

 rests here on an arch of masonry with a span of 

 88 feet. Pop (1890) 9352. 



Sinigaglia. or SKXIGALLIA (anc. Sena-Gallia), 

 a seaport on the Adriatic coast of Italy, 16 miles 

 by rail NW. of Ancona, was down to 1869 cele- 

 brated for its annual fair, 20th July to 8th August. 

 It was founded by the Senonian Gauls, and colon- 

 ised by the Romans 289 B.C. There are here a 

 cathedral (1787) and a palace of the dukes of 

 Urbino. Pop. 9602. Pius IX. was born here. 



Sinister. See HERALDRY, Vol. V. p. 661, and 



BATON S1MSTKR. 



Sinking Fund, a fund formed by setting 

 aside income; every year to accumulate at interest 

 for the purpose of paving off debt. A sinking 

 fund for payment of the national debt of Britain 

 was begun in 1716 by Sir Rol>ert Walpole. Cer- 

 tain taxes which had been laid on for limited 

 periods were then rendered perpetual, for the 

 purpose of paying the interest of the funded debt. 

 They produced more than enough for this pur- 



pose, and the surplus was laid aside, that it 

 might accumulate into a fund for extinguishing 

 the debt. It appeared to operate well, since, in 

 1728, after it had existed for twelve years, debt 

 was wiped off to the extent of 6,648,000. It was 

 not observed that, during the wiping off, new debt 

 had been created to about the same extent, so that 

 the nation was just in the position in which it 

 would have been had it neither borrowed nor repaid. 

 It was in 1784-86, however, that the system was 

 established on a great scale by the younger Pitt, 

 who, notwithstanding his great practical abilities, 

 was entirely misled by the theories of Dr Price in 

 his work on Annuities. The system continued to 

 be conducted on an enormous scale, until another 

 student of economy and figures conclusively proved 

 it to be useless ; this was accomplished in 1813 by 

 Dr Hamilton, in his Inquiry on the National Debt. 

 The fallacy which Dr Hamilton showed to pervade 

 the sinking fund of Mr Pitt may be best explained 

 by a simple example. Suppose that one requires 

 to borrow 100, and lays by 5 a year as a fund 

 to pay it up with. Accumulating at compound 

 interest, this fund will pay back the loan in about 

 fifteen years. The borrower will, however, gain no 

 more by the process than if he paid the 5 a year to 

 his creditor, for his debt would be diminishing to 

 precisely the same extent as the fund to pay it off 

 would be increasing. Suppose that, while requiring 

 only 100, the borrower raises 200, and lends out 

 one of them, accumulating the interest until the 

 whole amounts to 200 ; the borrower will no doubt 

 be receiving interest on 100, but he will be at the 

 same time paying interest on 200 ; and he would 

 repay his deb't at the same cost and with more 

 simplicity if, instead of borrowing the second 

 hundred at 5 per cent., he paid over 5 a year to 

 his creditor. In these instances nothing is lost by 

 the sinking fund. But suppose that in the last 

 case the creditor had agreed to lend the 100 at 5 

 per cent., but, in consideration of the greater risk, 

 would not lend the 200 at less than 6 per cent., 

 while the borrower can only get 6 per cent, for the 

 half which he relends here the transaction would 

 cause a dead loss of 2 a year over the plan of 

 repaying by instalments. This was exactly the 

 case with the British sinking fund. The more 

 money the Chancellor of the Exchequer wanted 

 the higher were the terms demanded by the 

 lenders, and the addition to eacli loan on account 

 of the sinking fund increased the rate of interest 

 paid. A new sinking fund on a better plan was 

 started by Sir S. Northcote ( Lord Iddesleigh ) in 

 1875, the permanent charge for debt being fixed 

 at 28 millions. As usually happens in such cases, 

 the fixed rule was not observed ; Sir S. Northcote's 

 scheme was suspended by Mr Childers and Sir 

 W. Harcourt, and altered by Mr Goschen. See 

 NATIONAL DEBT, Vol. VII. p. 405; and R. L. 

 Nash, Sinking Fund and Redemption Tables ( 1884 ). 

 Sinope (Turk. Sinnb), a town of Asiatic 

 Turkey, stands on a rocky tongue projecting into 

 the Black Sea, 220 miles W. by N. of Trebizond. 

 It has two harbours, one presenting the finest 

 anchorage along the northern coast of Asiatic 

 Turkey. The town is surrounded by ancient 

 Byzantine walls, and has a ruined castle built 

 under Byzantine influence. The bay was the scene 

 of a naval engagement on 30th November 1853, 

 when a Turkish squadron was destroyed by the 

 Russian fleet. The ancient city of Sinope was 

 founded by a colony of Milesian Greeks, and for 

 several years shared with Byzantium the suprem- 

 acy of the Euxine. It was made by Pharnaces 

 the capital of the kingdom of Pontus in 183 B.C. 

 The great Mithridates, who was born within its 

 walls, raised it to a lofty pitch of splendour. But 

 in 72 i ;.c. it capitulated to Lucullus, and in 45 B.C. 



