GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



361 



880,520; of deaths, 528,056; of marriages, 

 191,634. 



In Scotland three fourths of the surface of 

 the country consists of mountains, marshes, 

 and other waste lands. Among the total pop- 

 ulation of 3,734,441, the number of males was 

 1,797,592 ; of females, 1,936,848. The num- 

 ber of registered paupers and their dependents 

 in 1880 was 98,608 ; the number of convictions 

 for crimes 2,046. The number of births in 

 1880 was 124,652 ; of deaths, 75,795 ; of mar- 

 riages, 24,489. The population of the eight 

 principal towns, containing together more than 

 one third of the total population of the coun- 

 try, was as follows: Glasgow, 511,532; Edin- 

 burgh, 228,190; Dundee, 142,454; Aberdeen, 

 105,054; Greenock, 68,897; Leith, 61,168; 

 Paisley, 55,642 ; Perth, 29,755. 



Of the 5,159,839 inhabitants of Ireland, 

 2,522,804 were males and 2,637,035 females. 

 The number of paupers reported in 1881 was 

 109,655 ; of convictions for crime, 2,383. 



The emigration of 1881, and the origin and 

 destination of the emigrants, were as follow : 



COLONIES. The colonial possessions of Great 

 Britain cover about one seventh of the land- 

 surface of the earth, and contain nearly one 

 fourth of its population. They are divided into 

 forty administrative divisions. The Dominion 

 of Canada, Newfoundland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, New 

 Zealand, Tasmania, and the Cape of Good Hope 

 possess responsible government, making their 

 own laws and administering their own govern- 

 ment; the Bahamas, Bermudas, Leeward Isl- 

 ands, Windward Islands, Natal, Ceylon, and 

 Western Australia possess representative in- 

 stitutions, but their legislation is more under 

 the control of the home authorities, and the 

 government is administered by crown officers ; 

 while the rest are governed entirely by the 

 crown. The cost of the colonies to Great Brit- 

 ain was, in 1879-'80, about 2,338,252, more 

 than half of which was expended upon the 

 naval and military stations of Gibraltar, Malta, 

 Cape Colony and Natal, Mauritius, Bermuda, 

 St. Helena, Cyprus, and Hong-Kong. 



The area and population of each of the col- 

 onies, dependencies, and occupied stations of 

 the British Empire in Europe, Asia, Australia, 

 Africa, and America, consisting in all of forty- 

 nine, and embracing the Dominion of Canada, 

 and the immense country of India with over 

 two hundred and fifty million inhabitants, are 

 presented in the following table : 



The railroad mileage of the British Islands 

 in 1881 was 18,180 miles, against 17,933 in 

 1880. The mileage in England and Wales was 

 12,810; in Scotland, 2,930; in Ireland, 2,440. 

 The total cost of the railroads was reported as 

 745,519,000; the gross annual receipts 63,- 

 873,000; the net receipts 31,828,000. 



The length of the telegraph lines belonging 

 to the Government was about 26,000 miles; 

 the length of wires 121,000 miles. The num- 

 ber of dispatches sent in 1881-'82 was 31,345,- 



* Not including the Kuria Muria Islands, Mosha, Kama- 

 ran, and Keeling Islands, the total area of which is less than 

 one hundred square miles. 



t Not including the Chatham Islands, Norfolk Island, and 

 the Islands of Auckland. Lord Howe. Caroline, Starbuck, 

 Maiden, and Fanning. The natives of Australia, estimated at 

 55,000. and the Maoris of New Zealand, numbering 44,000, 

 are not included. 



t Not including Whale Bay, Tristan da Cunha, New Am- 

 sterdam, and St. Paul. 



