WEST INDIES. 



WEST VIRGINIA. 



805 



brought the colony an annual revenue of 1,000,- 

 000 francs. 



The Governor of Guadeloupe reported that 

 in the very year when sugar was lowest the 

 island produced the largest crop it ever made, 

 of about 55,000 tons ; and that the price c^- 

 tained did not cover cost. The Governor also 

 said that he had addressed a circular of inquiry 

 to all planters and owners of sugar-houses, and 

 they were unanimous in their reply that the 

 only way the sugar industry could be assisted 

 would be to pay a bounty on all sugar shipped, 

 whether to France or abroad. Later he re- 

 ported that the passage of the sugar bill in the 

 French Chambers had infused new courage 

 into the minds of planters, and that, with the 

 assistance of the Colonial Bank, they had be- 

 gun to actively prepare their fields for the 

 1884-'85 sugar-crop. 



In January, 1885, news was received that 

 the agricultural and commercial condition of 

 Guadeloupe had improved, and that the coffee- 

 crop would jield well. Up to November 1, 

 there had been shipped 110,261 hogsheads of 

 sugar, against 102,698 in 1883. There had also 

 been exported, during the first eleven months, 

 196, 497 litres of molasses, 152,226 kilogrammes 

 of cocoa, 374,010 kilogrammes of annotto, 1,- 

 240,136 kilogrammes of logwood, and 1,801 

 kilogrammes of vanilla. 



The American trade with the French West 

 Indies is shown in this table : 



Guiana. (For details of area and popula- 

 tion, see " Annual Cyclopaedia " for 1883.) The 

 Governor is M. Chess6. The annual expendi- 

 ture of the colony is 2,123,000 francs. 



French Guiana, about one fourth the size of 

 France, has a population of only about 27,000 

 souls, which since 1867 has remained station- 

 ary. The area cultivated has steadily dimin- 

 ished, but in 1881 gold was mined io the amount 

 of $1,133,000, since when it has attracted a 

 little more attention, but not enough to start a 

 current of genuine immigration. The fact that 



it is a penal colony seems to prevent the re- 

 generation of the country. 



The imports into French Guiana in 1881 were 

 9,179,000 francs, and the exports 844,000. The 

 following table shows the American trade with 

 French Guiana : 



WEST VIRGINIA. State Government, The fol- 

 lowing were the State officers during the year: 

 Governor, Jacob B. Jackson, Democrat ; Sec- 

 retary of State, Randolph Stalnaker, Jr. ; Treas- 

 urer, Thomas O'Brien ; Auditor, Joseph S. Mil- 

 ler; Superintendent of Free Schools, Bernard 

 L. Dutcher; Attorney-General, 0. 0. Wattb. 

 Judiciary, Court of Appeals : Presiding Judge, 

 Okey Johnson; Associates, Samuel Woods, 

 Adam 0. Snyder, and Thomas 0. Green. 



Financial. The following statements show 

 the condition of the finances for the two years 

 ending Sept. 30, 1883, and Sept. 30, 1884: 



Keceipts during the year ending Sept. 30, 18S3. $818,783 93 

 Balance at the end of preceding year 301,262 29 



Total $l,120,036~22 



Disbursements during the same period 877,710 87 



Balance Oct. 1, 1883 $242,32516 



Receipts during the year ending Sept. 30, 1884. $860,992 62 

 Balance Oct. 1, 1853 242,325 85 



Total $1.108,81847 



Disbursements during the same period 880,619 74 



Balance Oct. 1, 1884 $222,698 73 



The payments into the treasury for 1883 

 and 1884 were largely in excess of the amounts 

 estimated by the Auditor for these years. The 

 excess for each year was made up from tempo- 

 rary loans made by the State to meet casual 

 deficits in the treasury, amounting for 1883 to 

 $153,000, and for 1884 to $113,000. There 

 was a further increase for 1884 by reason of 

 an increase of the levy for 1883 of five cents on 

 the $100 value, the revenue for which year 

 was paid into the treasury during 1884. 



The following table shows the increase in 

 the personal property since 1881, as also the 

 increase of real estate, under the reassessment 

 act of 1882 : 



Hospital for the Insane. The entire building 

 was completed in 1881, and was at that time 

 deemed to be sufficient for many years to 

 come. All of the insane were removed from 

 the county jails to the hospital, making the 



total of patients treated for the year ending 

 Sept. 30, 1881, 539. The reports of the super- 

 intendent for the past three years show a grad- 

 ual increase of patients, and the hospital is now 

 crowded to its fullest capacity. The number 



