118 



CALIFORNIA, 



CAMBODIA. 



During this period the prices in San Fran- 

 cisco ranged from $26 to $35 a flask. 



Irrigation. On the subject of irrigation the 

 Governor says : 



Every community has interests more or less di- 

 rectly staked upon success hi applying waters to 

 thirsting lands. It is clearly evident that this union 

 of lands and waters can not be accomplished under a 

 law which gives every dweller upon the bank of each 

 stream the right to bave the waters flow, as by nature 

 designated, within their banks. Our Supreme Court, 

 by a recent decision ? has declared such law to exist ; 

 and while this decision is no doubt in accordance with 

 the law as it now stands on our statute-books, it ap- 

 pears that a new enactment is necessary to meet the 

 wants of our people. If the owners of the stream- 

 channels own the waters, then there should be a law 

 under which, after due compensation, these waters 

 may be taken and used in irrigation. Such legisla- 

 tion is necessary, whether the irrigation is to be prac- 

 ticed alone on bank-lands or on those not bordering 

 the streams. For, as the right to hold the water in 



the streams is an individual one, appurtenant to each 

 land-owner on the bank, it is evident that one prop- 

 erty-owner on the bank has it in his power to defeat 

 a proposed plan of irrigation desired by the entire 

 community in which he resides. The issue is not one 

 between riparian claimants and appropriators of water, 

 corporate or individual, in either case, but between 

 the outstretched plains, from river to river, on the one 

 iand, and the lands bordering the river-channels on 

 the other. Shall the waters fructify our plains, or 

 ;shall they be lost in the sandy beds of the stream- 

 channels, or, flowing onward, b'e lost hi the sea ? 



Charitable Institutions. The condition of the 

 Orphan Asylums is, generally speaking, satis- 

 factory.. The amount expended during the 

 thirty-fourth fiscal year, for the support of 

 orphans, half-orphans, and abandoned chil- 

 dren, was $201,337.71. During the thirty-fifth 

 fiscal year there was expended on the same 

 class $205,51 1.49. The other expenditures for 

 charitable purposes comprise the sum of $7,- 

 475.92, paid for the support of Old -People's 

 Homes, and $2,112.60 expended upon the Vet- 

 erans' Home, making a total of $41 6,437.72. 



San FranciseOt The principal receipts of Cali- 

 fornia produce at the port of San Francisco 

 from bay and coast sources during 1883 and 

 1884 were as follow : 



The monthly exports of wheat cargoes from 

 San Francisco from July 1, 1884, to Jan. ], 

 1885, were: 



Among the notable and increasing industries 

 of the city is cod-fishing, which has grown 

 from slight beginnings in 1864-'65 into a well- 

 established business, with large capital perma- 

 nently invested and employing several hundred 

 men. The Pacific fishing-grounds are in the 

 neighborhood of the Choumagin Islands, Alas- 

 ka (about 2,000 miles from the port), in the 

 Behring Sea (500 miles farther north), and in 

 the Okhotsk Sea (a 4,000-mile trip). So long 

 a voyage necessitates the employment of larger 

 vessels than are used in the East or in Europe, 

 and as it is necessary to carry large stocks from 

 one season to the next, the drying and curing 

 establishments, technically known as fish-yards, 

 are the most extensive and costly in the world. 



In 1884, 15 vessels were employed, having 



an aggregate tonnage of 3,340, and carrying 

 429 men. The catch was 1,622,000; in 1888 

 the catch was 1,720,000. 



CAMBODIA, a kingdom in Farther India. A 

 French protectorate was declared in 1862. 

 Norodom, the King of the still independent 

 fragment of the old kingdom of Cambodia, 

 signed a treaty with the Governor of French 

 Cochin China, accepting French sovereignty, 

 in 1884. M. Thomson, the energetic official 

 who forced him to accept these terms by a 

 military demonstration, took steps to consoli- 

 date French rule in the country without wait- 

 ing for the ratification of the treaty. He acted 

 as sovereign in Cambodia, compelling the 

 ministers to sign decrees without even under- 

 standing them. Notwithstanding the protest 

 of Norodom, the French Government gave its 

 sanction to the treaty, and the King submitted 

 with ill grace and under protest. The area of 

 the kingdom is 83,861 square kilometres, the 

 population about 1,020,000 souls. 



The Cambodian Insurrection. Discontent at 

 the establishment of French rule in Cambodia 

 took the form of open insurrection and harry- 

 ing guerilla warfare when the French at- 

 tempted to carry out the treaties extracted 

 from King Norodom. In January a band, led 

 by Sivotha, the King's brother, appeared in 

 the neighborhood of the French post of Sam- 

 baur, garrisoned by marines and Annamite 

 sharp-shooters. The commander who went 

 out to reconnoitre never returned. The post 



