478 HINGES, SIR FRANCIS. 



HONDURAS. 



foot channel, 400 feet wide, over the worst 

 part of the reef, may be cleared out by spring. 

 If the funds are supplied as needed, the dredg- 

 ing can all be completed in three years. 



In the map, the white margin around the 

 shores represents the parts that have less than 

 26 feet of water at mean low tide. The work 

 done or to be done is thus summarized. 



Negro Point (1) : To be undermined and cut off on 

 a line with the Sound-entrance wharf. Holmes Rock 

 (2) and Hog-Back (3) to be finished with a sea-wall. 

 Frying-Pan (4), Pot Rock (5) reduced to 24 feet below 

 mean low water. Way's Reef (6), Shell Drake (7), 

 reduced to the depth of 26 feet. Hallet's Point (8), 

 entirely removed to the depth of 26 feet. Heel-Tap 

 (9), broken to 26 feet, dredged to 22 feet. Great Mill 

 Rock (10), Little Mill Rock (11), connected by a dike : 

 nothing further to be done. Gridiron (12), Flood 

 Rock (13), Hen and Chickens (14), Negro Heads (15), 

 broken to 30 feet : 15 now being removed to open the 

 Middle Channel at once, and the remainder afterward 

 to full depth. Rylander's Reef (16) to be embanked. 

 Bread and Cheese (17) has been embanked. 



HINCKS, Sir FRANCIS, a Canadian statesman, 

 born in Cork, Dec. 14, 1807; died in Montreal, 

 Aug. 18, 1885. He was a son of the Rev. 

 Thomas Dix Hincks, of Belfast, an eminent 

 scholar. After serving an apprenticeship of 

 five years to a Belfast firm of shippers, and 

 carrying on business in Liverpool for one year 

 as junior partner in a firm of commission- 

 merchants, he in 1832 settled in Canada and 

 opened a warehouse in York (now Toronto). 

 He became secretary of a mutual insurance 

 company, and cashier of the People's Bank. 

 As accountant of the commission appointed to 

 investigate the Welland Canal frauds, he came 

 prominently before the public ; but he himself 

 dated his career as a public man from his pub- 

 lication of the Toronto " Examiner " in 1838. 

 This paper advocated responsible government, 

 and the secularization of the clergy reserves. 

 Mr. Hincks was in hearty sympathy with the 

 principles generally of the Reformers, and was 

 elected by the Reformers of Oxford County 

 a member of the first Union Parliament. The 

 Reform party was then in opposition. Mr. 

 Hincks became dissatisfied with the factious 

 tactics of his political friends, and on June 

 22, 1842, resigned his seat in Parliament on 

 the occasion of accepting office as Inspector- 

 General. He was re-elected, and was subse- 

 quently joined in the ministry by his former 

 political associates, Baldwin and Lafontaine. 

 This ministry resigned on account of the pe- 

 culiar notions of responsible government enter- 

 tained by the Governor, Lord Metcalf. Mr. 

 Hincks, being defeated at the general elections, 

 once more went into journalism and established 

 the Montreal "Pilot," a Reform paper, which 

 he successfully conducted for four years. In 

 December, 1847, he was again elected by his 

 old constituents, and became Inspector-General 

 in the Baldwin-Lafontaine government. On 

 the resignation of the ministry in 1851, Mr. 

 Hincks was sent for to form a ministry. The 

 Hincks-Morin government subsidized a line of 

 Atlantic steamers, assisted in the promotion of 



the Grand Trunk Railway, concluded a recK 

 procity treaty with the United States, and ini- 

 tiated the Intercolonial Railway. The Reform 

 party became divided on the question of the 

 secularization of the clergy reserves, which 

 brought about the fall of the government. 

 Mr. Hincks was a strong advocate of the abo- 

 lition of the seignorial tenure, which prevailed 

 in Lower Canada, but that question was not 

 brought to an issue during his term of office. 

 In 1855 he was appointed Governor of Barba- 

 does and the Windward Islands, which was a 

 new departure in the Colonial Office, he being 

 the first colonial statesman to receive a colonial 

 governorship. Governor Hincks paid consid- 

 erable attention to the West Indian labor ques- 

 tion, and was the first of the governors to 

 champion the anti-slavery party. He provoked 

 an angry controversy by his contention that 

 free labor was cheaper than slave labor, and 

 that Barbadian property had improved in value 

 by the abolition of slavery. In 1861 he was 

 appointed Governor of British Guiana. He was 

 knighted in 1862. Sir Francis was pensioned 

 by the Imperial Government, and, returning 

 to Canada, entered Sir John Macdonald's Cabi- 

 net as Minister of Finance. He retired in 1873, 

 became president of a bank that failed, and 

 underwent a criminal trial, which resulted in 

 his vindication. He died of small-pox. 



HOLLAND. See NETHERLANDS. 



HONDURAS, a republic in Central America. 

 Area, 39,600 square miles; population in 1885, 

 351,700. 



Government* The President is Gen. Luis Bo- 

 gran, whose term will expire on Nov. 27, 1887. 

 The Cabinet is composed of the following min- 

 isters : Foreign Affairs and Agriculture, Licen- 

 ciado Don Ger6nimo Zelaya; Justice, Public 

 Works, and War, Seflor R. Alvarado ; Interior, 

 Sefior A. Gomez ; Finance, Sefior F. Plan as. 



The United States Minister is Hon. H. 0. 

 Hall, resident at Guatemala, and the Consul- 

 General at New York, Mr F. Valentine. The 

 Consul at San Francisco is Mr. John J. Wright. 

 The American Consul at Ruatan and Trujillo 

 is Mr. W. C. Burchard. 



Colonization. The Government granted to 

 Mr. Otto Zurcher 9,000 caballerias of Govern- 

 ment land for purposes of settlement and the 

 privilege of exporting, duty free, for ten years, 

 all that the new colony may produce. 



In November the Government conferred the 

 necessary authority on Don Daniel Quiro, ap- 

 pointing him Inspector of Indian Affairs for 

 the region, to form a settlement out of the 

 semi-civilized Indian tribe of the Yoros, with 

 the privilege of importing, duty free, whatever 

 agricultural implements, etc., the new settle- 

 ment of Yoro may stand in need of. 



Finances. The budget estimate for 1885 was 

 reduced to $331,949. At the same time the 

 income-tax, which had been decreed on May 

 30, when war was threatening, affecting all in- 

 comes of $200 a month and upward, was re- 

 voked in October. A congressional committee 



