GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



329 



political questions or assume a political aspect 

 nre drafted into bills by the officials of the 

 Government and submitted by ministers to the 

 House of Commons ; and when such a bill is re- 

 jected, or a bill disapproved by the Government 

 and declared to be a Cabinet question is carried, 

 or a resolution passed that is a hostile reflection 

 on the policy of the Government, the Cabinet 

 resigns unless the ministers think that their 

 policy is still approved by the majority of the 

 voters of the United Kingdom, in which case 

 Parliament is dissolved and writs for a new elec- 

 tion issued. The statutory duration of a Parlia- 

 ment is seven years : the average duration dur- 

 ing the present reign has been about four years 

 and three months. Parliament consists of the 

 House of Lords and the House of Commons. 

 The House of Lords is composed of hereditary 



Colonies, the Marquis of Ripon ; Secretary of 

 State for War, H. Campbell- Bannerman ; First 

 Lord of the Admiralty, Earl Spencer; Chief 

 Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 

 John Morley; President of the Board of Trade, 

 A. J. Mundella; Chancellor of the Duchy of 

 Lancaster, James Bryce ; President of the Local 

 Government Board, Harry H. Fowler; Secretary 

 for Scotland, Sir George 0. Trevelyan ; Post- 

 master-General, Arnold Morley ; First Commis- 

 sioner of Public Works, G. J. Shaw-Lefevre ; 

 Vice-President of the Council on Education, A. 

 H. Dyke Acland. 



Area and Population. The area of the 

 divisions of the United Kingdom, their popula- 

 tion as found by the decennial census of April 

 5, 1891, and the total population at the preced- 

 ing census, are given in the following table : 



peers pf England and of the United Kingdom, 

 representatives of the Irish peerage elected for 

 life and of the Scotch peerage elected for each 

 Parliament, newly created hereditary peers, peers 

 created for life, and English bishops. The num- 

 ber of peers in 1893 was 567, having increased 

 from 401 in 1830. The House of Commons has 

 (570 members, of whom 253 represent English, 

 39 Scotch, and 85 Irish counties, 237 represent 

 English, 31 Scotch, and 16 Irish boroughs, and 

 5 represent English, 2 Scotch, and 2 Irish uni- 

 versities. The number of electors in 1893 was 

 4,862,758 in England and Wales, 619.091 in 

 Scotland, and 747,271 in Ireland. Irish peers 

 other than representative peers are eligible to 

 the House of Commons, but no English or Scotch 

 peer can be a member, nor can any clergyman of 

 the Established Churches of England or Scot- 

 land or of the Catholic Church, nor any Govern- 

 ment contractor, while sheriffs and returning 

 officers are ineligible in their own districts. 



The reigning sovereign is Queen Victoria, born 

 May 24, 1819, who succeeded her uncle William 

 IV on June 20, 1837, was crowned on June 28, 

 1838, and assumed the additional title of Em- 

 press of India on Jan. 1. 1877. The heir ap- 

 parent is Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, born 

 Nov. 9, 1841. whose son 'George, Duke of York, 

 born June 3, 1865, is next in the order of suc- 

 cession. 



The Cabinet, at the beginning of 1894, which 

 assumed office on Aug. 5, 1892, was composed 

 of the following ministers: Prime Minister, 

 First Lord of the Treasury, and Lord Privy 

 Seal, William Ewart Gladstone; Lord High 

 Chancellor, Lord Herschell : Lord President of 

 the Council and Secretary of State for India, the 

 Earl of Kimberley : Chancellor of the Exchequer, 

 Sir William vernon Harcourt; Secretary of 

 State for Foreign Affairs, the Earl of Rosebery ; 

 Secretary of State for the Home Department, 

 Herbert H. Asquith ; Secretary of State for the 



The increase in England and Wales was at the 

 rate of 1*16 per cent, a year; in Scotland, 0'78 

 per cent. ; in the islands, 047 per cent. ; the de- 

 crease in Ireland. 0'91 per cent. ; average in- 

 crease in the United Kingdom, 0'82 per cent. 

 During the decennial period the population of 

 the 62 great towns having more than 50,000 in- 

 habitants increased 14-5 per cent. The popula- 

 tion of London within the registration district 

 increased only 10*4 per cent., as compared with 

 an increase of 11*7 per cent, for the whole of 

 England and Wales, but towns in the immediate 

 vicinity, such as Tottenham, Leyton, and Willes- 

 den, more than doubled their population, and 

 the area classed as Greater London showed an 

 increase of 18'2 per cent. Liverpool showed an 

 actual decrease of 6'2 per cent, within the city 

 limits, while its suburbs grew enormously. Man- 

 chester had extended its municipal limits, and in 

 the enlarged area the population increased 9'3 

 per cent. In Wales and in Herefordshire, Shrop- 

 shire, Lincolnshire, Huntingdonshire, Rutland- 

 shire, the East and W T est Ridings of Yorkshire, 

 Cornwall, Bedfordshire, and Wiltshire there was 

 a considerable diminution of the rural popula- 

 tion, but in the kingdom as a whole there was 

 an apparent gain of 3'4 per cent., as compared 

 with 15'3 per cent, in the urban districts, though 

 this gain might turn into a minus quantity if 

 the limits assigned to the urban sanitary dis- 

 tricts were extended so as to include localities 

 that are no longer rural. In Scotland, 29 % 8 per 

 cent, of the population live in 4 towns of over 

 100.000 inhabitants, 4'9 per cent, in 3 towns of 

 over 50,000, 13 per cent, in the other towns hav- 

 ing above 10.000, and 52'3 per cent, in other 

 places. The town population in the ten years 

 shows an increase of 14-06 per cent., the village 

 population 4'01 per cent., and the rural popula- 

 tion a decrease of 5-33 percent. In Ireland, 10'7 

 per cent, of the people live in 2 towns exceeding 

 100,000 population, 7'2 per cent, in 16 other 



