GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



31T 



chartered company which has jurisdiction over these 

 territories. The Governor of North Borneo, whose 

 appointment by the Board of Directors in London 

 must be confirmed by. the Secretary of State for the 

 Colonies, is Leicester Paul Beaufort. 



Ceylon has had since 1833 a representative gov- 

 ernment. The Governor, who is Sir Joseph West 

 Ridgeway, appointed in 1895, is assisted by a Legis- 

 lative Council containing 9 official members and 8 

 representatives of the different classes and races of 

 the island. The population in 1891 consisted of 

 877,043 Buddhists, 015,932 Hindus, 30:2,127 Chris- 

 tians, and 211.995 Mohammedans. There were 474 

 Government schools in 1896, with 44,538 pupils, 

 1,130 state-aided schools, with 94,400 pupils, and 

 2,268 unaided schools, with 30,720 pupils. The rev- 

 enue for 1896 was 21,974,573 rupees ; expenditure, 

 21,237,860 rupees. The public debt, incurred en- 

 tirely for public works, was 3,519,503 in 1896, not 

 including a debt of 3,290,595 rupees raised in the 

 colony. The sum of 2,449,685 rupees was spent out 

 of the general revenue in extending public works 

 in 1896. There arc 297 miles of railroads. For the 

 maintenance of the British garrison the colonial 

 Government pays 81,750 a year. 



The value of "the imports in 1896 was 87,788,085 

 rupees, and of the exports 87,841.357 rupees. The 

 chief exports were tea, valued at 53,212,670 rupees ; 

 cocoanut products, valued at 11,178,077 rupees; 

 plumbago, valued at 3,069,021 rupees; coffee, 

 valued at 1,721,133 rupees; areca nutes, valued at 

 1,116,656 rupees; and cinchona, valued at 68,849 

 rupees. The total tonnage entered and cleared 

 during 1896 was 7,079,678. The Maldivc Islands, 

 having a population of 30,000 Mohammedans, are 

 a dependency of Ceylon. 



Hong-Kong was a Chinese port until it was an- 

 nexed by Great Britain in 1841. It is a military 

 and naval station of the first class and the center 

 of British commerce with China and Japan. The 

 Governor is Sir Henry A. Blake, appointed in 1897. 

 The population in 1897 was 245,000. The immigra- 

 tion from China in 1896 was 119,468; emigration, 

 66,822. The number of births in 1896 was 1,233, 

 and of deaths 5,860. The ordinary revenue for 1896 

 was $2,250,179, not including $359,698 of premiums 

 from land and water account ; expenditure, $2,405,- 

 399, not including $300,130 of extraordinary expend- 

 iture for defensive works and the water account. 

 The revenue is derived from land, taxes, licenses, 

 and the opium monopoly. The public debt of 

 341,800 is exceeded by the assets. The colonial 

 contribution for military in 1896 was $523,128. The 

 British naval squadron on the China station num- 

 bers about 20 vessels. 



The Straits Settlements is a Crown colony em- 

 bracing Singapore, Penang, with Province Welles- 

 ley and the Dindings, and Malacca. There is a 

 Legislative Council composed of 10 official and 7 

 nonofficial members. The Governor since 1893 

 has been Lieut.-Col. Sir C. B. H. Mitchell, who 

 was appointed in 1896 High Commissioner for the 

 federation of the protected states Perak, Selangor, 

 Negri Sembilan, and Pahang. to which Sir F. A. 

 3wettenham was appointed Resident General. The 

 population of the Straits Settlements includes 213,- 

 073 Malays, 227,989 Chinese, and 53,927 British 

 Indian subjects. There were 199,288 Chinese immi- 

 grants in 1896, and 20,150 Indian immigrants, in- 

 cluding 2,652 indentured laborers, while 12,977 

 persons returned to India. The revenue for 1896 

 was $4,266,064, derived from licenses, land, stamps, 

 the post office, and navigation dues. The expendi- 

 ture was $3,957,090, of which $1,459,269 were for 

 salaries, $900,190 for military, $428,984 for public 

 works, $93,041 for education, $91,814 for police, 

 $64,120 for the marine department, and $13,971 for 



transport. The debt amounted in 1897 to $1,016,- 

 122, while the assets were $3,344,564. The colony 

 has built a new harbor at Singapore and protected it 

 with a row of forts erected at a cost of 100,000. 

 The value of the imports in 1896 was $201,343,700, 

 and of exports $173,720,814. The chief imports 

 were rice, cotton goods, opium, fish, coal, tobacco, 

 and provisions. The exports of tin were valued at 

 $28.926,105; of spices, $7,744,426; of gambier, 

 $7.509,285 ; of gums, $6,929,181 ; of copra, $4,455,- 

 936; of rattan, $4,304,413: of tapioca, $2,546,470. 

 The number of vessels entered in 1896 was 8,728 of 

 6,119,475 tons, not counting 16.835 native craft of 

 596,438 tons. There were 2,913,760 pieces of mail 

 matter received at the post office and 3,014.970 sent 

 out in 1896. The expenditure of the colony for 

 fortifications amounts to $647,300. The annual 

 imports average 4,000,000, and the exports 2,000.- 

 000. The foreign trade with China in opium, sugar, 

 flour, salt, earthenware, oil, amber, cotton good?, 

 sandalwood, ivory, betel, and a large share of the 

 Chinese silk and tea trade is conducted by Hong- 

 Kong firms. The registered shipping consists of 19 

 sailing vessels, of 5,659 tons, and 32 steamers, of 18,- 

 715 tons. There were 4,674 vessels, of 6,164,057 

 tons, entered in 1896, an increase of 392,759 tons 

 over 1895. This does not include the junks and 

 native vessels, of which an average of 52,000, with 

 a tonnage of 1,300,000, visit Hong-Kong each year. 

 Attached to the Straits Settlements are the Coccs 

 Islands, near Sumatra, which produce cocoanuts in 

 large quantities, and Christinas island, southwest 

 of Java. The area of Perak is about 10,000 square 

 miles, with 214.254 inhabitants. The revenue in 

 1896 was $3,960,871, and expenditure $3,989,376. 

 Selangor, with an area of 3,500 square miles and a 

 population of 81,592, had a revenue of $3,756,936 

 and $3,572,583 of expenditures. Sungei Ujong, 

 with Jclebu, is 1,200 square miles in extent and 

 contains 23,602 inhabitants. The area of the other 

 .states composing Negri Sembilan is 1,800 square 

 miles and their population 41.617. The revenue of 

 Negri Sembilan in 1896 was $555,329 ; cxpenditiire, 

 $573,569; debt, $503,119. Johore, where a British 

 agent has resided since 1887. covers 9,000 square 

 miles, with 200,000 population. The territory of 

 the Sultan of Pahang has an extent of 10,000 square 

 miles, with 57,462 population ; the revenue in 1896 

 was $160,947, the expenses $462,619, and there was 

 a debt of $2,103,739. The revenue of these states 

 is derived chiefly from export duties on tin. There 

 are 175 miles of railroads in the native states, and 

 28 miles are under construction. The exports of 

 tin from Perak in 1896 were 22,754 tons; from 

 Selangor, 20,391 tons ; from Sungei Ujong and 

 Jclebu, 3.440 tons. Gold exists in several of the 

 states. Pepper, gambier, sugar, rice, and coffee 

 are grown on the peninsula. 



Ascension, a small volcanic island in the south 

 Atlantic, is a coaling and victualing station for the 

 British navy and a sanitarium for sailors suffering 

 from fever contracted on the west coast of Africa. 

 St. Helena is a port of call for vessels passing 

 around the Cape of Good Hope. The people of the 

 island are gradually leaving it to go to South Africa 

 or the United States. 



Mauritius, a former French colony, has a Council 

 of Government consisting of 27 members, of whom 

 8 are official, 9 nominated, and 10 elected. The 

 present Governor is Sir Charles Bruce. The sugar 

 plantations are worked by the labor of Indian 

 coolies, of whom there were 259,004 in 1897 in a 

 total population of 374,942. The rest of the popu- 

 lation includes African natives and .Chinese and 

 mixed races with the French Creoles. The revenue 

 in 1896 was 8.849,181 rupees; expenditure, 8,544,- 

 736 rupees. The debt is 1,337,801. The value of 



