

SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



711 



The Government telegraph lines had a total 

 length of 5,398 miles, with 15,414 miles of wire ; the 

 lines of companies hail a length of 2,882 miles, with 

 10,164 miles of wire. The number of paid internal 

 messages in 1897 was 1,095,091; of international 

 messages, 766,055; forwarded in transit, 285,508; 

 service messages, 123,063. The total receipts were 

 2,112,810 francs, while the expenses amounted to 

 1,859,756 francs. 



Norway. The legislative power is vested in 

 the Storthing, containing 114 members elected for 

 three years, 38 by the towns and 76 by the rural 

 districts. The Storthing elects one fourth of its 

 members to form the Lagthing, which has a veto 

 power over the acts of the Odelsthing, composed of 

 the rest of the members. The Council of State in 

 the beginning of 1898 was composed of the follow- 

 ing members : Minister of State, Dr. G. F. Hagerup ; 

 Minister of Worship and Education, J. L. R. Sver- 

 drup ; Minister of the Interior, 0. J. Olsen; Minis- 

 ter of Finance and Customs. B. Kildal ; Minister of 

 National Defense, Major-Gen. C. W. E. B. Olsson ; 

 Minister of Public Works, F. Stang-Lund ; Secretary 

 of State, H. Lehmann ; Section of the Council of 

 State sitting in Stockholm. G. W. W. Gram, Min- 

 ister of State, and T. de W. Engelhart, Councilor 

 of State. 



Area and Population. The area of Norway is 

 124,445 square miles. The population is 1,988,674. 

 'The number of marriages in 1896 was 13,952; of 

 births, 63,308 ; of deaths, 31.574 ; excess of births. 

 31,734. The emigration was 6,679 in 1896 and 

 4,699 in 1897. Christiania, the capital, has 148,213 

 inhabitants. 



Finances. The revenue for the financial year 

 1896 was 76,729,900 kroner, including 453,400 kroner 

 of local subscriptions for railroad building. 3,471,- 

 200 kroner of loans, and 7,682,800 kroner in the 

 Treasury. The ordinary revenue was 65,122,500 

 kroner, of which 4,168,000 kroner came from direct 

 taxes, 26,653,400 kroner from customs, 3,638,000 

 kroner from the spirit duties, 3,490,800 kroner from 

 the malt duty, 888,400 kroner from stamps, 1,023,- 

 200 kroner from law courts, 563,100 kroner from suc- 

 cession duties, 1,524,700 kroner from state forests, 

 domains, and mines. 2,090,400 kroner from active 

 capital, 3,904,800 kroner from the post office, 1,521 ,000 

 kroner from telegraphs, 9,688,300 kroner from rail- 

 roads, 1,946,500 kroner from universities, schools, and 

 churches, 340,600 kroner from prisons, 991,500 kroner 

 from hospitals and insane asylums, and 2,689,000 

 ikroner from various sources. The ordinary expendi- 

 tures were 63,032,600 kroner, and the extraordinary 

 expenditures 13,697,300 kroner; total, 76,729,900 

 kroner. The ordinary expenditures were 352,700 

 kroner for the civil list and appanages, 652,600 

 kroner for the Storthing, 1,353,100 kroner for the 

 Council of State, 7,336.500 kroner for public in- 

 struction and worship, 6,084,900 kroner for police, 

 justice, and sanitary service, 9,389,500 kroner for the 

 Interior Department, including the postal and tele- 



fraph service, forests, fisheries, etc., 12,412,700 

 roner for public works, of which 9,081,300 kroner 

 were for operating railroads, 10,789,100 kroner for 

 finance, including 1,642,100 kroner for the custom- 

 house, 1,458,600 for amortization, 5,423,700 kroner 

 for interest of debt, and 538,200 kroner for pensions, 

 9,508.200 kroner for the army, 4,367,700 kroner for 

 the navy, 624,900 kroner for foreign affairs, and 

 160,700 kroner for accidental expenses. 



The total debt on June .30, 1897, amounted to 181,- 

 338,700 kroner. The assets of the Government were 

 valued at 177,230,100 kroner, comprising 41,277,900 

 kroner of active capital, 25,987,100 kroner of money 

 in the Treasury and arrears to be collected, and 

 109,965,100 kroner invested in railroads, 

 the debt pays 3^ per cent, interest. 



Defense. Obligatory service was introduced into 

 Norway by the law of 1885, but it is not generally 

 enforced except to train the recruits for forty -tight 

 or fifty days in the infantry and mountain and 

 fortress artillery, and seventy days in the cavalry 

 and field artillery. About 1,700 officers and 18,000 

 men of the first ban are maintained in active serv- 

 ice. The fleet contains 2 new armor dads of 3,500 

 tons displacement, carrying 20 guns each, 4 mon- 

 itors, about 30 gunboats, and 20 torpedo craft of 

 various sizes. 



Commerce. The total value of imports in 1897 

 was 263,718,000 kroner, and exports 167,697,000 

 kroner. The import of cereals was 38,200,000, of 

 fermented liquors 6,800.000, of colonial produce 

 26,200,000, of fruits and vegetables 3,!)(K),000, and of 

 animals and animal products 13.500,000 kroner in 

 value, giving a total of 88,600,000 kroner for articles 

 of alimentation, while the exports of this class were 

 valued at 57,200,000 kroner, of which animals and 

 provisions represent 55.500.000 kroner. The im- 

 ports of coal were 15,700,000, of metals 10,400,000, 

 of hides and leather 8,300,000, of textile materials 

 6,400,000, of timber 7,000,000, and of minerals 6,600,- 

 000 kroner, a total of 54,400,000 kroner for crude 

 articles, against an exportation of 54.700,000 kroner, 

 timber making 42.300,000 and hides and leather 

 7,300,000 kroner of this total. The imports of 

 metal goods were 19.400,000, of tissues 40,200.000, 

 of paper, 2,900,000, of leather goods 2,400,000, and 

 of wood manufactures 5,500,000 kroner, a total for 

 manufactures of 70,400,000 kroner, against 40,400,- 

 000 kroner of exports, the items being 22,400,000 

 kroner for wood manufactures, 8,000,000 kroner for 

 paper, 6,800,000 kroner for tissues, 3,000,000 for 

 metal goods, and 200,000 kroner for leather goods. 

 The imports of all other articles were valued at 

 50,300,000 kroner, including 11.900,000 kroner for 

 oils, and the exports were 15,400,000 kroner, in- 

 cluding 6,800,000 kroner for oils. The values in 

 kroner of the imports from and exports to the various 

 countries in 1897 are given in the following tat>le : 



Navigation. The merchant fleet on Jan. 1,1 897, 

 numbered 6,230 sailing vessels, of 1,214,759 tons, 

 and 962 steamers, of 351,799 tons; The number of 

 vessels entered at the ports of Norway in the course 

 of 1897 was 13,201, of 2.908,946 tons, of which 6,842, 

 of 1,937.954 tons, were Norwegian and 6,359, of 

 970,992, tons were foreign. The total number 

 cleared was 13,152, of 2.941,841 tons, of which 6.815, 

 of 1,975,367 tons, were Norwegian, and 6,837, of 966.- 

 474 tons, were foreign. Of the vessels entered 6.583, 

 of 1,891,116 tons, and of those cleared 11,746, of 

 2.374.395 tons, carried cargoes. 



Communications. The railroads in 1897 had a 

 length of 1,211 miles. The state telegraphs had a 

 length of 5,470 miles, with 14,996 miles of wire : 

 those of railroad companies had a length of 1.170 

 miles, with 2,160 mile of wire. The number of in- 

 ternal messages in 1897 was 1,293.188; of interna- 

 tional messages, 718,906: of messages connected 

 with the service, 22,519. The receipts were 1,70.").- 



