GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



347 



Cornwallis, and Russell having a displacement 

 of 14,000 tons, with lighter armor and less 

 draught than the others, so as to be able to pass 

 through the Suez Canal without difficulty, and 

 designed for greater speed and a greater radius 

 of action than any battle ships now afloat. Their 

 length is 405 feet, their breadth 75 feet, their mean 

 draught 26 feet. The engines, of 18,000 horse 

 power, give a speed of 19 knots. The chief arma- 

 ment consists of 4 12-inch breech-loading guns in 

 barbettes, 12 6-inch quick-firing guns, and 12 12- 

 pounders. 



The first-class cruisers of the programme of 

 1889 are the Edgar, Endymion, Hawke, Royal 

 Arthur, Crescent, St. George, Gibraltar, Grafton, 

 and Theseus, the three first having a displacement 

 of 7,350 tons, the four next 7,700 tons, and the 

 two last 7,350 tons again, all with engines of 

 12,000 horse power, making from 19J to 19| 

 knots, and carrying 2 22-ton guns, 10 6-inch 

 quick firers, 10 or 12 6-pounders, and 5 3-pound- 

 ers. These were followed in 1894 and 1895 by 

 the Eclipse, Minerva, Talbot, Diana, Juno, and 

 Venus, and in 1896 by the Dido, Doris, Isis, 

 Hermes, Hyacinth, and Highflyer, of 5,600 tons, 

 engines of 9,600 horse power, capable of making 

 19| knots, and an armament of quick firers alone, 

 5 6-inch, 6 4.7-inch, and smaller ones. In 1895 

 the Powerful and Terrible were launched, more 

 formidable than any of the large protected cruis- 

 ers recently built by other powers, having a 

 displacement of 14,000 tons, an armament of 2 

 9.2-inch breechloaders and 12 6-inch, 18 6-pound- 

 er, and 12 3-pounder quick-firing guns, and en- 

 gines of 25,000 horse power, with Belleville 

 boilers, giving a speed of 22 knots. The Furious, 

 Gladiator, Vindictive, and Arrogant, of 5,750 tons, 

 launched in 1896, are an improvement on the 

 Eclipse class, having greater coal capacity and 

 better protection, carrying 4 6-inch, 6 4.7-inch, 

 9 12-pounder, and 8 small quick firers, and with 

 10,000 horse power, making 19 or 19 knots. 

 The first vessel of a later type of first-class deck- 

 protected cruisers, the Diadem, was launched in 

 1896, and in the two years succeeding she was 

 followed by the Andromeda, Niobe, Europa, Spar- 

 tiate, Argonaut, Amphitrite, and Ariadne, all of 

 11,000 tons displacement, with engines of 16,500 

 horse power, giving a speed of 20A knots, the 

 first four carrying 16 6-inch quick-firing guns, 

 with 14 12-pounders and 20 smaller ones, the last 

 four replacing four of the 6-inch with 8-inch 

 guns. All the later protected cruisers have 4-inch 

 curved steel decks over the vital parts and nu- 

 merous water-tight compartments, and their guns 

 are well protected, and by means of the high free 

 board are placed where they can be most effect- 

 ively used, especially those in the bow and stern. 

 The latest cruisers are armored vessels of still 

 greater speed than the protected cruisers. The 

 Cressy and her sister ships, the Hogue, Aboukir, 

 Sutlej, Euryalus, and Bacchante, have a displace- 

 ment of 12,000 tons, an armament of 2 9.2-inch 

 guns and 12 6-inch and 14 12-pounder quick 

 firers, and with engines of 21,000 horse power are 

 expected to make 21 knots an hour. A speed 

 of 23 knots is to be attained by armored cruisers 

 ordered still more recently the Drake and three 

 others which will have a displacement of 14,100 

 tons, the same armament as the last, except 

 that there are 4 additional 6-inch guns, and en- 

 gines of 30,000 horse power, giving a speed of 

 23 knots. The 9.2-inch guns are in armored 

 shields ; the large quick firers in casemates. This 

 class has a length of 500 feet, an extreme breadth 

 of 71 feet, and a mean draught of 26 feet. Two 

 other powerful armored cruisers in the supple- 



mentary programme for 1899 will have a length 

 of 400 feet, a breadth of 66 feet, a mean draught 

 of 24 feet, a displacement of 9,800 tons, engines 

 of 22,000 horse power, giving a speed of 23 knots, 

 and a main armament of 14 6-inch quick-firing 

 guns, protected by 4 inches of steel armor. The 

 Government is adding continually to the formi- 

 dable fleet of destroyers. With three of the latest 

 a speed of 33 knots has been reached, and one 

 fitted with a turbine propeller is designed to 

 make 36 knots or better. The supplemental pro- 

 gramme for 1899 provides for 12 new ones. The 

 shipbuilding programme for 1900 includes 2 battle 

 ships, 2 armored cruisers of 9,800 tons, and 3 

 smaller cruisers. 



The number of officers and seamen as provided 

 in the supplementary estimates for 1899 is 110,- 

 640, including the coast guard; the number of 

 marines is 18,505. The number of flag officers 

 has been increased from 68 to 80; of captains, 

 from 208 to 245; of commanders, from 304 to 360; 

 of lieutenants, from 1,150 to 1,550; of engineer 

 officers, from 950 to 1,050. 



Commerce and Production. The area sown 

 to grain in Great Britain has decreased from 



9.431.490 acres in 1874 to 7,400,335 in 1898, the 

 acreage of green crops from 3,581,276 to 3,133,521 

 acres, flax from 9,394 to 902 acres, hops from 

 65,805 to 49,735 acres, small fruits from 74,547 

 to 69,753 acres, and bare fallow from 660,206 to 

 352,094 acres, while clover and grass meadows 

 have increased from 4,340,742 to 4,911,189 acres 

 and permanent pastures from 13,178,412 to 16,- 

 559,502 acres. The number of horses has in- 

 creased from 1,311,739 to 1,517,160, cattle from 



6.125.491 to 6,622,364, and pigs from 2,422,832 to 

 2,451,595, while sheep have fallen away from 30,- 

 313,941 to 26,743,194 in number. In Ireland the 

 decrease in grain crops has been from 1,901,508 

 acres to 1,390,941 acres, in green crops from 

 1,353,362 acres to 1,105,026, in flax from 106,886 

 acres to 34,489, in bare fallow from 18,056 in 

 1875 to 16,857 in 1898, and in meadow there has 

 been a decrease to 1,252,889 acres in 1898 from 

 1,285,357 in 1875, while in permanent pasture the 

 area has grown from 11,189,018 to 11,390,950 

 acres. The number of horses in Ireland has in- 

 creased from 468,089 in 1874 to 513,788 in 1898, 

 cattle from 4,118,113 to 4,486,242, sheep have de- 

 clined from 4,437,613 to 4,287,274, and pigs have 

 increased from 1,096,494 to 1,253,682. The acre- 

 age of wheat in Great Britain in 1898 was 2,102,- 

 220; barley, 1,903,652; oats, 2,917,760; beans, 

 232,007; peas, 175,901; potatoes, 524,591; and 

 turnips, 1,772,406 acres. In Ireland the acreage 

 of wheat was 52,862; barley, 158,151; oats, 1,165,- 

 295; beans, 1,712; peas, 537; potatoes, 664,912; 

 and turnips, 306,936 acres. The number of farms 

 in Great Britain in 1895 was 520,106, not count- 

 ing holdings of less than an acre. Nearly three 

 fourths of the land was divided into farms of 

 from 50 to 500 acres, nearly half of it in farms 

 between 100 and 300 acres, though half of the 

 total number of farms were less than 20 acres. 

 Of the total number, 439,405 were rented, 61,014 

 were owned by the occupiers, and 19,687 were 

 partly rented. Between 1885 and 1895 holdings 

 of less than 5 acres decreased in number from 

 135,736 to 134,677; those also above 300 acres 

 decreased from 19,364 to 18,787 ; in those between 

 100 and 300 acres there was an increase from 

 79,573 to 81.245, between 50 and 100 acres from 

 64,715 to 66,625, and between 5 and 50 acres from 

 232,955 to 235,481. There are 579,133 holdings 

 not exceeding an acre in size. In Ireland there 

 were 576,975 agricultural holdings in 1897, of 

 which 1,563 exceeded 500 acres, 8,245 were be- 



