350 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



tered and cleared at the port of London was 15,- 

 197,659 tons; at Cardiff, 11,990,609 tons; at 

 Liverpool, 11,261,051 tons; at Newcastle, 5,210,- 

 424 tons; at Hull, 4,140,982 tons; at Glasgow, 

 3,421,386 tons; at Southampton, 3,008,209 tons; 

 at Newport, 2,618,710 tons; at North and South 

 Shields, 2,172,313 tons; at Middlesboro, 1,996,083 

 tons; at Sunderland, 1,943,967 tons; at Leith, 

 1,831,245 tons; at Grimsby, 1,723,666 tons; at 

 Swansea, 1,600,869 tons; at Kirkcaldy, 1,570,203 

 tons; at Grangemouth, 1,483,116 tons; at Bris- 

 tol, 1,091,316 tons; at Manchester, 870,921 tons; 

 at Hartlepool, 852,558 tons; at Belfast, 685,400 

 tons. 



The number of vessels registered as belonging 

 to the United Kingdom on Jan. 1, 1898, was 20,- 

 601, of 8,953,171 tons, of which 11,911, of 2,589,570 

 tons, were sailing vessels and 8,590, of 6,363,601 

 tons, were steamers. The number of vessels en- 

 gaged in the home and foreign trade was 15,423, 

 of 8,925,813 tons. The number of seamen em- 

 ployed was 240,931, of whom 33,898 were for- 

 eigners. The total number of vessels belonging 

 to the British Empire was 34,962, of 10,416,442 

 tons. The number of vessels built and first 

 registered during 1897 was 1,054, of 482,267 tons, 

 of which 518, of 66,729 tons, were sailing vessels 

 and 536, of 415,538 tons, were steamers. Of the 

 total number of vessels belonging to the United 

 Kingdom, 6,871 .sailing vessels, of 434,125 tons, 

 and 2,906 steamers, of 432,839 tons, were em- 

 ployed in the home trade and the coasting trade 

 between the mouth of the Elbe and Brest; 180 

 sailing vessels, of 22,645 tons, and 313 steamers, 

 of 256,223 tons, were engaged partly in the home 

 trade and partly in the foreign trade; and 1,534 

 sailing vessels, of 2,016,247 tons, and 3,619 steam 

 vessels, of 5,763,734 tons, were engaged in the 

 foreign trade alone. 



Bailroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 total length of railroads open to traffic in the 

 United Kingdom on Jan. 1, 1898, was 21,433 

 miles, of which 14,818 miles were in England and 

 Wales, 3,447 miles in Scotland, and 3,168 miles 

 in Ireland. The paid-up share and loan capital 

 amounted to 1,089,765,000. The number of pas- 

 sengers carried during 1897 was 1,030,420,201, 

 exclusive of holders of season tickets. The re- 

 ceipts from all sources were 93,737,054, of which 

 40,518,064 came from passengers and 47,857,- 

 172 from freight. The working expenses .were 

 53,083,804, 57 per cent, of the gross receipts. 

 There were 1,031 miles of tramways on June 30, 

 1897, the receipts of which for the previous year 

 were 4,235,533 and the expenses 3,198,444, the 

 number of passengers having been 788,569,669. 



The number of letters that passed through the 

 British post office during the year ending March 

 31, 1898, was 2,012,300,000, of which 1,711,200,000 

 were delivered in England and Wales, 177,400,000 

 in Scotland, and 123,700,000 in Ireland, being 50 

 per head of population for the whole United 

 Kingdom, 55 per head for England and Wales, 

 42 per head for Scotland, and 27 per head for 

 Ireland. The number of postal cards carried by 

 the post office in 1898 was 360,400,000; book 

 packets, 727,300,000; newspapers, 150,900,000; 

 parcels, 67,800,000; money orders, 11,128,258, for 

 the total amount of 32,114,579, of which 9,429,- 

 609, for 27,494,145, were inland orders; of postal 

 orders, 71,380,975, for the gross amount of 26,- 

 014,583. The receipts of the postal service were 

 12,420,376 and the expenses 8,689,713, leav- 

 ing a net revenue of 3,730,663. The telegraph 

 receipts were 3,071,723 and expenses 3,381,261, 

 leaving a deficit of 309,538, not including 298,- 

 888 interest on the debt created for the purchase 



of the telegraph lines in 1870. The telegraph 

 lines had on March 31, 1898, a total length of 

 41,516 miles, with 280,578 miles of wire. The 

 number of messages sent during the year was 

 83,029,999, of which 69,961,350 were sent in Eng- 

 land and Wales, 8,463,393 in Scotland, and 4,605,- 

 256 in Ireland. 



The Session of Parliament. The fifth session 

 of the fourteenth Parliament of the Queen's reign 

 was opened by commission on Feb. 7, 1899. The 

 royal speech referred to the establishment of 

 order in the conquered provinces of the Soudan 

 by British and Egyptian officers after the sub- 

 jugation of the Khalifa's dominion by Anglo- 

 Egyptian troops, the delegation of the govern- 

 ment of Crete by the powers to Prince Georgios 

 of Greece, the peace conference at The Hague, 

 and the conference to consider the dangers of 

 anarchist conspiracy that was summoned after 

 the assassination of the Empress of Austria, with 

 the conclusions of which the British delegates 

 were unable to concur, though some amendments 

 in the existing British laws upon the subject 

 would be submitted; also to the West Indian 

 hurricane, to the plague in India and the abun- 

 dant harvests and reviving trade of that empire, 

 and to the recognition by Cape Colony of the 

 principle of common responsibility for the naval 

 defense of the empire as shown by the offer of a 

 permanent annual contribution. The legislative 

 programme comprised a bill for more fully organ- 

 izing the government of the metropolis; the re- 

 introduction of a measure for the establishment 

 of a board for the administration of primary, 

 secondary, and technical education in England 

 and Wales; the resubmission of provisions for 

 simplifying the process of private legislation for 

 Scotland; and a measure for enabling local au- 

 thorities to assist the occupiers of small dwell- 

 ings in the purchase of their houses. In the 

 secondary rank were promised bills for encour- 

 aging agriculture and technical instruction in 

 Ireland, and for the relief of the tithe rent charge 

 in that country; for providing a more complete 

 distribution of water supply in cases of emer- 

 gency in the metropolis; for the regulation of 

 limited companies; for the prevention of the 

 adulteration of articles of food; for controlling 

 the contracts of money lenders ; for amending the 

 factory acts in certain respects; and for amend- 

 ing the law in respect to agricultural holdings. 

 The Irish rent-charge relief bill was dropped 

 almost immediately after its introduction, and 

 the factory acts amendment bill and the agri- 

 cultural holdings bill were not brought in at 

 all, while the companies bill and the money 

 lenders bill, after being carefully considered in 

 the upper house, were sacrificed to more pressing 

 business in the House of Commons. The London 

 government bill, the water companies bill, the 

 Scotch private legislation bill, and the food and 

 drugs adulteration bill were the first ones ad- 

 vanced to a second reading. The debate on the 

 address lasted two weeks, but the Government 

 could not be vigorously assailed on any- point 

 by the weak forces of the Opposition. Samuel 

 Smith raised the question of lawlessness in the 

 Church, and his amendment was resisted by Ar- 

 thur Balfour, the leader of the house, who de- 

 clared it premature and prejudicial to the legiti- 

 mate authority of the bishops, which view was 

 sustained by 221 votes against 89. The Welsh 

 as well as the Irish Nationalists made the usual 

 plea for their cause. Mr. Redmond's declaration 

 in favor of home rule for Ireland drew from Sir 

 Henry Campbell-Bannerman, who had succeeded 

 Sir William Vernon Harcourt as leader of the 



