GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



355 



ports. Excluding India, the revenue of the colo- 

 nies has risen from 3,600,000 in 1850 to 54,- 

 000,000, and their indebtedness from 5,500,000 

 to 334,000,000, mostly held by English bond- 

 holders, and representing 36,000 miles of rail- 

 roads, improved harbors, bridges, water supply 

 and irrigation works, the reclamation of waste 

 lands, coast-defense works, Government buildings, 

 and other means of increased wealth and com- 

 merce. 



The fortress of Gibraltar and the island of 

 Malta are the naval bases of Great Britain in 

 the Mediterranean. The strength of Gibraltar is 

 being increased by extending the mole and build- 

 ing an additional one and a deep harbor. The 

 people living in the port are descendants of early 

 Genoese settlers. The tonnage entered in 1897 

 was 4,371,126 tons, of which 3,331,477 tons were 

 British. The British garrison in 1898 was 5,505 

 officers and men. The revenue for 1897 was 

 1,052,781 pesetas; expenditure, 1,531,784 pesetas. 

 The military expenditure of the British Govern- 

 ment was 275,016. The Governor is Gen. Sir 

 Robert Biddulph. 



Malta lies 58 miles from the coast of Sicily, 

 and is peopled by a mixed race, part Greek, speak- 

 ing Italian. The Governor is Lieut.-Gen. Sir 

 Francis Wallace Grenfell. The island produces 

 cotton, potatoes, oranges, and figs. The imports 

 for domestic consumption in 1897 were 824,439 

 in value, but the total imports were 10,895,639 

 in value; exports, 10,088,760. The number 

 of vessels entered was 4,111, of 3,637,426 tons; 

 cleared, 4,079, of 3,607,042 tons. There are 8 

 miles of railroad, 65 miles of telegraph, and 350 

 miles of telephones. The number of internal let- 

 ters and postal cards that passed through the 

 post office in 1897 was 1,641,255; newspapers, 

 669,107; of foreign letters, 1,975,870; postal cards, 

 118,576; newspapers, 1,022,437. The revenue in 

 1897 was 323,787; expenditure, 324,673. 

 Malta has an excellent harbor, which is the base 

 for repair, provisioning, and refitting the British 

 fleet in the Mediterranean, and is one of the most 



frequented ports of call in the world. The use 

 of English as the language of instruction in the 

 schools, alternatively with Italian, was enacted 

 about 1880. Since 1898 the British Government 

 has endeavored to obtain the consent of the 

 elected members of the Council of Government to 

 a law prescribing the optional use of English or 

 Italian in judicial proceedings, and making Eng- 

 lish the sole language of the courts after a period 

 of fifteen years. The elected members protested 

 against this measure as degrading the whole popu- 

 lation and reducing the people to slavery, and 

 they feared that it would result in flooding the 

 island with British immigrants and supplanting 

 the present professional classes with Englishmen. 

 After they had repeatedly refused to ' pass the 

 obnoxious ordinances, Mr. Chamberlain on March 

 15, 1899, enacted them by an order in Council. 



Cyprus, a Turkish island in the Mediterranean 

 transferred to British administration by a con- 

 vention with the Porte concluded on June 4, 1878, 

 has an area of 3,584 square miles and a popula- 

 tion of 209,286. The British High Commissioner 

 is Sir William F. Haynes Smith. The principal 

 products are wheat, barley, cotton, carobs, lin- 

 seed, olives, silk, raisins, fruits, vegetables, silk, 

 cheese, wool, hides, and wine. The imports of 

 merchandise in 1897 were 263,346 in value; ex- 

 ports, 264,802. The tonnage entered and cleared 

 was 702,510. There are 240 miles of telegraphs. 

 The revenue in 1898 was 190,525; expenditure, 

 132,130. The tribute paid to the Sublime Porte 

 is 92,800 per annum. The British Government 

 contributed 33,000 in aid of revenue in 1898. 

 In 1899 Parliament in the colonial loans bill guar- 

 anteed a debt of 314,000 to be raised for the 

 purpose of making a harbor at Famagusta, con- 

 necting it by 37 miles of railroad with Nicosia, 

 the capital town, and building an irrigation reser- 

 voir not only sufficient to mitigate the effects 

 of periodical droughts in the central grain-grow- 

 ing district, the Mesaoria, but to permit the in- 

 troduction of many new products for which the 

 quality of the soil is suitable. 



Aden, a rocky peninsula on the Arabian coast, 

 is a fortified harbor, coaling station, and naval 

 base at the entrance of the Red Sea. The colony 

 ' includes the island of Perim, and the protected 

 island of Sokotra and the Kuria Muria Isles are 

 dependencies. Aden has a large transit trade 

 in Arabian and African products, such as coffee, 

 gum, hides, skins, and tobacco. The imports in 

 1898 were 36,347,980 rupees by sea and 3,310,478 

 by land, besides 4,408,407 rupees of treasure; 

 exports, 31,329,756 rupees by sea, 1,272,430 rupees 

 by land, and 4,878,196 rupees of treasure. There 

 were 1,079 vessels, of 2,123,339 tons, entered, be- 

 sides 1,407 local craft, of 48,138 tons. Aden is 

 administered under the direction of the Governor 

 of Bombay. The Bahrein Islands, off the coast 

 of Arabia, in the Persian Gulf, are ruled by a 

 sheik under British protection. They have a 

 population of 22,000, and export pearls worth 

 244,000 a year. 



Labuan is an island off the coast of Borneo, 

 formerly a Crown colony, which in 1889 was 

 placed under the administration of the North 

 Borneo Company. British North Borneo, a pro- 

 tectorate placed under the jurisdiction of the 

 same company by a royal charter, occupies terri- 

 tories ceded by the Sultan of Brunei and the 

 Sultan of Sarawak. The area is 31,106 square 

 miles and the population 175,000, including the 

 Mohammedan settlers on the coast, the Chinese 

 traders and workmen, and the aboriginal tribes 

 of the forests and mountains. About 1,000,000 

 acres have been sold to 13 private individuals 



