358 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



value; exports, $193,136,377. The chief exports 

 are tin for $27,524,804, spices for $9,206,289, gums 

 for $8,139,283, gambier for $6,711,822, tapioca and 

 sago for $4,816,486, rattan for $4,337,770, and 

 copra for $3,616,721. Sir C. B. H. Mitchell, the 

 Governor, is also High Commissioner for the 

 federated Malay states of Perak, Selangor, Negri 

 Sembilan, and Pahang, while Sir F. A. Swetten- 

 ham is Resident General. Perak has an area of 

 10,000 square miles, a population of 214,254, a 

 revenue in 1897 of $3,837,558, with $4,178,238 of 

 expenditures ; Selangor has an area of 3,500 square 

 miles, a population of 81,592, a revenue of $3,688,- 

 390, with $3,567,845 of expenditures; Negri Sem- 

 bilan, with Sungei Ujong, has an area of 3,000 

 square miles, a population of 65,219, a revenue of 

 $572,546, with $607,313 of expenditures, and 

 a debt of -$503,1 19; Pahang has an area of 10,000 

 square miles, a population of 57,462, a revenue 

 of $198,193, with $266,491 of expenditures, and a 

 debt of $2,103,739. The Straits Settlements pro- 

 duce gambier, pepper, tapioca, rice, and sugar. 

 These articles are also produced in the protected 

 states, as well as Liberian coffee, and gold is found 

 in several of them, 26,420 ounces having been 

 exported from Pahang alone in 1897; but their 

 chief source of prosperity and of revenue to the 

 native governments and "that of the Straits Set- 

 tlements is the tin mines. The export of tin 

 from Perak in 1897 was 20,702 tons; from Sungei 

 Ujong and Jelebu, 3,522 tons; from Selangor, 

 20,606 tons. Perak and Selangor have in fifteen 

 years built out of their surplus revenues 175 

 miles of railroad, at a cost of 850,000. The 

 British Parliament in 1899 authorized a loan of 

 500,000, and the protected states will provide 

 from their revenues 500,000 more to complete 

 the railroad system by the construction of 200 

 miles more. The lines already built earn an 

 average profit of 8 per cent, on the capital ex- 

 penditure. Perak and Selangor have to a great 

 extent been reorganized by English administra- 

 tors, with a sound system of finance, justice, and 

 administration. In Negri Sembilan the abuses 

 of native misrule still exist, and in Pahang to 

 a still greater extent. Since 1880 the revenue of 

 the federated states has grown from $882,000 to 

 $7,000,000. 



Hong-Kong, the chief naval and military sta- 

 tion of Great Britain in the China seas and a 

 free port, having the largest commerce of any 

 place in the East, is a Crown colony. The pres- 

 ent Governor is Sir Henry A. Blake. Besides the 

 island of Hong-Kong, which was ceded to Great 

 Britain in 1841, the opposite peninsula of Kau- 

 lung became British territory by a treaty made 

 with China in 1861. On June 9, 1898, an area of 

 nearly 400 square miles was leased to Great Brit- 

 ain for ninety-nine years, running back to Mirs 

 Bay and Deep Bay, including those waters and 

 the island of Lantao. The leased district in- 

 cludes the city of Kaulung, where the Chinese 

 authorities continue to exercise jurisdiction in 

 native matters, and contains numerous villages, 

 having a population of about 100,000. Of the 

 population of Hong-Kong in 1898 the estimated 

 nunYber of British and foreigners was 13,700, 

 nearly half of them Portuguese, about one third 

 British, and the rest Germans, Americans, French, 

 Spanish, Italians, Turks, etc. The number of 

 births in 1897 was 1,368; of deaths, 4,688. The 

 Chinese immigration in 1897 was 115,207; emi- 

 gration to China, 62,831. The British garrison 

 numbers 2,800 officers and men. The colony con- 

 tributed 476,869 toward imperial defense in 

 1897, including the cost of the volunteer artil- 

 lery, numbering 176 men. The British naval 



squadron on the China station consists of 34 

 men-of-war. The police force of Hong-Kong num- 

 bers 661 men, of whom 122 are British, 210 Sikhs, 

 and 329 Chinese. The ordinary revenue for 1897 

 was $3,352,366; ordinary expenditure, $2,513,693. 

 The revenue is derived from lands, taxes, licenses, 

 and the opium monopoly. Hong-Kong is the port 

 w T here the opium from India is received and 

 shipped to the various ports of China, and is the 

 distributing point for a great part of the Eu- 

 ropean trade with the Chinese Empire. The tea 

 trade and the silk trade are largely controlled 

 by Hong-Kong merchants. Among the commer- 

 cial staples of which it is .the center are raw 

 cotton, cotton manufactures, flour, salt, china- 

 ware, oil, sandalwood, betel, live animals, ivory, 

 and vegetables. The imports are estimated at 

 4,000,000 sterling, and exports at half that 

 amount. The shipping registered in the colony 

 in 1898 consisted of 25 sailing vessels, of 6,441 

 tons, and 38 steamers, of 20,705 tons. There 

 were 4,974 vessels, of 6,063,640 tons, entered dur- 

 ing 1897, not including 28,989 junks, of 1,718,- 

 739 tons. 



Wei-Hai-Wei, a naval harbor on the peninsula 

 of Shantung, was on July 1, 1898, leased to Great 

 Britain for so long a period as Russia shall re- 

 main in possession of Port Arthur. The lease 

 includes the port and bay, with the island of 

 Liu-Kung and all the islands in the bay, and a 

 coast strip 10 miles wide around the bay. In 

 a neutral zone beyond Great Britain has the 

 right to station a military force and erect forti- 

 fications, but the jurisdiction remains Chinese. 

 Parliament has voted 130,000 for fortifications, 

 and has authorized the recruiting of a Chinese 

 regiment at Wei-Hai-Wei. 



Ascension, an island off the coast of Africa, 

 700 miles northwest of St. Helena, is a coaling 

 station and store depot for the British West 

 African squadron and a sanitarium for officers 

 and seamen debilitated by coast fever. 



St. Helena, 1,200 miles from the west coast 

 of Africa, is a coaling station for vessels of the 

 British navy and merchantmen going to the Cape 

 of Good Hope. The tonnage entered and cleared 

 in 1897 was 81,948 tons, almost all British. The 

 revenue in 1898 was 9,152; expenditure, 12- 

 349, partly extraordinary. Imports amounted to 

 62,985, nearly double as much as in the pre- 

 vious year, owing to an increase in the garrison; 

 exports, 4,391. 



Tristan da Cunha, midway between the Cape 

 of Good Hope and South America, is the home 

 of shipwrecked British sailors and their families, 

 numbering 64 persons in 1897. 



The Falkland Islands, 300 miles east of the 

 Straits of Magellan, are peopled by British immi- 

 grants, who raise sheep and export wool and 

 mutton to England. The number of horses in 

 1897 was 2,758; of cattle, 7,343; of sheep, 732,010. 

 There are 2,325,000 acres of pasture land. The 

 imports in 1897 were 63,286; exports, 125,123; 

 revenue, 12,970; expenditure, 13,636. The 

 number of vessels that called during the year, was 

 42, of 54,144 tons. 



The Bermudas, a group of small islands in the 

 North Atlantic, 580 miles from the coast of North 

 Carolina, possess representative government. The 

 Governor is Lieut.-Gen. G. Digby Barker. The 

 number of marriages in 1897 was 124: of births, 

 572; of deaths, 385. The revenue for 1897 was 

 35,965; expenditure, 35,704. The British Gov- 

 ernment contributed 2,200. The public debt is 

 46,100. The value of imports was 323,148. 

 The islands are a winter resort for Americans, 

 and import most of the food supply from the 



