GREECE. 



359 



United States and Canada. The principal exports 

 were onions for 81,403, lily bulbs for 8,080, 

 and potatoes for 18,052, nearly all to the port 

 of New York. The shipping of the colony con- 

 sisted in 1898 of 23 sailing vessels, of 5,409 tons 

 burden, and 2 steamers, of 6,120 tons. The ton- 

 nage entered and cleared in 1897 was 346,538 tons. 

 There are 36 miles of telegraph, 15 of cable, and 

 700 of telephone wires. Bermuda is connected 

 with Halifax, Nova Scotia, by cable, and is a 

 coaling and victualing station and naval base 

 for British vessels in North America. 



Mauritius, 500 miles east of Madagascar, is 

 peopled by Creole French planters, descendants 

 of liberated African slaves, mixed races, Indian 

 coolies, etc. There were 260,542 Indians and 3,389 

 Chinamen at the end of 1897. The birth rate is 

 35.5, the death rate 29.5 per thousand. The 

 Governor of the colony is Sir Charles Bruce. 

 The revenue for 1897 was 7,996,705 rupees; ex- 

 penditure, 8,626,798 rupees. The debt amounted 

 to 1,236,489. The chief items of revenue were 

 2,769,889 rupees from customs, 2,377,961 rupees 

 irom licenses, and 1,712,322 rupees from railroads. 

 The total value of the imports in 1897 was 18,- 

 948,233 rupees; exports, 28,192,675 rupees. The 

 export of raw sugar was 22,327,650 rupees in 

 value; rum, 67,370 rupees; vanilla, 136,620 ru- 

 pees; aloe fiber, 242,507 rupees; cocoanut oil, 

 33,760 rupees. The acreage of sugar declined 

 after a rapid increase in 1893 and 1894, but in 

 1897 began to recover. The British Government 

 is assisting Mauritius with a new loan of 32,- 

 820 for reafforestation, drainage, and water- 

 works needed for the health of the community. 

 The shipping of the colony in 1897 comprised 64 

 sailing vessels, of 7,159 tons, and 4 steamers, of 

 131 tons burden. There were 332 vessels, of 

 328,702 tons, entered and 342, of 338,683 tons, 

 cleared at Port Louis during 1897. The British 

 .garrison in 1898 numbered 1,078 officers and men. 

 The colony has 105 miles of railroad and a sys- 

 tem of telegraph connecting all points on the 

 island, with a cable to Seychelles and Zanzibar. 



The Seychelles are a group of small islands, 

 having a population of 16,440 inhabitants, who 

 exported cocoanut oil, soap, vanilla, tortoise 

 shell, coffee, and cacao of the value of 127,687 ru- 

 pees in 1897. (See AUSTRALASIA, CANADA, CAPE 

 COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA, EAST AFRICA, 

 INDIA, NEWFOUNDLAND, WEST AFRICA, WEST 

 INDIES.) 



GREECE, a monarchy in southeastern Eu- 

 rope. The legislative authority is vested in a 

 single chamber, called the Boule, consisting of 

 207 members elected for four years by universal 

 manhood suffrage. The reigning King is Georgios 

 I, born Dec. 24, 1845, the second son of King 

 Christian of Denmark, elected King of the Hel- 

 lenes on March 18, 1863, after the deposition of 

 King Otto, with the assent of the protecting 

 powers, France, Great Britain, and Russia, under 

 whose auspices the Hellenic Kingdom was first 

 established in 1830 after the overthrow of Turk- 

 ish rule. The heir apparent is Prince Konstanti- 

 nos, Duke of Sparta, born Aug. 2, 1868. 



The Cabinet formed on Nov. 10, 1898, was com- 

 posed as follows: President of the Council and 

 Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Zaimis; Minister 

 of the Interior and of Worship and Instruction, 

 M. Triantaphylakos ; Minister of Marine, Capt. 

 Miaoulis; Minister of War, Col. Karpas; Minis- 

 ter of Finance, M. Negris; Minister of Justice, 

 M. Monferatos. 



Area and Population. Greece has an area 

 of 25,014 square miles, with a population of 

 2,433,806 at the census of 1896, consisting of 



1,266,816 males and 1,166,990 females. Education 

 is compulsory, but the law is not enforced. About 

 70 per cent, of the recruits for the army can read 

 and 85 per cent, can read and write. 



Finances. As the price of the intermediation 

 of the great powers to secure better terms for 

 Greece after the defeat of the Greek army by 

 the Turks in 1897, the Hellenic Government was 

 compelled to an international control of the 

 finances, which had for several years been urged 

 in the interests of the foreign creditors of Greece, 

 but had been obstinately resisted by the Govern- 

 ment and people. A commission of financial dele- 

 gates, representing Germany, Austria-Hungary, 

 France, Great Britain, Italy, and Russia, was 

 constituted in accordance with the law of con- 

 trol enacted in March, 1898, and in the month 

 following they made their report. The average 

 annual receipts of the Government for five years 

 anterior to the war had been 91,651,000 drachmai 

 in currency, and the average expenses of the ad- 

 ministration 61,951,000 drachmai. The revenue 

 was expected to fall in consequence of the war 

 to 85,556,500 drachmai in 1898, increasing to 89,- 

 639,640 drachmai in 1899, 92,598,780 drachmai in 

 1900, 95,557 drachmai in 1901, 98,103,504 drach- 

 mai in 1902, and 99,750,056 drachmai in 1903. 

 The administrative expenses, on the other hand, 

 were placed at a higher figure than the recent 

 budgets, notwithstanding the curtailment of mili- 

 tary expenditure and economies in all branches 

 of the administration, because for the rehabilita- 

 tion of the finances on a permanent basis it was 

 necessary to reorganize the police in order to put 

 an end to the lawlessness that interferes with in- 

 dustry, while the existing law T s of primary edu- 

 cation required a larger expenditure on the 

 schools than the Government had been allowing. 

 The administrative expenses for 1898 were esti- 

 mated at 65,501,326 drachmai, for 1899 at 64,- 

 051,326 drachmai, for 1900 at 63,851,326 drach- 

 mai, for 1901 at 64,151,326 drachmai, for 1902 at 

 64,451,326 drachmai, and for 1903 at 64,751,326 

 drachmai. The foreign debts of Greece, due in 

 gold, consisted of the loan of 1833, guaranteed 

 by England, France, and Russia, of the nominal 

 amount of 100,932,833 drachmai, on which the 

 annual charge was 900^000 drachmai, and the 

 consolidated debt of 551,716,500 drachmai, in ad- 

 dition to which a floating debt of 31,375,093 drach- 

 mai had accumulated, making the total liabili- 

 ties to foreign creditors, aside from the old guar- 

 anteed debt, 583,091,593. The currency debts 

 amounted to 177,213,795 drachmai, consisting of 

 a debt of 1,800,000 drachmai due to the heirs of 

 King Otto, the patriotic loan of 2,345,000 drach- 

 mai, 60,723,795 drachmai of consolidated loans, 

 and 112,345,000 drachmai of floating liabilities. 

 In addition to these debts, the Bank of Greece 

 had 137,500,000 drachmai of paper currency in 

 circulation, not more than 1 per cent, of it cov- 

 ered by a metallic reserve. The powers agreed 

 to guarantee a new loan of 6,800,000 sterling 

 at 2 per cent., the first issue of 5,004,900 to be 

 applied to the payment of the Turkish war in- 

 demnity of T. 4,000,000 and of T. 100,000 

 damages to private individuals, the balance being 

 applied to the relief of the financial stress of 

 the Government. The commissioners planned to 

 convert 78,881,295 drachmai of internal debt into 

 a new loan of 76,353,575 drachmai. The revenues 

 from monopolies, stamps, tobacco, and customs 

 were assigned to the commission for the service 

 of the external debt. The annual charge for the 

 old debt, including the consolidated loans and 

 the guaranteed debt of 1833, is 15,658,750 drach- 

 mai, reckoning the gold drachma equal to 1.60 



