860 



WEST INDIES. 



greater part of the cultivable land of St. Vincent 

 has passed into the hands of money-lending mer- 

 chants. The Government has adopted a scheme 

 for creating a peasant proprietary out of the pres- 

 ent rack-rented tenants. 



Barbadoes has an area of 166 square miles, with 

 a population of about 190,000. Nearly the whole 

 surface of the island is planted to sugar cane. 

 The product of raw sugar in 1897 was 58.600 

 hogsheads. The exports of manjak or glance 

 pitch, a bituminous mineral used as fuel, were 

 1,880 tons, valued at 3,760. The annual catch 

 of fish is about 17,000 in value. The merchant 

 shipping of the colony consists of 48 sailing ves- 

 sels and 2 steamers, having an aggregate burden 

 of 7,105 tons. Barbadoes is the headquarters of 

 the British troops in the West Indies, numbering 

 32 officers and 815 men. There are 24 miles of 

 railroad and telegraph line, and 635 miles of tele- 

 phone line. The total value of imports in 1897 

 was 1,008,699; exports, 736,163. The exports 

 of sugar were 447,430; of molasses, 86,094. 

 The imports of flour Were 57,843; of rice, 50.- 

 664; of fish, 82,457; of cotton cloth, 131,562. 

 The tonnage entered and cleared during 1897 was 

 1,335,962 tons. The revenue for 1897 was 184,- 

 606; expenditure, 172,551; debt, 409,150. The 

 revenue from customs was 106,880. The ex- 

 penditure for salaries was 78,406; for debt, 

 31,561; for police, 23,370. No island in the 

 world is more densely populated than Barbadoes, 

 and no soil is better adapted to the production of 

 sugar cane; but this is the only crop for which 

 the soil is suitable. The great damage caused by 

 the hurricane that swept this island in 1898 has 

 been in part repaired by means of a loan of 50,- 

 000 obtained from the British Government. The 

 chief agricultural station created in accordance 

 with the recommendations of the West Indian 

 commission has been established here under the 

 supervision of Dr. Morris, and under the auspices 

 of the new Imperial Department of Agriculture in 

 the West Indies a conference was held in Janu- 

 ary to devise a co-operative policy for the promo- 

 tion of the economic interests of the colonies. 



Trinidad has an area of 1,754 square miles, 

 with a population estimated in 1897 at 254.518. 

 Of the total area of 1,120,000 acres, 442,924 acres 

 have been sold to private owners. There are 57,- 

 000 acres planted to sugar cane, 99.500 acres to 

 cacao and coffee, 13,500 acres to ground provi- 

 sions, and 14,000 acres to cocoanuts. From the 

 pitch lake 124,672 tons of asphalt were taken in 

 1897. The total value of imports in 1897 was 

 2,161,231, of which 309,611 were for textile 

 goods, 127,383 for flour, and 148,777 for rice. 

 The total value of exports was 1,994,926, of 

 which 537,107 were sugar exports, 605,053 

 cacao, and 165,494 coffee. Ships of 1,296,902 

 tons were entered and cleared during the year. 

 The revenue for 1897 was 567,158; expenditure, 

 579,027; debt, 516,518. Tobago is a depend- 

 ency of Trinidad. The area is 114 square miles; 

 population, 20,785. Cacao, cotton, and tobacco 

 are cultivated. The imports in 1897 were 11,- 

 655; exports, 4,681. The revenue was 8,107; 

 expenditure, ,8,387; debt, 9,500. Sugar, mo- 

 lasses, and rum are important products in Trini- 

 dad, though no longer the mainstay of agricul- 

 ture. There are 83,000 coolie immigrants, who are 

 brought over from India and returned to their 

 homes by the Government, as in British Guiana 

 also, the only other colony that still employs 

 them on a large scale. The Imperial Government 

 has guaranteed a loan of 110.000 for harbor im- 

 provements at Port-of-Spain and the extension of 

 the Government railroad. 



British Cuiana has an area of 76,000 square 

 miles, not including 33,000 square miles bet ween 

 the formerly accepted limits and the Schomburffk 

 line claimed in the dispute with Venezuela. The 



imputation in 1891 was 278,328, comprising .~>:;:{ 

 Europeans, 99,615 negroes and colored, 10.~>. }(>."> 

 East Indian coolies, and 3,714 Chinese. In ls;s 

 there were 4,500 Europeans, not counting 1'J.ooo 

 Portuguese laborers from the Atlantic islands. 

 The numbers of Indian coolies had risen to 1 !('.- 

 000. Georgetown, the capital, had 53.176 inhab- 

 itants. There were 79,278 acres under cultivation, 

 of which 69,814 acres were under sugar cane. The 

 number of sugar estates was 74. Gold mining 

 has been carried on in the disputed territory MUCC 

 1886. The total value of gold obtained in the 

 ten years ending with 1896 was 2,796,300. Tin- 

 yield of the mines in 1897 was 126,702 ounce*: in 

 1898, 125,080 ounces. The total value of imports 

 in 1898 was 1,282.976; of exports, 1,783,764. 

 The imports of textiles were 156,120; of Hour. 

 139,107; of rice, 95.933; of machinery, .1; 73.- 

 381; of fertilizers, 72,597; of hMi. t: 4/i.s.V.i: of 

 coal, 36,451; of hardware. 28,336. Th- 

 ports of sugar were 1,023,523; of molasses, 9,- 

 821; of rum. 132,586; of balata, 30.'.r>7: of 

 rice, 21.385; of gold, 125,080 ounce-, value 

 456,436. During 1898 vessels of a total of 621,- 

 198 tons visited the ports. The shipping of the 

 colony consisted of 116 sailing vessels, of 

 tons, and 16 steamers, of 1,238 tons. There arc 

 40 miles of railroad. The telegraphs and cables. 

 which belong to the Government, have a total 

 length of 540 miles; telephones, 010 miles. The 

 revenue in 1898 was 505,369, of which Uii!4,671 

 came from customs, 49,780 from the dut\ mi 

 rum. 108,859 from licenses, and 23,902 from 

 the royalty on gold. The chief expenditme- were 

 150,718 for civil, 22,586 for eccle-ia-ti. - ; ,|. and 

 37,854 for judicial purposes, 31.431 for educa- 

 tion, and 23.800 for public works. The public 

 debt is 949,402. The area of Brit is}, Guiana N 

 fifteen times greater than that of all the i-land 

 colonies put together, and its population i- a- 

 thin as that of the inland^ i- dcn-c. hcin^ only 

 2.5 to the square mile. Of the population it ha-. 

 less than 2 per cent, are Kuroprans proper. Tin- 

 area under cultivation is confined to the heavy, 

 rich soil near the coast, where -u-ai i- grown at 

 great expense for drainage and for labor, but still 

 with profit on the best cultivated estates. This 

 has been the only industry of the colony, and the 

 sugar planters who control the Government on 

 account of the labor problem have prevented 

 the settlement of the elevated lands of the in- 

 terior. The di-i-o\ cries of gold have encour- 

 aged migration of labor to the diggings, the inter- 

 mittent activity of which is the only life and en- 

 terprise in this promi-ing region. The colon * 

 drifted almost into a state of insolvency. The 

 deficits for the three years ending with 1898 

 amounted to $469.307. and the floating debt to 

 $787,000. Sir Walter Sendall, the < Governor, while 

 speaking of the desirability of retrenchment, yet 

 presented a budget for 1900 that was $90,000 in 

 excess of the estimates for the previon- year, to 

 which the representative section of the I .-^Na- 

 ture demanded that the expenditure should he 

 limited. The importation of 5.000 additional In- 

 dian coolies entails an expense to the Government 

 of $60,000 and an obligation to provide nearly the 

 same amount to restore them to their own conn- 

 try when the term of their indentures i- over. 

 British Honduras has an area of 7.562 square 

 miles, with a population estimated at :U.-J77. com- 

 prising 4(i2 whites and 33,815 negroes and colored. 

 The chief products are mahogany and logwood. 



