FRANCE. 



267 



6,390,000 Annamites and Mois, 4,000 Chinese, and 

 250 Europeans. Of the natives, about 420,000 

 are Roman Catholics. The products are sugar, 

 cinnamon, rice, silk, corn, and other cereals, areca- 

 nuts, tobacco, sugar, betel, manioc, bamboo, 

 caoutchouc, cardamom-seed, coffee, timber, dyes, 

 and medicinal plants. Of about 300,000 kilo- 

 grams of raw silk produced annually 200,000 

 kilograms are woven by the natives and the rest 

 is exported. The natives work copper, iron, zinc, 

 and gold, which are mined in the province of 

 Quangnam. At Tourane coal-mines have been 

 opened. Cotton yarn and cloth, tea, petroleum, 

 paper manufactures, and tobacco are the princi- 

 pal imports. The local revenue and expenditure 

 for 1901 was .estimated at $2,081,416 in silver. 



Tonquin was definitely annexed in 1884 after a 

 protracted war and Laos was added in 1893. The 

 area of Tonquin is 119,600 square miles. The 

 population is estimated at 12,000,000. A French 

 resident, M. Foures, directs the administration, 

 the Annamese Viceroy having been withdrawn in 

 1897. Hanoi, the capital, has about 150,000 in- 

 habitants. Rice is raised in great quantities and 

 shipped to Hong-Kong. The production of silk 

 is about 500,000 kilograms, of which 300,000 kilo- 

 grams are woven by the natives. Cotton is 

 grown and cotton-mills have been established at 

 Haiphong and Hanoi. Sugar, pepper, oils, carda- 

 mom-seeds, coffee, fruits, and tobacco are pro- 

 duced. The quantity of coal raised at the Hongay 

 mines in 1899 was 168,600 tons. Copper and iron 

 are mined. Textile yarns and tissues, tools, hard- 

 ware, machinery, and beverages are the princi- 

 pal imports. The total value of imports in 1900 

 was 63,800,000 francs, of which 28,750,000 francs 

 came from France and French colonies; value of 

 exports, 40,025,000 francs, of which 4,225.000 

 francs went to France and French colonies. The 

 estimated local revenue and expenditure in 1901 

 was $4,197,950. 



The Laos territories have an estimated area of 

 98,000 square miles, and their population is esti- 

 mated at 1,500,000. Luang-Prabang, the capital, 

 has about 40,000 inhabitants. The cultivated 

 products are rice, cotton, indigo, tobacco, and 

 fruits. There are large teak forests from which 

 logs are floated down the Mekong to Saigon. 

 Concessions have been obtained by French com- 

 panies to mine for gold, lead, tin, and precious 

 stones. Steamboats have been placed on the Me- 

 kong above the rapids. The budget of revenue 

 and expenditure for 1901 was $758,660. Cochin- 

 China pays six-thirteenths, Tonquin and Annam 

 five-thirteenths, and Cambodia two-thirteenths 

 of the cost of government. 



The most important of French possessions in 

 the Pacific is New Caledonia. The Governor is 

 P. Feillet. There is a General Council of 20 mem- 

 bers. The area is 7,700 square miles. The popu- 

 lation in 1898 consisted of 19,053 Europeans, 

 1,829 Asiatics, and 31,874 natives; total, 52,756. 

 In 1902, exclusive of the military, there were 

 over 54,000 inhabitants. Imported European and 

 Asiatic laborers have increased the population. 

 French laborers get a free passage. There were 

 in 1900 in the penal settlement 3,522 convicts un- 

 dergoing sentences of hard labor, and the exiles 

 numbered 2,570, the deported 10, the discharged 

 convicts 4,585. In 1900 there were 238 French 

 emigrants who went out to New Caledonia, the 

 Government furnishing transportation. The 

 local revenue and expenditure for 1901 was esti- 

 mated at 4,414,727 francs. The expenditure of 

 France in 1902 was 5,792.957 francs, including 

 3,003,870 francs for the penal settlement, There 

 are about 1,600 square miles of cultivated lands, 



1,600 square miles of grazing lands, and 500 

 square miles of forest. The rest of the surface is 

 mountainous. The penal establishments have a 

 domain of 400 square miles. The natives have 

 their own reservations. Other tracts of available 

 lands form the state domains, out of which free 

 grants are offered to settlers. The deportation 

 of convicts to New Caledonia has ceased and the 

 convict population is decreasing. Japanese labor- 

 ers are no longer imported on contract, but the 

 Japanese continue to arrive for agricultural labor 

 and domestic service. About 800 Tonquinese and 

 Indians from Pondichery have recently been im- 

 parted. Dalmatians who went first to New 

 Zealand to dig kauri-gum migrated to New Cale- 

 donia, where they found more profitable work in 

 the mines, and many of their countrymen have 

 gone over from Europe to join them. Fewer la- 

 borers are being recruited in the New Hebrides. 



The principal agricultural products are coffee, 

 corn, tobacco, sugar, and manioc. The only land 

 laborers till recently were convicts, Kanakas, and 

 natives of the New Hebrides. Grapes and pine- 

 apples are grown, and experiments are being 

 made in the raising of silkworms and the culti- 

 vation of wheat and of rubber. The most valu- 

 able products are mineral. The nickel ore mined 

 in 1899 amounted to 74,614 tons, valued at 3,950,- 

 000 francs; cobalt ore, 3,294 tons, valued at 355,- 

 000 francs; chromate of iron, 12,634 tons, valued 

 at 644,000 francs; copper ore, 6,349 tons, valued 

 at' 488,000 francs. In 1900 there were 100,000 

 tons of nickel ore exported, and in 1901 there were 

 133,000 tons. Companies have built works to 

 treat the ore on the spot. The value of the 

 nickel, cobalt, and chrome exported in 1901 

 reached 8,916,000 francs. The total value of im- 

 ports in 1899 was 10,958,198 francs, of which 

 6,645,199 francs came from France and French 

 colonies; exports, 8,913,197 francs, of which 

 3,481,140 francs went to France and French col- 

 onies. The importation of cereals and flour were 

 1,543,923 francs; of beverages, 2,223,114 francs. 

 The most important exports were minerals for 

 7,081,093 francs and 801,579 francs' worth of 

 canned meat for the French army. There were 

 127 vessels, of 177,657 tons, entered and 120, of 

 154,483 tons, cleared at the port of Noumea in 

 1899. A railroad, 90 miles long, is being built 

 from Noumea to Bourail, and the harbor of 

 Noumea is being improved. A line of steamers 

 from San Francisco will carry American flour, 

 wheat, and provisions and other products to New 

 Caledonia. The tariff regulations restricting the 

 people to French implements have been removed. 

 The new Australian tariff has diminished trade 

 with Australia. Trade with France is increasing. 



The Isle of Pines, 58 square miles in extent, 

 with a population of 600, close to New Caledonia, 

 has an establishment for habitual criminals. 

 The Wallis Archipelago, having an area of 40 

 square miles and 4.500 inhabitants, over which a 

 French protectorate was established in 1887. is, 

 administered by a resident under the Governor 

 of New Caledonia. Futiina and AJafl, south of 

 these islands, have 1,500 inhabitants. The Lou- 

 alty IxIniKl*. which have an area of 800 square 

 miles and 14,800 inhabitants, are administered 

 from Noumea. Sandalwood is exported, and 

 there are plantations of bananas. The Hiion 1s- 

 liiit<I have only a few inhabitants. The AV/c 1 

 Hehridcx are the field of operation for French 

 trading and mining companies, but by a conven- 

 tion concluded with Great Britain on Oct. 29, 

 1887, they were placed for the protection of life 

 and property under the authority of an Anglo- 

 French commission composed of naval officers 



