326 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



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preserve many of the native laws and customs. 

 The islands have an area of 8,045 square miles, 

 including Rotumah. The population of Fiji in 

 11101 was 117,870, comprising 2,447 Europeans, 

 17,105 East Indians, 94,397 Fijians, and 3,921 

 Polynesians and others. The revenue for 1900 

 was 111,569, the expenditure 100,022. The 

 imports were 349,890 in value; exports, 619,- 

 836. European planters grow bananas, coconuts, 

 and sugar, and the exports in the order of their 

 importance are sugar, copra, rum, and bananas. 

 The Governor of Fiji is High Commissioner of 

 the Western Pacific, having authority to enforce 

 the acts of Parliament for the protection of Pa- 

 cific islanders and to settle disputes between 

 British subjects living in the islands. 



Tuii'/d is a group ruled still by a native king, 

 George II, born in 1874, who was under the joint 

 protection of Germany, Great Britain, and the 

 United States until in accordance with the An- 

 jlo-German agreement of Nov. 14, 1899, Eng- 

 and proclaimed a protectorate on May 19, 1900. 

 The Legislative Assembly is composed half of 

 nobles and half of elected representatives of the 

 people. The islands have an area of 174 square 

 miles and a population of 20,677, including 239 

 Europeans. The revenue is about $100,000. The 

 imports in 1899 amounted to 70,911. The ex- 

 ports are copra, bananas, fungus, mats, and fish- 

 nets. The neighboring Savage island was made 

 a British protectorate on April 20, 1900. The 

 Pitcairn Islands, a British settlement, produce 

 coconuts, fruit, coffee, corn, and arrowroot. Nor- 

 folk Island, with an area of 10 square miles and 

 870 population, settled by Pitcairn Islanders in 

 1856, was attached to New South Wales in 1896. 

 The New Hebrides are under the joint protec- 

 tion of France and Great Britain. A mixed 

 naval commission was created in 1888 for the pro- 

 tection of natives and the adjudication of dis- 

 putes between French and British. In 1902 each 

 Government appointed a resident deputy com- 

 missioner to look after the interests of its na- 

 tionals and keep them in order. French planters 

 have acquired lands which British missionaries 

 say the natives should not in their own interest 

 sell. Australia and New Zealand are jealous of 

 any progress that the French make, desiring to an- 

 nex the islands themselves. England is negotiat- 

 ing for a joint commission to settle land disputes. 



The British Solomon Islands, having an area 

 of 8,357 square miles, were annexed in 1897 and 

 1898 and extended in 1900 by the addition of 

 Choiseul and Isabel under the Anglo-German 

 agreement. The revenue in 1900 was 1,454, to 

 which the Imperial Government added 2,500 to 

 cover an expenditure of 3,120. About 850 of 

 the islanders were engaged in 1900 as contract 

 laborers on the Queensland sugar plantations 

 and 90 went to Fiji, while 500 returned. The ex- 

 ports in 1900 were 21,380, consisting of copra, 

 tortoise-shell, ivory-nuts, etc. In the Manihiki 

 group, about 1,000 natives live on an area of 12 

 square miles. The Tokelau group has an area of 

 7 square miles, with 1,050 inhabitants. The Ellice 

 Islands, with an area of 14 square miles, have 

 2,400. The Gilbert Islands have an area of 166 

 square miles and a population of 35,200 and in 

 1900 exported 21,165 worth of copra. Suvaroff, 

 Dudoza, Victoria, Dude, Santa Cruz, Duff, Star- 

 buck, Maiden, Jarris, Christmas, Fanning, Wash- 

 ington, Palmyra, Baker, Pha-nix, and other is- 

 lands are mostly coral atolls on which the Coco- 

 nut-palm flourishes on rocky eminences covered 

 with guano. 



Asc<nion, an island in the Atlantic, is used as 

 a coaling and victualing station and health re- 



sort for the naval forces stationed on the west 

 coast of Africa ; it has an area of 35 square miles 

 and a population of about 250 British sailors 

 and marines and officers with their families and 

 180 Kroomen. St. Helena, a volcanic island far- 

 ther south, has an area of 47 square miles and 

 had in 1901 a population of 9,850, including 1,532 

 soldiers of the garrison, 321 sailors, and 4,655 

 Boer prisoners. The resident population, of Brit- 

 ish descent, has been diminished by emigration to 

 Cape Colony and the United States. The num- 

 ber of marriages in 1900 was 35; of births, 116; 

 of deaths, 165. The revenue in 1901 was 15,394, 

 and expenditure 12,603; imports were 168,iiS:>. 

 and exports 4,215. The tonnage entered and 

 cleared was 162,032. The Governor is R. A. 

 Sterndale. Tristan da Cunha, a small island in 

 the middle of the South Atlantic, with Gough's 

 island, and Inaccessible and Nightingale islands, 

 is a British possession of no military or commer- 

 cial importance. About 60 persons, descendants 

 of shipwrecked sailors who found wives in St. 

 Helena, raise cattle, sheep, pigs, geese, beans, and 

 potatoes for food and are visited every year by 

 a British war-vessel. The Falkland Islands, near 

 the coast of Patagonia, have an area of 6,500 

 square miles and a population in 1901 of 2,043, 

 consisting of 1,203 males and 840 females. The 

 Governor, William Grey Wilson, is assisted by an 

 Executive Council and an elective Legislative 

 Council. Wool, skins, and tallow are exported. 

 The value of imports in 1900 was 66,948, and of 

 exports 111,539. The revenue was 15,576; 

 expenditure, 15,501. There are 762,000 sheep 

 on the islands. 



The Bermuda Islands, in the north Atlantic, 

 have an area of 20 square miles and a popula- 

 tion in 1901 of 17,535, of whom 6,383 are whites 

 and the rest colored and negroes. The number 

 of marriages in 1900 was 162; of births, 681; 

 of deaths, 423. The Governor is Lieut.-Gen. Sir 

 H. Le G. Geary. There is a Legislative Council 

 of 9 nominated members and a House of As- 

 sembly of 36 members elected by 1,124 registered 

 voters. The revenue in 1900 was 40,124, and 

 expenditure 47,532. The Imperial Government 

 contributed 2,200 in 1902, when revenue was 

 estimated at 41,469, and expenditure at 41,- 

 481. The public debt in 1900 was 49,600. The 

 value of imports in 1900 was 397,136; exports, 

 93,769. The value of onions exported was 

 43,486; potatoes, 25,207; lily-bulbs, 11,382. 

 The tonnage entered and cleared in 1900 was 

 729,832. The registered shipping of the colony 

 consisted of 24 sailing vessels, of 6,506 tons, and 

 2 steamers, of 64 tons. There are 167 miles of 

 land telegraph and 15 miles of cable, and the 

 telephone company has 700 miles of wire. 



British Ouiana has an area estimated at 120,- 

 000 square miles, with 278,328 inhabitants, of 

 whom 2,533 are Europeans, 105,463 East Indi- 

 ans, 3,714 Chinese, and 99,615 of negro descent. 

 In 1901 the number of Indian coolies arriving 

 was 4,464, while 1,017 returned to India. The 

 Governor is Sir James Alexander Swettenham. 

 There is a Court of Policy consisting of 7 offi- 

 cials and 8 elective members, to which are added 

 6 elective financial representatives to form the 

 Combined Court. There are 2,467 registered 

 voters. The revenue in 1901 was 509.950, and 

 expenditure 505,492. Of the revenue, customs 

 yielded 310,606; licenses, 87,760; duty on 

 rum, 18,991; royalty on gold, 16,639. Of the 

 expenditures, the civil establishments consumed 

 105,443; ecclesiastical expenditure, 21,942; 

 judiciary, 28,730; introduction of immigrants, 

 28,865; education, 27,833; public works, 21,- 



