GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



405 



The number and tonnage, in thousands of 

 tons, of vessels employed in the home trade, 

 i. e., between ports of the United Kingdom 

 and on the coast of the, British Channel and 

 the North Sea from Brest to the mouth of the 

 Elbe, partly in the home and partly in the for- 

 eign trade, and in the foreign trade of 1882, 

 were as follow : 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The number 

 of miles of railroads in operation in 1882, their 

 aggregate cost of construction, and the gross 

 and net receipts, compared with the totals for 

 the United Kingdom in 1881, were as follow : 



A considerable proportion of the street rail- 

 roads laid down in recent years have been 

 constructed by the municipal authorities under 

 the tramway act of 1870, which gives local 

 governments provisional authority to build, 

 own, and control tramways. Of a total length 

 of 564 miles in operation in the United King- 

 dom in June, 1882, 150 miles were the prop- 

 erty of municipalities. This plan of building 

 them at the expense of the municipal corpora- 

 tions insures a system of urban communication 

 better adapted to the wants of the public than 

 private companies would supply, besides pre- 

 venting the monopoly of the streets for the 

 profit of individuals. The roads thus con- 

 structed are usually leased under stringent con- 

 tracts to private persons. 



The number of post-offices in the United 

 Kingdom in 1882-'83 was 15,406; persons 

 employed, 44,600, including 2,500 females. 

 The number of letters carried by the post in 

 1882-'83 was 1,4)78,000,000 in England and 

 Wales, 117,000,000 in Scotland, and 86,000,000 

 in Ireland total, 1,281,000,000 ; total postal- 

 cards, 144,000,000; newspapers, etc., 429,000,- 

 000; post-office orders, 16,200,000; total value, 



26,995,000. The receipts of the post-office 

 in the year 1880-'81 were 6,733,427 ; expenses, 

 4,135,659. The number of letters per head 

 of the population in the United Kingdom was 

 36, as compared with 21 in the United States, 

 15 in France, 13 in Germany, 6 in Italy, and 5 

 in Spain. 



The telegraphs were transferred to the state 

 in 1870. The length of the lines in 1882 was 

 26,465 miles; of wires, 121,720 miles. The 

 number of dispatches sent was in England and 

 Wales 26,928,722; in Scotland, 3,244.202; in 

 Ireland, 1,919,102; total, 32,092,026. Thenum- 

 ber of offices in 1881 was 5,443. The receipts for 

 the year 1880-'81 amounted to 1,633,884; ex- 

 penses, 1,305,006. A resolution was carried 

 against the Government in the House of Com- 

 mons calling for a reduction in the rate for 

 messages of twenty words or less from Is. to 

 6d. The Government in its financial plans 

 made arrangements for the speedy introduction 

 of this reform, which has been discussed for 

 fifteen years. 



Colonies. The British colonial possessions, 

 covering about one seventh of the land-surface 

 of the earth, are grouped into forty adminis- 

 trative divisions, some of them embracing a 

 number of formerly separate colonies. Those 

 containing a large and preponderant European 

 population have all been endowed with self- 

 government, the home Government retaining 

 merely a veto on legislation, which is exercised 

 only in matters of imperial concern. They 

 possess representative institutions, modeled 

 after the English Constitution, designated re- 

 sponsible government. The crown appoints 

 the chief executive officer, called the Governor- 

 General in Canada and the Governor in New- 

 foundland, Cape Colony, and the Australian 

 colonies. Western Australia, Natal, Ceylon, 

 and the Bahama, Bermuda, Windward, and 

 Leeward islands, are governed by representa- 

 tive bodies, subject only to the veto right of 

 the crown, but all the administrative officers 

 are appointed and controlled by the home Gov- 

 ernment. The remaining possessions have nei- 

 ther responsible nor representative govern- 

 ment, but are. governed absolutely by the Eng- 

 lish Government and its representatives. Of 

 this class is the Empire of India, ruled by a 

 Governor-General under directions from the 

 British Government, which has a special min- 

 istry for Indian Affairs. The affairs of the 

 colonies are regulated by another department, 

 the Colonial Office. The crown colonies are 

 Gibraltar, Heligoland, Malta, Falkland islands, 

 Guiana, Trinidad, Ascension, Mauritius, St. 

 Helena, Sierra Leone, Aden and Perim, Cyprus, 

 Hong-Kong, Labuan, Straits Settlements, Fee- 

 jee islands, and Rotumah, in which the execu- 

 tive head is called a Governor ; Jamaica, with 

 Turks islands, where he is designated Captain- 

 General ; and Gambia, the Gold Coast, and 

 Lagos, in which the delegate of the crown au- 

 thority is termed Administrator. The annual 

 cost of the colonies to the British Government 



