TUANSACTIONsi OF SECTION !•'. 



813 



lat line.'^ liavi' 

 )f iho iufth(.(l 

 itial meridiiiii 

 till? Ijimiuliirv 

 point. It i- 

 f di>ing so art 



<1 of processi-' 



area surveyed 



Skctiox F.— economic SCIENCE AND STATTSTICS. 



Prkuident ok Tin: Skction— Sir 1!. Tkmi'u;, Ikrt., (t.O.S.I., CLE., D.C.L., 



LL.I)., I'Mi.G.S. 



Enderii siik 

 F.U.S. 



id, nnd Xortli- 



of tlu; fossil- 

 mioccne ages. 



t'OC'.'ne forest •■ 

 onliiu'd to th' 

 tatinn common 

 iimou st'iisitiv- 

 beets of basalt, 

 w living,' in tli- 

 malia common 



these aniraaN 

 ively shallow 

 Northern Iticot- 



deptlis of the 

 Ihe oOO-fathom 

 bari'ierhecanie 

 ik place at the 

 ; waters united 

 jutliwards intu 



rotth Notes on 

 RG.S. 



ifrb an uulsnown 

 y collating Mr. 

 Listralian Lejri?- 

 )f listening to a 

 rctic, it seemed 

 eference to tht- 

 o have laboured 

 lit of Australia, 

 the interior of 

 mdered possible 

 y have survived 

 ! co'uitry which 



rt'arie ,4ation ca 

 , in lat. -22° oU', 

 ew country had 

 ar.d a collection 

 naiong.l;lO°30' 

 ind von Mueller. 



THUJISDA V, AUGUST L'8. 

 The Pkesiden'T delivered the follovviiifr Address; — 



The Qeneral Statistics of tltr British Empire. 



The subject chosen for thi.s addiv.is is that of the (leneral Statistics of tlw 

 liritish Empire. It will. I 1io]k', be deemtvl ni)propriate for the meetini; which i.s 

 held in one of the faire.-*t culoiiie.s whicli thit* empire r()iitiiiii=i. 'J'hoiij^li stati.stics 

 are fallible, yet the colhition and prcseiitutioii of tliem iiiiiiat be ri';:nnled a.-i 

 fjSPiitial to political and economic kiiowlcdp'. Indeed they are. fiirii rat ively, the 

 haciihone of information, and without tlnwii onr knowli'dL'e wouM bo invfrtebnite. 

 Owing to the variety of sources from which the fact.s have to Ix' drawn for an 

 empire that i.'^ spread over tlu- world, and owiuf.-' to the mni^nitudo of tho fijriire.s 

 which have to ne produced, it will frerjiiently ho necessary to .-^tate tho totals 

 approximately and in round numljfrs. Again, (nving to tho largi'iios.s of the 

 •iibject and the limitation of .space, it will be impos.sil)le to do more than .state th« 

 [iriiicipal fact.-* in the fnnii of an abstract. 

 Om' .-tatistics then will bo grouped under the following lieading.s : — 

 I. The area consisting of widely extended regions, 

 n. The inhabitants of the.-^e many lands. 



III. The works of man as they aro displayed in this vast tlieatre of action. 

 Fir-t, then, the area of the IJritish luujure may be .^'t down at 8,G')(),000, or 

 more than 8i millions, of square miles. This area Includes the countries which aro 

 directly recognised as the component parts of the empire in Europe, in the ICast 

 and We.'^t Indies, in Australia, in North America, in South Africa, and the 

 pnisfessions scattered among nearly all the regions in the world. Out of this total 

 there are only 120,000 square miles in the United Kingdom. Then there are 

 ]\ million of .square miles in India, and tlu' remainder, or 7 millions, belong to 

 the Colonies, and to the scattered po8,se.ssions. 



But there are other regions which, though not belonging to the empire, have 

 yet fallen, or are falling nnder its political control more or less, such as I'-gypf, 

 some districts in Southern Arabia, a part of Borneo, Zululand, the Transvaal, 

 Afghanistan, IJeluchistaii, and a part of New Guinea. Tho area of these 

 additional regions may be .set down a])proximatively at 1,103,000, or about one 

 million of square miles, and this figure is probably somewhat below the reality. 

 Thii.") the total area, directly or indirectly under the authority of tlie British 

 <'rown, may be taken at nearly 10 millions of square miles, or about one-fifth 

 of tho 50 millions of square miles composing the habitable globe. 



The dimensions of this imperial area have been ascertained by professional 

 surveys; of which the progre.«s has kept pace with the expansion of the empire. 

 Out of the grand total not less than "Jk millions of squpre miles have been 

 t'lpoffraphically surveyed, and of this nearly all has been surveyed luinutely field 

 hy Held. This cadastral survey, presenting the details of every field for a vast 

 »rea, is to be reckoned among the largest operations ever known in the annals ot 



