Mi' 



'I 



I'iii 



820 



REPORT-^1884. 



After this review of material power, we may summarise the public debt of the 

 British Empire. In this the iirst item is the reffular debt of the Government 

 amounting to 769 millions sterling for the United Kingdom, and 293 millions for 

 India and the Colonies, in all 1,082 millions. The amount seems enormous but 

 happily, we may doubt whether it is excessive for so great an empire as the British' 

 The amount is equal to live times what we have seen to be the annual revenue and 

 receipts. It is computed to represent only 9 per cent, of the capital wealth of the 

 empire. 



The interest payable on it amounts to 41 millions, or 20 per cent, on the income 

 of the Government. If the income of the population of tlie empire be taken into- 

 account, and it can hardly be computed at less than 1,700 millions sterling, then 

 this interest on the debt will represent only a minute fraction. 



Besides this debt of the Government there are the local and municipal debts 

 contracted for the sake of material improvement. These debts amount to lo^ 

 millions for the United Kingdom, and certain amounts for India, wliich may brine 

 up the total to IGO millions. To this should be added 90 millions raised on a 

 Government guarantee for some of the railways in India. 



Thus we reach a total of 1,312 millions sterling for the public debt, Governmental 

 and Municipal, for the British Empire. 



A part of the Government debt raised in Ii\Ai% is for State railways and canals 

 this part amounts to 40 millions sterling. 



But in these figures there are not included the 187 millions sterling raised by 

 companies for railways in the United Kingdom. 



The subject of crime cannot be treated completely in this summary, but it 

 may be stated that in the empire 675,000 persons are convicted annually of crime, 

 of which number more than nineteen-twentieths pertain to India. This number 

 amounts to two in a thousand of the total population, which represents a moderate 

 proportion. 



The total number of persons in the prisons is about 145,000, of which 31,000 

 belong to the United Kingdom and 103,000 to India. In the former the number 

 represents less than one in a thousand of the population, and in the latter only one 

 in two thousand. 



In the United Kingdom it is remarkable that within the last fifteen years, tliat 

 is between 1868 and 1882, the annual number of convictions in England fell from 

 15,033 to 11,699, and in Scotland from 2,490 to 1,944, notwithstanding the hicrease 

 in population, indicating a satisfactory decrease in crime. The number of crimes 

 reported approximates to that of convictions. 



Two cognate matters must be mentioned in illustration of the condition of the 

 people, namely, emigration and pauperism. 



During the last half century 8jt millions of persons have emigrated from the 

 United Kingdom, representing from 5 to 7 per cent, of the population. Out of this 

 number 3 millions went to the Colonies, and 5J millions to the United States. But 

 this does not represent the total of arrivals in the Colonies, for during this time 

 650,000 went there from the Continent of Europe. 



There has also been a considerable emigration from India within the last ten 

 years, 190,000 natives having left their country to found new ludias in the tropical 

 regions of the British Empire. 



In older countries like the United Kingdom, pauperism is an evil and a sorrovr 

 from which younger communities are as yi t exempt, and which has never existed 

 in the East. In India there is no poor law, and there are none who come under 

 the technical designation of paupers ; the destitute and infirm in that country are 

 relieved by private charity without State intervention. Moreover, the unpre- 

 cedented measures of relief undertaken by the Government during the recent fnmnies 

 have not at all pauperised the population. Nevertheless, the number of paupers 

 under relief in the United Kingdom must be stated at one million, or rather less 

 than one-thirtieth part of the population. The cost of their maintenance amounts 

 to 10 millions sterlmg annually, and this notwithstanding the extensive emigration 

 which haa just been summarised. But during the last generation the number has 

 fallen from 1^ million to 1 million, while the expenditure has risen from 7 to 10 



