BRITISH GUIANA. 



55 



The so-called " Rhenish " scale of weights and measures still prevails on the banks 

 of the Demerara, although abolished in Holland itself. 



The police comprises a few hundred men, while the military garrison num- 

 bers about 300 soldiers, drawn from the West Indian black regiments. The 

 Church of England, which is the national church, has a hierarchy of one bishop, 

 with a number of rectors and curates supported by the British Government, 

 which also subsidises the Presbyterian and Catholic Churches. In 1891 about 

 28,000 children, or one-ninth of the whole population, were receiving regular 

 instruction in the colonial schools. The annual budget usually balances itself, 

 while the public debt amounted in 1890 to £200,000. 



The colony is divided into the four administrative districts or counties of the 

 North- "West, Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice. 



