NATAL.

Constitution and Government.

THE Colony of Natal, formerly an integral part of the Cape of Good Hope settlement, was erected in 1856 into a separate colony under the British crown, represented first by a Lieutenant-Governor, and since 1879 by a Governor. Under the charter of constitution granted in 1856, and modified in 1875 and 1879, the Governor is assisted in the administration of the colony by an Executive and a Legislative Council. The Executive Council is composed of the Chief-justice, the senior officer in command of the troops, the Colonial Secretary, the Treasurer, the Attorney-General, the Secretary for Native Affairs, and two members nominated by the Governor from among the Deputies elected to the Legislative Council. The Legislative Council is composed of thirteen official members, including the Colonial Secretary, the Treasurer, the Attorney-General, and the Secretary for Native Affairs, and of fifteen members elected by the counties and boroughs.

Governor of Natal.-Sir Garnet Wolseley, G.C.M.G., born 1833; entered the army, 1852; captain, 1855; colonel, 1865; commander of the British forces in the Ashantee war, 1873; majorgeneral, 1874. Appointed Governor of Natal, June 1879; assumed the government July 1, 1879.

The Governor has a salary of 2,500l. per annum.

Revenue and Expenditure.

The public revenue and expenditure of the colony in the six years from 1873 to 1878 were as follows:

About one-fourth of the revenue is derived from customs, and the rest from miscellaneous sources of income, among them a 'huttax on natives, the impost being fixed at 14s. per hut. In the year 1878 the tax was paid on 85,714 such huts. The chief branch of expenditure is for police and the administration of justice. The public debt consists of six loans, all at six per cent., three of them

contracted for harbour works, two for coolie immigration, the last raised in 1876, for the construction of a line of railway. The total debt of the colony was £1,800,865 at the end of 1878.

Natal is an almost solitary instance of a colony having been established by Great Britain without cost to imperial funds. In its early days it had a loan of ten thousand pounds, which has long since been repaid. Its military expenditure is, however, still paid by Great Britain, with the exception of a sum of 4,000l. given as a contribution by the colony.-(Official Communication.)

Population.

The colony has an estimated area of about 18,750 English square miles, with a seaboard of 150 miles. But the extent of some of the districts is all but unknown. The following table gives the area of the best explored counties and divisions, and the population of each, according to Government returns of June 1869:

Another return, dated 1877, stated the total population of the colony at 325,512, comprising 157,929 males, and 167,583 females. As to race, there were 22,654 persons of European descent, 290,035 natives of Africa, and 12,823 coolies. In the two towns of the colony, Pietermaritzburg and Durban, the European and native population were nearly equal in numbers. Comparatively few emigrants arrived in recent years, the former Government aid to this effect having come to an end.

Trade and Commerce.

The value of the total imports and exports of the colony, in the six years 1872 to 1877, was as follows:

The commerce of Natal is almost entirely with Great Britain. The subjoined table gives the value of the total exports from Natal to Great Britain and Ireland, and of the total imports of British produce in each of the six years 1873 to 1878:

The staple article of export from Natal is sheep's wool. The wool exports to Great Britain amounted in value to 313,2917. in 1873, to 400,6727. in 1874, to 514,3107. in 1875, to 379,0797. in 1876, to 518,379., in 1877, and to 568,1117. in 1878. Next in importance to wool stand hides, the exports of which were of the value of 56,3731. in 1878, and raw sugar, of the value of 18,5731. in the same year. Many of the exports of the colony, particularly wool, come from the neighbouring Dutch republics, which also absorb more than one-third of the imports.

Since the year 1866 cotton has been grown in the colony. The exports of raw cotton to Great Britain were of the value of 18,5591. in 1870; and rose to 29,4327. in 1871; but fell to 9,7917. in 1872, to 5,4381. in 1873; to 1,9227. in 1874; to 3091. in 1875, and to 1971. in 1876. There were no exports of raw cotton in 1877, and 1878.

The chief articles of British imports into Natal in 1878 were apparel and haberdashery, of the value of 215,5177. and iron, wrought and unwrought, of the value of 121,5637.

A convention for the construction of a railway system in the colony was signed by the Government in 1875. The work is to comprise 345 miles of single line, to be constructed at a cost of 1,200,000l., and to aid in the execution the colony made a land grant of two-and-a-half million acres, with a further right to certain coal fields, and a subvention of 40,000l. per annum. The first portion of the line, along the north coast, was opened in 1878, and the whole is to be completed by the middle of 1880.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Natal.

1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Report from Lieutenant-Governor Keate on the trade and general condition of Natal, dated Natal, March 8, 1872; in Reports on the Present State of Her Majesty's Colonial Possessions.' Part III. 8. London, 1872.

Statistics of Natal; in 'Statistical Abstract for the several Colonial and other Possessions of the United Kingdom in each year from 1860 to 1877.' No. XVI. 8. London, 1878.

Trade of Natal with Great Britain; in Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions in the year 1878.' Imp. 4. London, 1879.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Brooks (Henry), Natal: a History and Description of the Colony. 8. London, 1877.

Dunn (E. J.), Notes on the Diamond Fields. 8. Cape Town, 1871.

Elton (Capt.), Special Reports upon the Gold Field at Marabastadt and upon the Transvaal Republic. 8. Durban, 1872.

8. Breslau, 1868.

Fritsch (Dr. G.), Drei Jahre in Süd-Afrika. Fritsch (Dr. Gust.), Die Eingeborenen Süd-Afrika's ethnographisch und anatomisch beschrieben. 4. Breslau, 1872.

Gillmore (Parker), The Great Thirst Land. A Ride through Natal, Orange Free State, Transvaal, and Kahalari Desert. 8. London. 1878.

Hall (H.), Manual of South African Geography. 8. Capetown, 1866. Mann (Dr. H.), Statistical Notes regarding the Colony of Natal. In 'Journal of the Statistical Society of London.' Vol. XXX. 1. London, 1869.

Meidinger (H.), Die südafrikanischen Colonien Englards und die Freistaaten der holländischen Boeren in ihren jetzigen Zuständen. 8. Frankfurt a. M.

1861.

Payton (Ch. A.), The Diamond Diggings of South Africa. 8. London, 1872. Natal Almanack, Directory, and Yearly Register. Pietermaritzburg, 1879. Robinson (John), Notes on Natal. 8. Durban, 1872.

Silver (S. W.), Handbook to South Africa, including the Cape Colony, Natal, the Diamond Fields, &c. 8. London, 1876. Silver (S. W.), Handbook to the Transvaal. Trollope (Anthony), South Africa. 2 vols. 9.

8. London, 1877.

London, 1878.

TUNIS.

(AFRIKIJA.)

Reigning Bey.

Sidi Mohamed-el-Sadok, born October 3, 1813, eldest son of Bey Sidy Ahsin; succeeded his brother, Mohamed Bey, September 23, 1859.

Brother of the Bey.

Sidi Ali, second surviving son of Bey Sidy Ahsin, heir presumptive to the throne, born October 5, 1817.

The reigning family of Tunis, occupants of the throne since 1691, descend from Ben Ali Tourki, a native of the Isle of Crete, who, by force of arms, made himself master of the country, acknowledging, however, the suzerainty of the Sultan of Turkey, in existence since 1575. As such they assumed the title of Bey,' or Regent. This suzerainty remained in force, with short interruptions, till the reign of the present Bey, who succeeded in obtaining an Imperial firman, dated October 25, 1871, which liberated him from the payment of the tribute paid by his predecessors and made him virtually independent. Besides formalities of investiture, the sole actual connection of Tunis with the Ottoman Empire exists in the treaty obligation of the Bey to furnish the Sultan with a certain number of troops in time of war.

Government, Revenue, and Army.

The Government of Tunis was a pure despotism till the accession of the present sovereign, who issued, immediately after assuming the government, an Organic Law,' establishing courts of justice, and guaranteeing individual and religious liberty. By the terms of this law the general administration of the country was vested, under the Bey, in a Ministerial Council, composed of six members, presiding over the departments of Foreign Affairs, held by the Prime Minister, of the Interior, of Justice, of War, of Marine, and of Public Works. There was likewise established, as a consulting body, a ' Conseil de la régence,' composed of all the foreign consuls, various Government officials, and the members of the municipality of the capital.

The total revenue of the Government in the financial year ending the 30th June, 1875, amounted to 273,2921., and the total expenditure to 251,8641. The principal sources of revenue and chief branches of expenditure were as follows, in the 1874-75:year