Peloponnesus; one archbishop and five bishops in the islands of the Greek Archipelago; and five archbishops and ten bishops in the Ionian Island. There are (1901) 171 monasteries and 9 nunneries, with 2,205 monks and 191 nuns. Instruction. All children between the ages of five and twelve years must attend school, but the law is not well enforced in country districts. Of the army recruits 30 per cent. are illiterate, and 15 per cent. can read only. There were (1902) 3,263 primary schools with 4,346 teachers (of whom 800 were of the female sex) and 210,570 pupils (47,570 females), 285 of the so-called Greek schools with 22,039 pupils and 833 teachers, 39 gymnasiums with 5,556 pupils and 300 professors, besides 16 private Greek schools with 860 pupils, 8 private gymnasiums with 290 pupils, and 1 commercial school. There were 4 normal schools (having 4 model primary schools annexed with 22 teachers and 530 pupils), the normal schools having 25 professors and 490 students; 6 under-normal schools with 6 directors and 294 pupils (annexed were 6 infant schools with 6 teachers and 180 pupils); 3 normal schools for females with 380 students. There are 2 agricultural schools in Greece with, together, 50 pupils. The Trade and Industrial Academy founded in 1894 by private initiative at Piræus, with 40 teachers to give instruction in the industries relating to wine, spirits, beer, soap, perfumes, dairy-keeping, cattle and silkworm rearing, and in the duties of com. mercial clerks, was transferred to Athens in 1896. The Government Trade Schools at Athens and Patras have together 126 pupils. The ecclesiastical Rizari Seminary (founded 1849) had (1900-01) 15 professors and 82 students. In 1902 the University of Athens (founded 1886) had 57 ordinary professors, 48 lecturers, and 2,574 students studying medicine, law, philosophy, theology, and chemistry. Of the total number, 800 were from abroad, chiefly from Turkey. The Polytechnicum Mezzovion with 22 professors, and 170 students, provides instruction in painting, sculpture, and mechanics. The cost of primary instruction is borne by the communes, with a subvention from the State. In 1903, the State spent for primary instruction 2,459 drachmai, and for higher instruction, 3,467,962 drachmai. Finance. In accordance with the peace preliminaries between Greece and Turkey, and the Greek Law of Control of March, 1898, the financial commission of delegates representing Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Great Britain, Italy, and Russia (the mediating powers) is established at Athens in direct relation with the Greek Minister of Finance. To this commission were assigned, for the payment of the interest on the external debt, the revenues from the salt, petroleum, matches and playing-cards monopolies, the duties on tobacco, cigarette paper, Naxos emery, the stamp duty, and the import duties at the port of Piræus. The collection of the assigned revenues and the administration of the monopolies is entrusted to a Greek Company, called the "Société de Régie des Revenues affectés au Service de la Dette Publique," which is under the control of the international commission. The ordinary revenue (exclusive of receipts from loans, &c.) and expenditure in recent years have been (in currency drachmai of fluctuating value, say 6d.): For the year 1905 the estimated total revenue and expenditure were as follows: The gold debt of Greece at the end of 1904 (exclusive of the debt of 1833 due to the three powers) amounted to 732,053,500 gold drachmai. At the end of 1903 the paper debt amounted to 176,304,210 drachmai (including the forced currency loan of 85,775,975 drachmai). The service of the gold debt in 1904 (including amortisation) amounted to 18,200,463 gold drachmai or francs, exclusive of 900,000 francs for service of the debt due to the three Powers. The service of the currency loans and floating debt for 1903 amounted to 7,641,174 paper drachmai. In 1903, the communal revenues amounted to 21,257,137 drachmai, and the communal debts to 20,721,618 drachmai. Defence. There is universal liability to service on all able-bodied males aged 21 years and upwards. The total service comprises 2 years in the active army, 10 years in the reserve of the active army, 8 years in the National Guard, and 10 years in the reserve of the National Guard. The effective number is fixed annually by the Chambers. Those who (as determined by lot) are in excess of the number required pay a tax of 100 to 1,000 drachmai, and pass 1042 The army is organised in 3 divisions, into the reserve of the active army. 6 brigades, and contains 10 regiments of infantry, 2 regiments and 3 battalions of euzonoi (skirmishers), 3 regiments of artillery, 3 of cavalry, and 1 of engineers. There is at Kerkyra (Corfu) a preparatory school of officers of the reserve, and at Athens a school of cavalry; a military school for about 47 cadets (the Euelpides), and a school for sub-officers. The army by the law of April 6, 1900, is placed under the general command and inspection of the heir apparent of the throne, who is a lieutenant-general. The nominal strength of the army in 1902 was: Branches of the Military Service Non-commissioned Officers Total Officers and men The There were at the same time 3,227 horses and 703 mules, and 180 guns. On the war footing, the strength could be mobilised to 82,000 men. numbers about 96,000 men. territorial army There are three small battleships of The navy is of very small calibre. 5,000 tons Hydra, Spetsai, and Psara, three 10 6 in., five 6 in., one 4 in., There are 19 torpedo boats of no present fighting and some smaller guns. value the newest being sixteen years old, and some other obsolete craft. Service is by conscription for two The personnel numbers about 4,000. years or by enlistment. Some modern vessels are "projected." Production and Industry. Greece is mainly an agricultural country, and the existing manufactures are not important. The cultivated area extends to about 5,563,100 acres, of which about 1,112,000 acres are under cereals, 1,200,000 fallow, and 2,025,400 covered with forest; there are, besides, about 5,000,000 acres under pasture, and 3,000,000 acres of waste land. By the draining of Lake Copais, an area of about 60,000 acres has been acquired for agricultural Irrigation and drainage canals, farm roads, and buildings are purposes. being constructed, tree planting is undertaken, and the breed of cattle is being improved. While there are a few large proprietors in Greece, the land is to a large extent in the hands of peasant proprietors and metayer farmers. On the whole, agriculture is in a backward state, though the soil is of unusual -wheat, 6, 834,460 bushels; fertility. The production of cereals in 1901 was:barley, 2,951,600 bushels; rye, 96,000 bushels; maize, 4,325,000 bushels; The most favoured and best cultivated crop is mezlin, 1,430,000 bushels. The annual yield is usually about the currant, which covers vast districts. 150,000 tons. In 1898 the Retention Law was passed for the purpose of reducing the quantity available for export to the amount of the demand abroad, so as to maintain the price. From each shipment a quantity is taken without payment, deposited in Government stores, and sold to local distillers and wine-makers. The proceeds are passed to a special fund for a Currant Bank to assist currant growers. This Bank was established in 1899 with a capital of 3,500,000 drachmai (about 85,000l.) which by the operation of the Retention Law increased to about 250,000l. This scheme, however, did not maintain the price of currants to the satisfaction of the growers and, with respect to the crop of 1903, a supplementary scheme which was put in operation failed likewise. In 1904, a new scheme was put in operation, imposing a prohibitive tax on fresh currant plantations, substituting a retention of 15 per cent. (20 per cent. in the Ionian Islands) as a duty in kind for the export duty, and requiring the Currant Bank to buy surplus currants at prescribed prices with authority to sell for export in years of short supply at prices not below a prescribed limit. For 1904 the crop was estimated at 150,000 tons; retained, 42,000 tons; available for export, 108,000 tons. The crop of valonea (the acorn cup of the Quercus Aegillops, used in tanning) was, in 1904, 9,000 tons; tobacco of light colour and taste is largely cultivated in some districts, the quantity produced in 1904 was about 4,800 tons. Silk culture is confined to Messenia; in 1904 the export of cocoons amounted to about 303,000 lbs.; and of silk to 74,000 lbs. The wine, olive, orange, lemon, and fig-growing industries are important. The yield of wine in the Ionian Islands in 1904-05 amounted to 4,500,000 gallons; of olive oil to 1,440,000 gallons. There are in Greece 100,000 horses, 360,000 cattle, and 2,900,000 sheep. Factories are powder and dynamite mills, soap-works, woollen and cotton mills, paper, ship-building, engine, glass, leather, thread, flour, and spirit works. In the Laurium district the marketable ores produced in three years were:-- From Seriphos and Thermia 180,800 tons of iron ore were exported in 1904. At Zea there are lead mines, little worked; from Milo in 1904 the mineral exports consisted of manganese (6,600 tons), sulphur, gypsum, and millstones. Lignite is found in many parts of Greece and in the islands; other minerals worked are copper, silicate of magnesia, barytes, salt, kaoline, emery, and marble. In 1904, 6,353 tons of emery were exported from Syra where the International Control has a depôt for Naxos emery. Marble from various quarries in Greece and the islands was extracted to the amount of 3,282 cubic mètres in 1904. Santorine earth (volcanic cement), lava, and pumice are exported from Santorini. Magnesite ore is worked in Euboea, about 27,500 tons being exported annually. Chrome ore was exported from Volo in 1904 to the amount of 6,350 tons. Commerce. The value of the commerce for Greece in the last 6 years was as follows (in gold drachmai):— Drachmai Drachmai. Drachmai Drachmai Drachmai Imports 131,386,348 140,506,210 137,229,364 136,530,072 137,732,484 79,663,473 84,416,539 91,326,650 The special commerce for 1902 and 1903 was as follows with the leading countries (25 drachmai 17.) :— The following table shows (provisionally) the principal special imports and exports and their values in 1904 : The customs revenue amounted in 1903 to 34,377,222 drachmai; in 1905, to 34,691,420 drachmai. |