Books of Reference. 1. OFFICIAL. Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions for the year 1887. London, 1888. Correspondence respecting Treaty of Dec. 17, 1885, between France and Madagascar. London, 1886. Report by Consul Robinson on the trade of Tamatave, in 'Reports of United States Consuls.' No. 45, 1884. Washington, 1884. Report by Vice-Consul Pickersgill on the trade and commerce of Antananarivo in 1884, in Reports of H.M.'s Consuls.' Part IX. London, 1885. Report of Rear-Admiral W. Gore Jones, C.B., on a visit to the Queen of Madagascar. London, 1883. Report on the trade of Madagascar, in 'Reports from the Consuls of the United States, April, 1888. Treaty concluded between France and Madagascar, Aug. 8, 1868. London, 1883. 2. UNOFFICIAL. Antananarivo Annual (yearly), 1875-87. Barbié du Bocage. Madagascar Possession Française depuis 1642. Paris, 1869. Beiträge zur Kenntniss Madagaskars. Berlin, 1883. Ellis (Rev. W.), History of Madagascar, 2 vols. Lordon, 1838. Three Visits to Madagascar. London, 1858. Madagascar Revisited. London, 1867. Grandidier (A.), Histoire Physique Naturelle et Politique de Madagascar. Paris, 1876. (In 28 4to. volumes, with many hundred plates, still in progress.) Guillain (Capt.), Documents sur l'histoire, la géographie et le commerce de la partie occidentale de Madagascar. Paris, 1845. Leroy (L.), Les Français à Madagascar. Paris, 1883. McLeod (J. L.), Madagascar and its People. London, 1865. Mullens (Rev. Dr. J.), Twelve Months in Madagascar. London, 1875. Oliver (S. P., Madagascar. 2 vols. London, 1886. Pfeiffer (Ida), Visit to Madagascar. London, 1861. Shaw (Rev. G. A.), Madagascar and France. London, 1885. Sibree (Rev. James), Madagascar and its People. London, 1870. The Great African Island. London, 1880. Vaissière (Père), Histoire de Madagascar: ses habitants et ses missionnaires. 2 vols. Paris, 1884. MAURITIUS. Constitution and Government. THE government of the British colony of Mauritius, with its dependencies, Rodrigues, Diego Garcia, and the Seychelles Islands, is vested in a Governor, aided by an Executive Council, of which the officer in command of Her Majesty's Troops, the Colonial Secretary, the Procureur-General, the Receiver-General, and the Auditor-General, are ex-officio members. There is also a Council of Government, consisting of the Governor and twenty-seven members, ten being elected, eight ex-officio, and nine nominated by the Governor. The official councillors comprise the five Executive members, the Collector of Customs, the Protector of Immigrants, and the Surveyor-General. The constitution was altered by letters patent dated September 16, 1885, which introduced an elective element into the Legislature. Under a moderate franchise ten members are now elected, one for each of the following districts: -Moka, Plaines Wilhems, Grand Port, Flacq, Savanne, Rivière Noire, Pamplemousses, Rivière du Rempart; and two for Port Louis. Governor of Mauritius.-Sir John Pope Hennessy, K.C.M.G., born 1834; Governor of Labuan, 1868-71; of the West African Settlements, 1872-73; of the Bahamas, 1873-75; of the Windward Islands, 1875-76; of Hong Kong, 1876-82. Appointed Governor of Mauritius, December 1882. The Governor has a salary of 60,000 rupees, and the Colonia! Secretary 13,500 rupees per annum. The troops in the colony at the beginning of 1887 numbered 423 officers and men. The total military expenditure for 1887 was 38,6941., of which about one-half was paid by the colony. Revenue and Expenditure. The revenue and expenditure of the colony, in each of the year from 1883 to 1887, were as follows: The principal sources of revenue are as follow: The whole debenture debt of the Colony in 1887 was : The island of Mauritius, lying in the Indian Ocean, 500 miles east of Madagascar, comprises an area of 708 English square miles. The island was discovered by the Portuguese in 1507, but the first who made any settlement in it were the Dutch in 1598, who named it Mauritius, in honour of their Prince Maurice. It was abandoned by them in 1710, and afterwards taken possession of by the French. The British Government captured it in 1810, and its possession was ratified by the Treaty of Paris, 1814. The laws, customs, and religion of the inhabitants were guaranteed. The Seychelles group, Rodrigues, and Diego Garcia, are the principal dependencies of Mauritius. Mahé, the most important of the Seychelles group, is situated at a distance of 940 miles from Mauritius. The following were the numbers of the population of Mauritius, according to the census taken in 1881 : The population on the 1st of January, 1888, was:-Males, 207,481; females, 160,682; total, 368,163. Of this number, 251,342 belonged to the Indian population, the remainder, 116,821, form what is termed the general population, and includes natives of African race, Chinese, mixed races, and whites. No official figures exist as to the numerical proportions of these different groups of the general population, except as to the Chinese, the The number of whom is estimated at 3,945 on January 1, 1888. birth rate of 1887 was 37.2 per 1,000, and death rate 34.4. The total number of immigrants, including women and children who landed in the colony in 1887, was 264, and the total number of departures in the same class was 1,950. According to the census of 1881 the returns as to the religions showed that there were then over 200,000 Hindoos, 108,000 Roman Catholics, 35,000 Mahometans, and 8,000 Protestants. State aid is granted to both Churches, the Roman Catholics receiving 75,427 rupees in 1887, and the Protestants 46,059 rupees; the Indians are mostly Hindoos. The capital of the colony, Port Louis, had, with its suburbs, an estimated population of 61,963 in 1887. Primary education is conducted partly in government, and partly in State-aided schools, 139 in 1887. The total government expenditure on education in 1886, including the Royal College, was 408,220 rupees. In 1887 the average number of pupils on the roll in primary schools was 15,789, and the average attendance 10,199. At the Royal College in 1887 the attendance was 189, and at the Royal College schools, 336. The total number of convictions at the inferior courts in 1887 was 14,479, and at the Supreme Court, 61. Trade and Industry. The declared value of the total imports and exports of the colony (exclusive of specie and bullion) was as follows in each of the five years from 1883 to 1887 : The exports from the colony comprise, as staple article, unrefined sugar (22,969,998 rupees in 1887), and, besides, rum, 366,921 rupees; vanilla, 236,584 rupees; aloe fibre, 446,176; cocoa-nut oil, 59,346 rupees. A large portion of the trade is with the British colonies of South Africa, Australia, and India. The commercial intercourse of Mauritius with the United Kingdom is shown in the subjoined table, according to the Board of Trade Returns, for each of the five years from 1883 to 1887 : The staple article of export from Mauritius to the United Kingdom is unrefined sugar, the value being 57,498. in 1887. The other exports comprise drugs, of the value of 32,5677.; hemp and other fibres, 39,8711.; raw hides, 2,5021.; cocoa-nut oil, 14,0887.; caoutchouc, 4,8341. in 1887. The British imports in 1887 consisted principally of cotton goods, valued 62,4367.; coals, 17,5647.; machinery, 7,5791.; iron, 34,5431; manure, 49,374.; apparel and haberdashery, 15,3381. The number of vessels entered in 1887 was 428 of 306,220 tons, and cleared 430 of 347,916 tons. The colony has two lines of railways with two branches, of a total length of 92 miles, the revenue from which in 1887 was 1,434,848 rupees, and expenditure 1,047,236 rupees. There exists a complete system of telegraphs throughout the island of Mauritius. The number of letters, post-cards, and newspapers which passed through the post office in 1887 was 1,991,520. SEYCHELLES.-Population, January 1888, 15,752 (7,976 males, 7,776 females). Revenue 1887, 171,162 rupees; expenditure, 128,118 rupees; imports, 481,200 rupees; exports, 621,789 rupees. Principal exports: cocoa-nut oil, soap, vanilla, tortoise-shell. Ships entered 1887, 67, including 12 men-of-war. There are 22 Government schools, with 1,801 pupils. RODRIGUES.-Population, January 1888, 1,826; revenue, 1887, 11,116 rupees; expenditure, 38,051 rupees; imports, 42,747 rupees; exports, 79,809 rupees. Money, Weights, and Measures. The standard coin of Mauritius is the India rupee, with its subdivisions. All accounts are kept in rupees. The metric system decreed by the Government of India in 1871 came into force in Mauritius on May 1, 1878. |