The registered shipping (Dec., 1897) consists of 25 sailing vessels of 6,441 tons and 38 steamers of 20,705 tons; total tonnage, 24,228. In 1897, 4,974 vessels of 6,063,640 tons entered at ports in Hong Kong, being a decrease on 1896 of 105,112 tons. Besides these, 28,989 junks of 1,718,739 tons arrived. The number of native vessels in Hong Kong-independent of several thousand smaller boats that visit Hong Kong annually-is about 52,000, with a tonnage of nearly 1,300,000.

Money and Credit.

The value of Bank notes in circulation in 1897 was 9,394,444 dollars, as compared with 4,114,787 dollars in 1884; specie in reserve in 1897, 4,205,000 dollars, as compared with 1,810,033 dollars in 1884. The approximate amount of coin in circulation up to December 31, 1894, was:-Hong Kong dollars and half-dollars struck at Hong Kong Mint, 1,421,487 dollars; Hong Kong silver and copper subsidiary coins, 18,435,125 dollars.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures in use at Hong Kong, and the British equivalents, are:

The Mexican Dollar = 100 Cent = Exchange (end of 1897) 1s. 111⁄2¿d.

British

Chinese Tael

100 Candareens

Hong Kong 50, 20, 10, and 5 cent. pieces, imported from England. One cent. pieces (copper).

The Tael

=

1 oz. avoirdupois. = 133 lbs.

Besides the above weights and measures of China, those of Great Britain are in general use in the colony.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning
Hong Kong.

1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Annual Report on the Blue Book of Hong Kong. Hong Kong.

Colonial Office List. Annual. London.

Convention between the United Kingdom and China respecting Extension of Hong Kong Territory. Treaty Series, No. 16. 1898. London, 1898.

Government Gazette. Published weekly.

Statistical Abstract for the several Colonial and other Possessions of the United Kingdom. Annual. London.

Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions. Imp. 4.

London.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Chalmers (R.), A History of Currency in the British Colonies. London, 1893.

Dennys (N. B.) and Mayers (W. T.), China and Japan: a Complete Guide to the Open Ports of those Countries; together with Peking, Yeddo, Hong Kong, and Macao. 8. London, 1867.

Eitel (E. J.), Europe in China. [A History of Hong Kong.] London, 1895.

Legge (W.), Guide to Hong Kong. Hong Kong, 1893.

Topography of China and Neighbouring States, with Degrees of Longitude and Latitude. 8. Hong Kong, 1864.

INDIA AND DEPENDENCIES.

INDIA, as defined by Parliament (52 and 53 Vict. c. 63, s. 18), comprises all that part of the great Indian peninsula which is directly or indirectly under British rule. In a popular sense it includes also certain countries such as Nepal, which are beyond that area, but which are under the control or protection of the Governor-General. These countries will be found included in the second part of the YEAR-BOOK among Foreign Countries. The term British India includes only the districts under direct British administration, and does not include native States. The term is so used, unless otherwise stated, in the tables, &c., that follow. The symbol Rx. stands for ten rupees. Rx. 1 = Rs. 10.

Government and Constitution.

The present form of government of the Indian empire is established by the Government of India Act, 1858 (21 & 22 Vict. cap. 106), which received the Royal assent on August 2, 1858. By this Act, all the territories theretofore under the government of the East India Company are vested in Her Majesty, and all its powers are exercised in her name; all territorial and other revenues, and all tributes and other payments, are likewise received in her name, and disposed of for the purposes of the government of India alone.

The Secretary of State for India is invested with all the powers formerly exercised by the Company or by the Board of Control. Under the Royal Titles Act, 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. cap. 10), the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland assumed the additional title of Empress of India. The title was proclaimed at Delhi, before the princes and high dignitaries of India, January 1, 1877.

The administration of the Indian Empire in England is entrusted to a Secretary of State for India, assisted by a Council of not less than ten members, vacancies in which are filled by the Secretary of State for India. At least nine members of the Council must be persons who have served or resided ten years in India, and have not left India more than ten years previous to the date of their appointment. The office is held for a term of ten years; but a member may be removed upon an address from both Houses of Parliament, and the Secretary of State for India may for special reasons reappoint a member of the Council for a further term of five years. No member can sit in Parliament.

The duties of the Council, which has no initiative authority, are, under the direction of the Secretary of State for India, to conduct the business transacted in the United Kingdom in relation to the government of India. Moreover, by the Act of 1858, the expenditure of the revenues of India, both in India and elsewhere, is subject to the control of the Secretary of State in Council, and no grant or appropriation of any part of such revenues can be made without the concurrence of a majority of votes at a meeting of the Council. In dealing, however, with questions affecting the relations of the Government with foreign powers, in making peace and war, in prescribing the policy of the Government towards native States, and generally in matters where secrecy is necessary, the Secretary of State acts on his own authority. The Secretary has to divide the Council into committees, and to regulate the transaction of business. At least one meeting must be held every week, at which not less than five members shall be present.

The supreme executive authority in India is vested in the Governor-General in Council, often styled the Government of India. The Governor-General, who since 1858 has also been Viceroy, is appointed by the Crown, and usually holds office for five years.

-

of

Governor-General of India. The Right Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, Baron Curzon of Kedleston, eldest son Lord Scarsdale; born January 11, 1859; educated at Eton and Oxford; M.P. for the Southport Division of Lancashire, 1886-98; Under-Secretary of State for India, 1891-92; UnderSecretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1895-98; Privy Councillor, 1895; raised to Peerage, October, 1898. Appointed Governor-General in succession to the Earl of Elgin, September,

1898.

The salary of the Governor-General is Rx. 25,080 a year.

The following is a list of the Governors-General of India, with

the dates of their assumption of office :

Warren Hastings

Sir John Macpherson

Earl (Marquis) Cornwallis.

Sir John Shore (Lord Teign. mouth).

1805

Earl of Minto

1807

Lord (Earl of) Northbrook
Lord (Earl) Lytton.

. 1872

Marquis of Ripon

Earl (Marquis) of Dufferin

1880

1884

Earl of Amherst

1823

Marquis of Lansdowne

1888

Earl of Elgin .

1894

Lord Curzon of Kedleston

1898

Until 1834 these were Governors-General of Fort William in Bengal, not of India.

The Council of the Governor-General consists at present of five ordinary members, besides the Commander-in-Chief who may be, and in practice always is, appointed an extraordinary member. The ordinary members are appointed by the Crown, and usually hold office for five years. The work of the Governor-General in Council is distributed among seven departments-Home, Foreign, Finance, Military, Public Works, Revenue and Agriculture, Legislative. At the head of each is one of the secretaries to the Government of India, and each, except the Foreign Department, which is under the immediate superintendence of the Governor-General, is assigned to the special care of one of the members of the Council.

For legislative purposes the Governor-General's Council is expanded into a legislative council by the addition of sixteen additional members who are nominated by the Viceroy in accordance with the recent regulations under the Indian Councils Act, 1892. The Lieutenant-Governor is also an additional member when the Council sits within his province. This Council has power, subject to certain restrictions, to make laws for all persons within British India, for all British subjects within the Native States, and for all native Indian subjects of the Queen in any part of the world. The proceedings in the Legislative Council are public.

For purposes of administration India is divided into eight great provinces, with the addition of a few minor charges.

The eight great provinces are the old presidencies of Madras (Fort St. George) and Bombay, the four Lieutenant-Governorships of Bengal, the North Western Provinces (with which the Chief Commissionership of Oudh is now combined), the Punjab and Burma; and the two Chief Commissionerships of Assam and the Central Provinces.

The minor_charges are Coorg, Ajmere-Merwara, British Baluchistan, and the Andaman Islands, each under a Chief Commissioner.

The Governors of Madras and Bombay are appointed by the Crown, and each of them has an executive council, consisting of two members of the Indian Civil Service, appointed by the Crown.

The Lieutenant-Governors are appointed by the Governor-General, with the approval of the Crown,

The Chief Commissioners are appointed by the Governor-General in Council,

The Governors of Madras and Bombay and the four Lieutenant-Governors each have legislative councils of their own, councils having been constituted for the Punjab and Burma in 1898.

Although all the provinces are under the control of the Government of India, they enjoy much administrative independence varying with their importance. Each province is usually broken into divisions under Commissioners, and then divided into districts, which form the units of administration. At the head of each district is an executive officer (collectormagistrate, or deputy-commissioner), who has entire control of the district, and is responsible to the governor of the province. Subordinate to the magis. trate (in most districts) there are a joint magistrate, an assistant-magistrate, and one or more deputy-collectors and other officials. In some cases the magistrate-collector is also judge, while in others the two functions are separate. There are about 245 of such districts in British India. In the accompanying census tables, Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Rangoon, and Aden, have each been reckoned as a District; bringing the total to 250.

India, in its widest sense, includes British India and the Native States; the former is under the direct control in all respects of British officials. The control which the Supreme Government exercises over the Native States varies in degree; but they are all governed by the native princes, ministers or councils with the help and under the advice of a resident, or agent, in political charge either of a single State or a group of States. The chiefs have no right to make war or peace, or to send ambassadors to each other or to external States; they are not permitted to maintain a military force above a certain specified limit; no European is allowed to reside at any of their courts without special sanction; and the Supreme Government can exercise the right of dethronement in case of misgovernment. Within these limits the more important chiefs possess sovereign authority in their own territories. Some of them are required to pay an annual tribute; with others this is nominal, or not demanded.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

There were, in March 1897, 754 municipal towns, with a population of 15,729,458. The municipal bodies have the care of the roads, water supply, drains, markets, and sanitation; they impose taxes, enact bye-laws, make improvements, and spend money, but the sanction of the Provincial Government is necessary in each case before new taxes can be levied or new bye-laws can be brought into force. By the Local Self-Government Acts of 1882-84, the elective principle has been extended, in a large or small measure, all over India. In all larger towns, and in many of the smaller towns, the majority of members of committees are elected by the ratepayers, everywhere the majority of town committees consists of natives, and in many committees all the members are natives. For rural tracts, except in Burma and Coorg, there are district and local boards, which are in charge of roads, district schools, and hospitals.

Area and Population.

I. PROGRESS AND PRESENT POSITION OF THE POPULATION.

The following synoptical table gives the estimated population and area in square miles for six successive decennial periods. The population is in millions and two decimals.