BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE. The Bechuanaland Protectorate comprises the territory lying between the Molopo River on the south and the Zambezi on the north, and extending from the boundaries of the South African Republic and Matabeleland on the east to the confines of German South-West Africa. The total area is about 275 000 square miles, with a population, in 1904, of 119,772 natives and 1,004 whites. The most important tribes within the territory are the Bamangwato, under the chief Khama, whose capital is the town of Palachwe (population 25,000) in the Choping Hills; the Bakhatla under Lenchwe; the Bakwena under Sebele; the Bangwaketse under Bathoen; the Batawana under Sekgoma; and the Bamaliti under Mokgosi. In November, 1895, on the annexation of the Crown Colony to Cape Colony, new arrangements were made for the administration of the Protectorate, and special agreements were made in view of the extension of the railway northwards from Mafeking. The boundaries of the three tribes affected by these agreements were fixed anew, and the mode of administration of the Protectorate was settled. Each of the chiefs, Khama, Sebele, and Bathoen, rules his own people as formerly, under the protection of the King, who is represented by a Resident Commissioner at Mafeking, acting under the High Commissioner. There are assistant commissioners with headquarters, respectively, at Gaberones in the southern, and Francistown in the northern portion of the Protectorate. The natives pay a hut tax, collected, for the present at least, by the chiefs. No licences for the sale of spirits are granted or renewed. The natives in the territory are peaceable, cattle-rearing and agri culture being the chief industries. The police force consists of 44 Europeans and 136 Basutos. Education is provided with Government assistance, in the London Missionary Society and the Church of England schools. For the year 1902-03 the revenue amounted to 30,9317.; the expenditure to 78,5907.; for 1903-04, revenue, 32, 4431.; expenditure, 82,9381. The grant-in-aid was for 1903-04, 44,000l.; for 1904-05, 15,000. The Protectorate is within the South African Customs Union. The value of imports subject to duty in 1902-03 was about 70,000l.; in 1903-04, about 80,0007. There is no record of exports, nor of the quantities or values of products. The telegraph line from the Cape to Mafeking has been extended to Fort Salisbury in Mashonaland, and the railway is now open for traffic to Buluwayo. The Post Office is under the control of the Postmaster-General of Cape Colony. The currency is British money. At Francistown there is a branch of the African Banking Corporation. Resident Commissioner.-R. C. Williams, C. M.G. Annual Report on the Protectorate. London. Reports by and Instructions to Major-General Sir Charles Warren, K.C.M.G., as Special Commissioner to Bechuanaland, 1884-86. Correspondence and Further Correspondence respecting Bechuanaland, 1-87-98. London. Hepburn (J. D.), Twenty Years in Khama's Country. London, 1895. Lloyd (E.), Three African Chiefs, London, 1895. Mackenzie (W. D,), Life of John Mackenzie, South African Missionary and Statesman. London, 1902. MacNab (Frances), on Veldt and Farm, 2nd ed. London, 1900. CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. (CAPE COLONY.) Constitution and Government. For many years the form of government in the Colony depended on the terms of the Royal Letters Patent and Instructions to governors. Letters Patent issued in 1850 to Governor Sir Henry Smith, declared that in the Colony there should be a Parliament which should consist of the Governor, a Legislative Council, and a House of Assembly. Both Chambers were to be elected and constituted in manner to be prescribed in an Ordinance which the Governor was authorised to frame and enact with the advice of the then existing Legislative Council, but such Ordinance was not to become effective till confirmed by the Queen in Council. A Constitution Ordinance was accordingly enacted locally, April 3, 1852; it was revised, modified, and then ratified, and finally enacted by Order in Council of March 11, 1853, and ordered to take effect on July 1 ensuing. This Order in Council provided that nothing it contained should prevent the Parliament of the Colony from making Acts (subject to the power of Her Majesty in Council either to disallow or assent to such Acts) in amendment of the said Ordinance. This power of amending the Constitution has been exercised from time to time as the bounds of the Colony have been extended. In 1865 various changes were made, and, in 1872, an Act was passed providing for the system of executive administration known as Responsible Government. The Constitution formed under these various Acts vests the executive in the Governor and an Executive Council, composed of certain office holders appointed by the Crown. The legislative power rests with a Legislative Council of 26 members elected for seven years, presided over ex-officio by the Chief Justice; and a House of Assembly of 107 members, elected for five years, representing the country districts and towns of the colony. The colony is divided into seven electoral provinces each electing 3 members to the Legislative Council, there being an additional one for Griqualand West, and one for British Bechuanaland. By a law passed in 1882, speeches may be made both in English and in Dutch in the Cape Parliament. The qualification for members of the Council is possession of immovable property of 2,000l., or movable property worth 4,000l. Members of both Houses are elected by the same voters, who are now qualified by occupation of house property 58,211 natives of India, 1,422 Europeans and Americans, and 1,522 Eurasians. The preponderance of males over females is due to the number of Chinese immigrants. The largest town in the States is Kuala Lumpor (in Selangor) with 32,381 inhabitants. The full strength of the Malay States Guides is 13 European officers and 791 Native officers, non-commissioned officers and men. The total police force comprises 2,269 men, including 41 European officers and inspectors, besides 95 detectives. In addition to numerous Government vernacular schools in the Federated Malay States, English schools, both for boys and girls, are maintained in Perak, Selangor, and Negri Sembilan. In 1903 there were 237 vernacular and State-aided schools, with 12,662 scholars. The law in force in each State of the Federation is contained in local enactments passed by the State Councils. Most of the Regulations and Orders in Council passed previous to the Federation in 1896 have now been repealed. There is a Judicial Commissioner for all the States. In addition there are a number of magistrates, graded according to their seniority and standing: (1) Court of the Senior Magistrates; (2) Courts of Magistrates of the 1st and 2nd class, and Native Courts for deciding petty cases. The number of criminals in the prisons of the States on December 31, 1903, was 1,475. The revenue and expenditure of the States were as follows for 1902 and 1903: Estimated revenue in 1904 was 20,248,572 dollars. Leading items of revenue in 1903 were-land revenue, 915,412 dollars (including land sales); railway receipts, 3,620,676 dollars; post and telegraphs, 278,715 dollars; tin duty, 9,593,270 dollars; licences, 3,653,051 dollars; and of expenditurepersonal emoluments, 3,630,644 dollars; railways (including construction, 1,672,505 dollars), 4,601,135 dollars; public works, 4,493,974 dollars. Debt of Pahang, to the other States of the Federation, 3,891,003 dollars. In 1899 a loan to the Malay States of 500,000l. from the British Government for railways was authorised; but the sanctioned loan was not required, the railway construction works being provided out of current revenue. Liberian coffee and rubber are cultivated in Perak, Sělángor, Sungei Ujong, Negri Sembilan, and Johore. Coffee, pepper, sugar and rice are exported from Perak; gambier and pepper are grown in Negri Sembilan, Selangor, and Johore; tapioca in Sungei Ujong and Negri Sembilan. The forests produce excellent timbers, besides gutta percha, oils, resins, canes, and a great variety of fruit. The duty on the export of tin forms the largest item of the revenue of the States on the West Coast. In 1903 the tin export from Perak amounted to 25,949 tons, from Sělángor 17,420 tons, from Negri Sembilan 5,089 tons, and from Pahang, 1,504 tons. Gold is found in and exported from Pahang, Negri Sembilan, and Perak. In 1903, 12,441 ounces of gold were exported from Pahang. In Perak, besides gold and tin, many minerals are found, including lead, iron, copper, bismuth, mercury, arsenic, manganese, plumbago, silver, and zinc. In the Protected States import duties are levied only on opium, spirituous liquors, vermouth, and Asiatic tobacco. The trade of the States (including inter-State trade) was as follows in 1903 : There are in the 4 States 2,475 miles of cart road. The total length of railways open at the end of 1903 was, in Perak, 190 miles; in Sělángor, 108 miles; in Negri Sembilan, 19 miles (Government) and 24 miles (private company); total, 341 miles, besides 23 miles in Province Wellesley, which is part of the F.M.S. Government Railway. The lines connect the principal mining centres with the sea and river ports. About 64 miles of line is under construction. All the lines have a gauge of 1 metre., In the 4 States are 1,691 miles of telegraph and telephone wire under the Post Office department, the postal receipts in 1903 being to the amount of 278,715 dollars. The current money consists of Straits Settlements dollars with subsidiary silver and copper coins. Currency notes and bank notes also circulate. The The State of Johore (area 9,000 square miles, estimated population 200,000), at the southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula, is, in its foreign relations, controlled by Great Britain, in virtue of a treaty of 1885. Sultan is H.H. Ibrahim, under whom the country is administered by district headmen. The revenue is chiefly from import and export duties. Imports are opium, spirits, tobacco, rice, hardware, Manchester goods, &c. Exports are gambier, pepper, sago, tea, coffee, gutta percha, &c. The population is chiefly Malay and Chinese. Chief Town, Johore Bahru, 15 miles Ñ. of Singapore. Cocos or Keeling Islands, group of about 20 small coral islands, about 700 miles S. W. of Sumatra, and 1,200 miles S. W. of Singapore. The islands were formally annexed to England in 1857, placed under the Governor of the Straits Settlements by Letters Patent in 1886, and formally annexed to the Colony in 1903. An official from Singapore annually pays a visit of inspection. Population (1904), 640, of whom two were European, 571 Cocos islanders, and 67 Bantamese. There are facilities for education but, in 1903, the school was attended by only 4 boys, though the population between 5 and 15 years of age comprised 78 boys and 95 girls. Coco-nut trees flourish on the islands, about 7,000,000 nuts being gathered annually. The yearly export of copra is about 780 tons. The pests of the islands are rats and beetles which destroy the trees. Occasionally there are severe cyclones. The Eastern Extension Telegraph Company has a permanent staff in the islands. There is no coin current among the natives but only sheep-skin notes worth five-sixths of a Dutch guilder (20d.) amounting in 1902 to 702 Cocos guilders. Christmas Island is 200 miles S. W. of Java, and 700 miles E. of Keeling Islands. It is 9 miles long and about the same wide. It was added to the colony by Letters Patent in January 1889, and was formally annexed to the settlement of Singapore in 1900. The island has considerable importance owing to the working of the enormous phosphate deposits, lump and granular, which it contains. In December, 1902, the resident population numbered about 900. All the inhabitants, with the exception of the District Officer and his staff, are employed, directly or indirectly, by the Phosphate Company. In 1900, 35,487 tons of phosphate were shipped, in 1901, 42,125 tons, in 1902, 61,178 tons, and in 1903, 70,096 tons. Books of Reference concerning the Straits Settlements. Colonial Office List. Annual. London. Statistical Abstract for the Colonial and other Possessions of the United Kingdom Annual. London. Blue Book for the Straits Settlements. Annual. Singapore. Annual Reports on the Federated Malay States. London. Annual Report on the Cocos Islands. London. Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions. London. Federated Malay States. General information for intending settlers. Issued by the Emigrants' Information Office, Westminster. Perak Handbook and Civil List. Singapore, 1897. Précis of Information concerning the Straits Settlements and Malay Peninsula. Prepared in the Intelligence Division, War Office. 8. London, 1892. Papers relating to the Cocos-Keeling and Christmas Islands. London. Andrews (C. W.), A Monograph on Christmas Island (Indian Ocean). London, 1900. Belfield (H. C.), Handbook of the Federated Malay States. 2nd. ed. London, 1904. Bird (Isabella L.), The Golden Chersonese. London, 1883. Boulger (D. C.) Life of Sir Stamford Raffles. London, 1899. Buckley (C. B.), An Anecdotal History of Old Times in Singapore. Singapore, 1903. Clifford (H.), In Court and Kampong: Native Life in Malaya. London, 1903.-In a Corner of Asia. London, 1899.-Studies in Brown Humanity. London, 1898.-Further India. London, 1904. Dennys (N. B.), A Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya. 8. London, 1894. Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Singapore. Lucas (C. P.), Historical Geography of the British Colonies. Vol. I. Oxford, 1894, Perak Museum Notes. Vols. I. and II. Toping, 1898. Play and Politics, Recollections of Malaya. By an Old Resident. London, 1901. Skeat (W. W.), Malay Magic. [Folklore and Religion.] London, 1900.-Tribes of the Malay Peninsula. 2 vols. London, 1904. Swettenham (F. A.), Malay Sketches. London, 1895. The Real Malay. London, 1899. Wallace (A. R.), Malay Archipelago. London, 1869. WEIHAIWEI. Weihaiwei, in the Chinese province of Shantung, with the adjacent waters was by a Convention with the Chinese Government, dated July 1, 1898, leased to Great Britain for so long a period as Russia shall remain in possession of Port Arthur. The territory leased comprises, besides the port and bay, the island of Liu Kung, all the islands in the bay, and a belt of land 10 English miles wide along the entire coast-line of the bay. The boundary has been demarcated and regulations settled for the management of frontier affairs. The area of about 285 square miles contains about 150,000 inhabitants, including 4,000 on the island of Liu Kung. The native city of Weihaiwei is a walled town with about 2,000 inhabitants. Within the limits of the territory Great Britain has sole jurisdiction, except that within the walled city Chinese officials may exercise such jurisdiction as is not inconsistent |