attend private unaided schools, and it is estimated that only a small percentage of white children are receiving no education. The number of those receiving gratuitous education (1902-3) was 1,343. The direct Government expenditure on schools for 1902-03 was 138,7927. (including expenditure for furniture, buildings, and maintenance). Fees paid by pupils in Government schools for 1902-03 10,2071. An annual exhibition of the value of 150l. a year, tenable for 4 years, at a University of the United Kingdom; an annual mining scholarship of 801. a year for four years, annual bursaries of 10., 207., and 407., of an aggregate annual value of 2801., and all tenable for three years, are established by the Government, and two perpetual scholarships of 150l. and 80l. per year respectively, tenable for three years, have been privately founded, and are administered by the Education Department.

There are 161 Government-aided schools for natives, with a total attendance of 10,154, which received in 1902-03 grants in aid to the amount of 6,0667.; and 18 Government-aided schools for the children of Indians, with a total attendance of 2,032 in 1902-03, and for which a grant of 1,2221. was voted.

Finance.

The general revenue and expenditure of the colony, exclusive of loan funds in the last five years ended June 30, were as follows:

The following are the principal items of ordinary revenue for the year ended June 30, 1903-Railways, 2,286,9637.; customs, 1,068,6407.; excise, 54,3677.; land sales, 70,5917.; post office, 173,2267.; telegraphs, 63,9187.; stamps and licences, including native hut tax, 301,0847.; port and harbour dues and wharf dues, 77,8581.

The principal items of expenditure for the year ended June 30, 1903, were: Railways, 1,610,0417.; public works, 271,8637. Total loan expenditure, 1,683,2177.

The Public Debt on June 30, 1903, was 14,019, 1437.

Defence.

The

There is a body of mounted police numbering 938 Europeans, and of volunteers 3,197, including a volunteer naval defence corps of 199 men. cost of the police force for the year ended June 30, 1903, was 365,5711., and the colony contributed 71,8717. to the expense of the volunteers during the same period, exclusive of the payment of volunteers and police on active service. The total special expenditure incurred, owing to the war, 964,5507., of which 569,0997. was for pay and equipments of the volunteers on active service, and 49,5217. for the police. During 1904 the volunteer force has been remodelled as militia.

was

Industry.

Of the area of Natal (exclusive of the Province of Zululand), estimated to be 12,000,000 acres, 2,250,000 acres have been set apart for Native occupation, about 6,363,779 acres have been acquired by grant or purchase from the Crown by Europeans, 1,782,145 acres are in process of alienation, and about 1,604,076 acres remain unalienated from the Crown. These figures do not include the Province of Zululand with an area of about 6,688,000 acres, of which about 210,000 acres have been alienated; neither is the 'New Territory' included, which has a total acreage of about 4,460,800 acres. Of the area of the whole Colony, in 1903 243,067 acres were under cultivation by Europeans, the leading crop for export being sugar, though large quantities of maize, oats, and other cereal and green crops are grown. Tea-planting has been recently introduced.

The principal agricultural products of the last two years are shown in the following table (the muid 180 lbs.).

2 And 7,601 tons of oat and millet hay.

1 And 4,484 tons of oat hay. 3 Quantities in lbs. 4 Quantities in cwts. Much of the sugar-cane is grown merely for fodder. 5 Quantities in lbs.; tobacco of European culture only; the tobacco grown by natives and Indians is of inferior quality and only used by the natives for snuff,

&c.

Other crops are potatoes, turnips, and vegetables. The wool clip in 1902 amounted to 2,043,160 lbs.; in 1903 to 1,517 lbs.

Estimated total number of acres under cultivation by Natives, 486,489, and Indians, 38,712 acres, making a total of 768,268 acres under cultivation in the Colony.

Of live stock owned by Europeans in 1903 there were 257,632 horned cattle, 115,096 goats, 509,978 sheep, and 29,320 horses; and in possession of the Native population in 1903, there were 365,616 horned cattle, 610,512 goats, 109,296 sheep, and 24,743 horses.

The coal-fields of the Colony, which are of large extent, are now in direct communication with the seaport of Durban. The number of persons employed in and about them in 1903 was 5,063. The output for the year 1902 was 592,821 tons, value at pit's mouth, 512,574l.; in 1903 to 713,548 tons, value 418,9757. Exported in 1903, 23,302 tons. Some attempts have been made to utilise the rich beds of iron ore which have been found in many parts of the Colony, and others are being made. Copper is stated to have been discovered in the northern part of the colony, but no attempts to work it have yet been made. Gold was produced in 1902 to the amount of 78 oz., value 3317.; in 1903 there was no gold output.

Q

Commerce.

The total value of imports and exports by sea, including raw gold but not specie, has been as follows:

1 Or, including Overland Exports, 10,454,2291. For 1904, imports 10,991,3001.; exports (by sea and land) 9,010,3901.

The values of the principal imports and exports by sea in 1902 and 1903

153,743 231,168 Gold, bar, &c. . 1,937,512 1,138,768

564,375 919,998 Bark.

Railway material 1,142,928 714,466

74,554 70,581

1 Government imports are here included.

The imports into Natal from Great Britain amounted (according to colonial statistics) in 1902 to 8,253,6847.; in 1903 to 8,560,1777. The exports to Great Britain from Natal amounted in 1902 to 2,220,0721. ; in 1903 to 1,462,0067.

The following are the values of the imports into Great Britain from Natal and the exports from Great Britain of domestic produce and manufactures to Natal for six years, according to the Board of Trade Returns :

The wool imports into Great Britain from Natal amounted in 1903, to 399,3567.; hides, 21,2267.; coffee, 2,5157.; bark, 109,8517.; skins and furs, 12,177. Some of the wool and other articles are from the neighbouring colonies, which also take one-fifth of the merchandise imported into Natal.

The chief articles exported from Great Britain to Natal in 1903 were apparel and haberdashery, 1,052,6327.; cottons, 401,6617.; iron, wrought and unwrought, 1,326,8117.; leather, 335,6667.; machinery, 692,1767.; woollens, 308,8381.; hardware and cutlery, 125,8087.; spirits, 185, 1927.; beer and ale, 35,1117.; carriages, &c., 260, 3341.; furniture, 205,3521.

Natal belongs to the South African Customs Union (see under Cape Colony).

Shipping and Communications.

In 1903 the registered shipping of the colony consisted of 33 vessels of 2,241 tons (nett), 24 of 50 tons and under, each, totalling 444 tons, and 9 totalling 1,797 tons. These do not include government vessels, which are exempt from registration.

In 1903, exclusive of transports, 952 vessels of 1,979,218 tons (757 of 1,707,941 tons British) entered, and 961 of 2,005,396 tons (760 of 1,726,576 tons British) cleared. Of the vessels which entered, 184 of 394,750 tons (1901 figures should have been 235,970) were from the United Kingdom direct, and 267 of 597,114 tons were from Cape Colony; of those which cleared, 89 of 190,545 tons cleared for the United Kingdom direct, and 253 623,693 tons for Cape Colony.

At the end of the year 1903 there were in the Colony 710 miles of railway open, and worked by the Government, the whole, except 50 miles, having been constructed by the Government. The railways have a gauge of 3ft. 6in. The main line from Durban is connected with the lines to Johannesburg (483 miles) and Pretoria (511 miles). The system includes many branch lines which are being extended. Work on the new connection with Cape Colony has been commenced. The main line is at present being improved, and, where found necessary, doubled as expeditiously as possible. The total cost of construction and equipment of the railways up to the end of the year 1903 was 10,572,9627. The revenue for 1903 was 2,561,5517. ; expenditure, 1,791,1087. The net receipts for the year were equal to 71. 6s. 1.80d. per cent. upon capital.

In the year 1903 there were in the Colony 317 post-offices and agencies. The correspondence received comprised 30,266,756 packets, of which 21,694,244 were letters and post-cards; 8,351,772 were books, samples, and papers, and 220,740 were parcels. The correspondence posted amounted to 27,227,668 packets. The postal routes open had a total length of 3,780 miles, of which 759 miles were by railway, 487 miles by post-cart, and 2,533 miles by carriers. In the year 1903, 133,463 (includes telegraph money orders) money orders for 515,3417. (includes telegraph money orders), were issued, and 60,709 (includes telegraph money orders) money orders for 230,4371. were paid in the Colony. Most of the orders were to or from other colonies or the United Kingdom. The postal revenue for 1903 amounted to 183,3791. (exclusive of about 18,9817; the value of work not paid for); the postal and telegraph expenditure for the year 1903 was 171,5377., and the total revenue for the whole department 273,5281., leaving a balance of 101,9917.

In the year 1903 there were in Natal 1,722 miles of telegraph line with 4,677 miles of wire, 861 miles of telephone line with 586 miles of wire, and 38 miles of private line with 154 miles of wire. The number of telegraph

offices was 200. The messages forwarded numbered 723,648; received, 784,420; transmitted, 1,041,964. In the year, 1903, the telegraph receipts amounted to 58,2427. (exclusive of 12,9267. for Government work not paid for). Telephonic communication is being rapidly extended. The system at Durban, worked by the corporation, has 764 connections.

Statistical and other Books of Reference.

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

Colonial Office List. Annual. London.

Correspondence relating to Proposed Additions of Territory to Natal. London, 1902. Illustrated Official Handbook of the Cape and South Africa. Edited by J. Noble. London, 1893.

Official Illustrated Handbook and Railway Guide of the Colony of Natal, by J. Forsyth Ingram. London, 1895.

Natal Almanack, Directory and Yearly Register. Annual. Pietermaritzburg.
Report of the Postmaster-General of Natal. Annual.

Statistical Year Book. Annual. Pietermaritzburg.-Natal Civil Service List. Biennial. Pietermaritzburg.

Précis of Information concerning Zululand, prepared in the Intelligence Division of the War Office. London, 1895.-Correspondence on the Affairs of Zululand, 1895-98. Statistical Abstract for the several colonial and other possessions of the United Kingdom. Annual. London.

Baynes (A. H.), My Diocese during the War. London, 1900.

Barnett (P. A.) and Sweeney (A. W.), Natal: the State and the Citizen. London, 1904. Bird (John), The Annals of Natal, 1495-1845. 8. Pietermaritzburg, 1888.

Brooks (Henry), Natal: a History and Description of the Colony. 8. London, 1887. Cullingworth's Natal Almanac. Annual. Durban.

Ingram (J. F.), Natalia: History of Natal and Zululand. London, 1897.

8. London, 1893.

Noble (J.), Illustrated Handbook for the Cape and South Africa.
Norris-Newman (C. L.), In Zululand with the British. London, 1879.

Peace (Walter), Our Colony of Natal. Published by permission of the Natal Govern

ment. London, 1884. Notes on Natal. London, 1893.

Robinson (Sir J.), A Lifetime in South Africa. London, 1900.

Rowell (T.), Natal and the Boers. London, 1900.

Russell (R.), Natal, the Land and its Story. 6th ed. London, 1900.

Silver (S. W.), Handbook to South Africa, including the Cape Colony, Natal, the Diamond Fields, &c. 8. London, 1891.

South African Year-Book for 1902-3. London.

Statham (F. R.), Blacks, Boers, and British. London, 1882.

Trollope (Anthony), South Africa. 2 vols. 9. London, 1878.

Tyler (J.), Forty Years in Zululand. (Missionary work.) 8. Boston, 1891.

NIGERIA.

This important region comprises the whole of the British sphere within the lines of demarcation arranged by the Anglo-German Agreements of 1885, 1886, and 1893, and the Anglo-French Agreements of 1889, 1890, and 1898. It comprises the Lagos Protectorate and Southern and Northern Nigeria, being bounded on the east by the German Kamerun and on the west and north by Dahomey and the French Military Territories. The whole area covers about 310,000 square miles, and its population is estimated at not less than 25,000,000. About nine-tenths of the area and population were formerly within the territories of the Royal Niger Company, which, created in 1882, under the name of the National African Company, received a charter in 1886. During the administration of this Company treaties were made with several hundreds of States and tribes. In 1884 and 1887 the whole of Nigeria was declared to be under British protection, and the coast regions, lying between