Output of Minerals (exclusive of Minerals from Quarries) in 1903 and 1904 :

Coal,-The quantity of coal still available for working in each of the coal districts of the United Kingdom, according to the Report of the Commission appointed to investigate this question, is as follows:

The production of coal in recent years, the quantity exported, and the quantity consumed in the United Kingdom are given as follows:

The purposes for which coal is consumed in the United Kingdom are stated thus:

Lieutenant-Governor of Burma.-Sir Herbert Thirkell White, K. C.I.E., in succession to Sir Hugh Barnes, K. C.S.I., who has been appointed a Member of the Council of India.

Agent to the Governor-General of India in Baluchistan.-Colonel A. H. Macmahon, C.S.I., C.I.E., in succession to Colonel the Hon. C. E. Yate, C.S.I., C. M.G., who has retired. Col. Macmahon, being absent with the Afghan Boundary Commission, the Agency is taken over ad interim by A. L. P. Tucker, C.I.E., of the Indian Political Department.

Chief Commissioner, Central Provinces.-J. O. Miller, C.S.I., in succession to J. P Hewett, C.S.I., C.I.E.

Finance.-For 1903-04 the final accounts show a surplus of 2,996,400l.; for 1904-05 there is anticipated a surplus of 3,485,500l.; for 1905-06 the budget provides for remission of taxation and special grants amounting altogether to 2,495,000l., the surplus (after these deductions) being estimated at 903,8007. For 1905-06 the capital expenditure will amount to 11,875,900., of which 8,333,3341. will be for railways (6,862,000l. to be expended by the State, and 1,588,3001. by companies).

CANADA.

New Provinces.-Legislation is now (February, 1905) in progress for the creation of two new Provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan out of the North Western Territories, each Province to contain about 225,000 square miles, each to have a Legislative Assembly of 25 members, and each to receive revenues from Federal sources amounting for the first year to 1,330,375 dollars, the amount to increase with the population. Provision is being made for separate Roman Catholic schools. The provincial capitals are to be Edmonton (temporarily) for Alberta and Regina for Saskatchewan. It was proposed that the new Provinces should be constituted as such on July 1, 1905, but the measure will probably be deferred for a year.

Ministry of the Interior.-Mr. Sifton has resigned this office.

Defence.-It has been agreed that the Canadian Government will take over from Great Britain the defences of Halifax and Esquimault, and will undertake the whole cost of maintaining the garrisons. Correspondence is now proceeding as to the best means by which the transfer may be accomplished.

Railways.-There are altogether in Canada 19,611 miles of completed railway, an increase of 534 miles over the previous year. Besides there are 3,327 miles of sidings. There are 19,545 miles laid with steel rails. The number of miles in operation was 19,431. The paid-up capital amounted to 1,186,546,918 dollars. For the past year the gross earnings amounted to 100,219,436 dollars, an increase of 4,154,909 dollars, and the working expenses aggregated 74,563,162 dollars, an increase of 7,081,638 dollars, compared with the previous year, leaving net earnings 25,656,274 dollars, or nearly three millions of a decrease. There were 23,640,765 passengers carried, an increase of 92,023, and 48,097,519 tons of freight, an increase of 724,102 tons.

There are 767 miles of electric and street railways in Canada. The paid-up capital amounts to 50,399,188 dollars, of which the municipal aid amounted to 173,000 dollars (including 100,000 dollars subscription to shares, and 40,000 dollars loan). The number of miles in operation is 745, the actual increase over 1903 being 58 miles, as a portion of the mileage returned in the previous year was double track. The gross earnings aggregated 8,453,609 dollars, an increase of 1,219,932 dollars, and the working expenses 5,326,517 dollars, an increase of 853,659 dollars, leaving the net earnings 5,127,092 dollars, an increase of 366,273 dollars. The number of passengers carried was 181,689,998, an increase of 26,027,186, and the freight carried amounted to 400,161 tons, an increase of 26,875 tons.

CAPE COLONY.

Commerce. The imports into the Colony in 1904 amounted to 21,863,340., and the exports from the colony (including gold from the Transvaal) amounted to 27,406,6721. The diamond export amounted to 2,631,878 carats, valued at 5,520,7431.

High Commissioner in South Africa and Administrator of the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies.-The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Selborne, appointed February, 1905.

TRANSVAAL.

The exports from the Transvaal in 1904 amounted to 17,770,9881., as compared with 12,969,9127. in 1903. Imports in 1904, 13,627,000l.; in 1903, 19,451,0001. The more im. portant articles exported in the two years were:

The revenue of the Transvaal for 1904 amounted to 1,860,4007., and the expenditure to 1,974,700l.

Debt.-Total Receipts and Issues on Loan Account to December 31, 1904 :

The revenue of the Sierra Leone Protectorate in 1903 amounted to 43,4471., and the expenditure (including military expenditure) to 83,5011.

GOLD COAST.

Chief Commissioner of Ashanti.-F. C. B. Dudley Fuller, appointed March, 1905. Chief Commissioner of the Northern Territories-Captain A. E. G. Watherston, R.E., C.M.G., appointed March, 1905.

On January 13, 1905, an agreement was signed whereby Great Britain leases to Italy at a nominal rent a small piece of land on the coast to the north of Kismayu and a strip connecting the port with the trade route to the interior. At the same time it was arranged that Italy is to have sovereign rights over the Somaliland coast hitherto under a 99 years' lease from the Sultan of Zanzibar, and is to pay a sum of 144,000l. at once instead of an annual rent. This territory will now be administered by the Government, and not by the Benadir Company.

The East Africa Protectorate an Uganda will be transferred to the Colonial Office in. April, 1905.

The total cost of the Somaliland operations since January, 1900, amounted to 2,494,000l.

AUSTRALIA.

Finance.-The proposals for the consolidation of the State debts, which were announced in February. 1904, were, with modifications, accepted by a majority of premiers at a conference in February, 1905. The scheme as it now stands provides that the State debts be taken over by the Commonwealth, that the retention of a quarter of the revenue from Customs and Excise by the Commonwealth be extended for thirty years from 1911, and that, in case of deficiency of revenue from other sources, the railway revenues be available for the service of the debt. There is also provision for a sinking fund of not less than half per cent. on new loans, and sinking funds are to be placed in the hands of trustees on behalf of the Commonwealth. State loans, to be raised in future outside the Commonwealth, are to be raised through the Commonwealth Government, or, if not, then by the State itself within the Commonwealth.

The South Australian Ministry was reconstructed as follows on March 1, 1905:-
Premier, Treasurer and Minister of Lands and Agriculture.-Mr. Butler.

Chief Secretary.-Mr. Vardon.

Attorney General.-Mr. J. R. Anderson.

Commissioner of Public Works.-Mr. Foster.

ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

Finance. The receipts during the year 1904 are officially stated to amount to 52,394,884 pesos gold, and 69,787,771 pesos paper.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

Ambassador at Vienna.-Sir Edward Goschen, K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., his Majesty's Minister at Copenhagen, will in May, 1905, succeed the Right Hon. Sir Francis Plunkett, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., G.Č.V.O.

Consul-General at Budapest.-F. S. Clarke, formerly Secretary to his Majesty's Legation at Stockholm.

Austrian Minisiry.-Feldzeugmeister Schoenach was appointed Minister of National Defence, March 8, 1905, in succession to Count von Welserheim.

Commerce.-The imports and exports of the Monarchy in 1903 and 1904 were as follows in thousands of crowns:

The chief exports in the two years were, in thousands of crowns: