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Trade and Commerce.

The value of the total imports and exports of the colony, in the six years 1868 to 1873, was as follows:

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The commerce of Natal is almost entirely with Great Britain. The subjoined table gives the value of the total exports from Natal to Great Britain and Ireland, and of the total imports of British produce in each of the six years 1869 to 1874 :

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Total Imports of
British Produce into Natal

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£

245,536

311,480

345,804

670,676

745,883

772,933

Owing to a difference existing in the valuation of goods in the colony and in Great Britain, the above tables-the first compiled from colonial returns, and the second from the reports of the Board of Trade-cannot be compared together. It would appear from them, that in some years the exports from Natal to Great Britain were larger than the total exports.

The staple article of export from Natal is sheep's wool; next to which in importance stand sugar, ivory, and hides. The wool exports to Great Britain amounted in value to 208,4167. in 1869, to 250,2357. in 1870, to 219,9617. in 1871, to 283,7717. in 1872, to 313,2917. in 1873, and to 400,6727. in 1874. Next in importance to wool stand hides, the exports of which were of the value of 171,2317. in 1874, and raw sugar, of the value of 16,1797. in the same year. Many of the exports of the colony, particularly wool, come from the neighbouring Dutch republics, which also absorb more than one-third of the imports.

Since the year 1866 cotton has been grown in the colony. The exports of raw cotton to Great Britain were of the value of 23,1277.

in 1869; of 18,5597. in 1870; and rose to 29,4327. in 1871; but fell to 9,7917. in 1872, to 5,4387. in 1873; and to 1,9227. in 1874.

Natal as yet has no line of railway; but a convention for the construction of a railway system in the colony was signed by the Government in 1873. The work is to comprise 345 miles of single line, and to execute it the colony makes a land grant of two-and-ahalf million acres, with a further right to certain coal fields, and gives a subvention of 40,000l. per annum.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Natal.

1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Report from Lieutenant-Governor Keate, on the Trade and General Condition of Natal, dated Natal, March 8, 1872; in Reports on the Present State of Her Majesty's Colonial Possessions.' Part III. 8. London, 1872.

Statistics of Natal; in 'Statistical Abstract for the several Colonial and other Possessions of the United Kingdom in each year from 1859 to 1873.' No. XI. 8. London, 1875.

Trade of Natal with Great Britain; in 'Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions in the year 1874.' Imp. 4. London, 1875.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Dunn (E. J.), Notes on the Diamond Fields. 8. Cape Town, 1871. Elton (Capt.), Special Reports upon the Gold Field at Marabastadt and upon the Transvaal Republic, with full Description of Routes. 8. Durban, 1872. Fritsch (Dr. G.), Drei Jahre in Süd-Afrika. 8. Breslau, 1868.

Fritsch (Dr. Gust.), Die Eingeborenen Süd-Afrika's ethnographisch und anatomisch beschrieben. 4. Breslau, 1872.

Hall (H.), Manual of South African Geography. 8. Capetown, 1866. Mann (Dr. H.), Statistical Notes regarding the Colony of Natal. In ' Journal of the Statistical Society of London.' Vol. XXX. 1. London, 1869.

Meidinger (H.), Die südafrikanischen Colonien Englards und die Freistaaten der holländischen Boeren in ihren jetzigen Zuständen. 8. Frankfurt a. M. 1861.

Payton (Ch. A.), The Diamond Diggings of South Africa. 8. London, 1872.
Natal Almanack, Directory, and Yearly Register. Pietermaritzburg, 1873.
Robinson (John F.R.G.S.), Notes on Natal. 8. Durban, 1872.
Steinbank (H. E.), Coffee in Natal. 12. London, 1874.

III. ASIA.

CEYLON.

Constitution and Government.

THE present form of government of Ceylon was established by Letters Patent of April 1831, and supplementary orders of March 1833. According to the terms of this constitution, the administration is in the hands of a Governor, aided by an Executive Council of five members; viz. the Officer Commanding the Troops, the Colonial Secretary, the Queen's Advocate, the Treasurer, and the Auditor-General; and a Legislative Council of 15 members, including the members of the Executive Council, four other officeholders, and six unofficial members.

Governor of Ceylon. -Rt. Hon. William Henry Gregory, born 1817; educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford; High Sheriff of Galway, 1849; M.P. for the City of Dublin, 1842-47; M.P. for the County of Galway, Ireland, 1857-71. Appointed Governor of Ceylon, January 8, 1872; assumed the government, March 4, 1872. The Governor has a salary of 7,000l., and the Colonial Secretary 2,000l.

Revenue and Expenditure.

The public revenue and expenditure of the colony, in each of the eight years 1867 to 1874, was as follows:

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The principal sources of revenue are the customs, of an average produce of 286,000l.; licences, including the arrack monopoly, returning 150,000l.; and sales, with rents of public lands, producing together about 230,000l. per annum. The civil and judicial establishments of the colony cost nearly 300,000l., and the con

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tribution to military expenditure amounts to 160,000l. annually. For public works, from 200,000l. to 250,000l. have been expended in recent years, and about 20,000l. for education.

To aid in the establishment of a line of railway, a public debt, to the amount of 800,000l., was raised in 1861-67, of which 100,0007. was paid off in 1868. There is a sinking fund provided for the gradual extinction of the debt, which had been reduced, at the end of 1874, to 640,000l. The railway of the Colony, 75 miles in length yielded a profit of 113,4907. in the year 1874, the receipts having amounted to 187,2897., and the expenses to 73,8081., the annual surplus going to the sinking fund of the debt.

Population.

In

The island of Ceylon was first settled in 1505 by the Portuguese, who established colonies in the west and south, which were taken from them early in the next century by the Dutch. 1795-96, the British Government took possession of the foreign settlements in the island, which were annexed to the Presidency of Madras; but two years after, in 1798, Ceylon was erected into a separate colony. In 1815 war was declared against the native Government of the interior; the Kandyan King was taken prisoner, and the whole island fell under British rule.

The extreme length of the colony from north to south, that is, from Point Palmyra to Dondera Head, is 266 miles; its greatest width, 140 miles from Colombo on the west coast to Sangemankande on the east; its area is 24,454 miles, or 15,678,900 acres.

The following table gives the area and population of the six provinces of Ceylon, according to an official return of the year

1870

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Of the total population here enumerated 4,782 were British;

14,201 other whites of European descent, and the rest coloured. At a census taken March 26, 1871, the total population of Ceylon was found to be 2,405,287. The religious creeds were returned as follows:-Buddhists, 1,520,575; Sivites, 464,414; Roman Catholics, 182,613; Mahomedan, 171,542; Protestants, 24,756; Wesleyans, 6,071; Presbyterians, 3,101; and Baptists, 1,478. The whole of the Christians belonged to the European-descended population.

Trade and Industry.

The declared value of the total imports and exports of the colony, including bullion and specie, was as follows in each of the five years 1870 to 1874:

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The commercial intercourse of Ceylon is mainly with the United Kingdom and India. The amount of trade with the United Kingdom is shown in the subjoined tabular statement, which gives the total value of the exports from Ceylon to Great Britain and Ireland, and of the imports of British and Irish produce and manufactures into Ceylon, in each of the five years 1870 to 1874::

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The staple article of exports from Ceylon to the United Kingdom is coffee, of the declared value of 2,790,8987. in 1870; of 2,623,2637. in 1871; of 2,341,6017. in 1872; of 3,692,3337. in 1873, and of 2,870,0517. in 1874. Besides coffee, the only other exports of note are cocoa-nut oil and cinnamon, the former amounting in value to 175,8391., and the latter to 123,370l. in the year 1874. Manufactured cotton goods, of the value of 601,0917. in 1874, form the staple articles of British imports into Ceylon.

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