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present only Suva and Lovuka are so constituted). The expenses of the boards are to be paid out of the "school fund" of each district, consisting (1) of an annual grant on the average attendance on a scale fixed by the governor in council, and (2) of a contribution from the rating authorities of the amount required for school purposes beyond the government grant.

Education is free to children within the school districts between 6 and 14 years of age. A fee is charged to children not residing within the school district or who are under or above the school age. The ordinary subjects of an English education are taught and ices are charged for tuition in special subjects.

There are two common schools under these school boards, one in Suva, with 91 scholars, and one in Levuka, with 71 scholars on the roll. * ** The Wesleyan and Roman Catholic missions provide entirely for the education of the natives throughout the group. The former have 1,499 schools, with 2,634 native teachers and 26,464 scholars. The latter have 146 schools, with 1,832 scholars.

The Gambia.-The schools, which are wholly in the hands of the several denominations, receive grants in aid. There is 1 Anglican school, 8 Mohammedan, 3 Wesleyan, and 2 Roman Catholic, with about 1,400 scholars in all. Education is not compulsory and fees are charged.

Gold Coast Colony.-Elementary education in the colony is chiefly in the hands of the Wesleyan, Basel, and Roman Catholic missionary societies. These receive annual grants from the government. The government has established schools at Accra, Cape Coast, and Insuaim, in western Akim. There are also government schools at Accra in connection with the Hausa constabulary and civil police force. The various missions have schools situated in outlying districts, reaching far into the interior. Schools have been established at Kumasi and the neighborhood by the Wesleyan Society, and these are now under the inspection of the Education Department. A scheme of technical education, under a European master, has been introduced into the government school at Acera, and many of the mission schools in the interior have small plantations attached, where the scholars receive instruction in the cultivation of coffee and other native products. The Basel Mission has also established a training school for their teachers at Akropong, and at their head stations instruction is given in carpentry, masonry, bookbinding, and various other crafts.

Hongkong.There is the Queen's College (a secondary government boys' school with no fees), a police school and a reformatory, and ten free government schools (eight teaching English). A government girls' school was opened in 1890. Besides these there are 93 grant-in-aid schools, 90 of which are free, belonging to ten different missionary societies. These are denominational, the government schools being strictly secular. There were 11,341 scholars on the rolls in 1898. The only central administrative organization is the education department, in charge of the inspector of schools. The languages taught are English, Portuguese, and two separate dialects of Chinese. Some scholarships have been founded, by government and private individuals, for higher education. There is one school for industrial education and a college of medicine for Chinese.

Jamaica.-Elementary education is left to private enterprise, aided, since 1867, by a system of grants in aid from the colonial revenue. The number of schools is 746, with 61,219 scholars in average attendance, and the grant in aid for 1899-1900 was £47,330. No fees charged. The government maintains a system of inspection, and provides a training college for female teachers which is wholly supported from public funds, besides largely assisting the mico undenominational college for male teachers and a denominational college for female teachers. More than 150 students are now under training. By laws passed in 1892 a board of education has been constituted, and provision made for opening government secondary schools where required. No provision is made from public funds for technical education, but there are some endowed schools, and scholarships tenable at the English universities.

Lagos.-A system of government inspection and examination has been introduced, under the supervision of an educational board and a local inspector of schools, under which grants were made during the past year to the schools of the various Christian denominations, amounting in all to £1,533. About 4,000 school children are on the school rolls. Fees are charged, and education is not compulsory. The Mohammedans, who are much on the increase, maintain their own schools, where Arabic is taught, and three government schools in which elementary English instruction is given have been established for this section of the population.

Leeward Islands.-The system of elementary education is denominational, the various denominations being Anglicans, Moravians, Wesleyans, and Roman Catholics. The schools established by these denominations receive grants in aid from the local revenues of each presidency. School fees are charged, and the schools are required to receive all children applying for admission. Grants in aid are refused to superfluous or inefficient schools. There are about 125 aided schools, attended by 24,879 children.

Malta.-Elementary education is carried on almost exclusively in government schools, which are Roman Catholic and free. There are two secondary schools, with 130 scholars, and 113 elementary and infants' schools, with 15,669 pupils. There is a public lyceum, with 393 scholars, and a university (founded in 1769), with 81 students. At these two latter institutions the fees are extremely low, being, respectively, 4s. and 10s. per family per quarter. There are numerous private secondary schools. The total number of these schools is 116, with 3,700 scholars. Education is not compulsory. The Roman Catholic religion is universal amongst the Maltese.

Natal.-In 1899 there were 545 schools under government inspection-322 European, 188 native, and 35 Indian—with an aggregate attendance of 23,705. There are 29 government schools, 82 aided denominational and other schools, and 211 farm-house schools. The aggregate number of European pupils in regular attendance at the government and inspected schools was 9,419 (1899). The management is vested in the minister of education, with the superintendent of education as permanent head of the department, and the local control occasionally in committees. Education is not compulsory.

Newfoundland.—The government system of primary education rests upon the act of 1895 and the amendments in 1896 and 1899. The central administration is vested in 3 superintendents, belonging, respectively, to the Roman Catholic, the Anglican, and the Methodist denominations. The local management is in the hands of appointed boards. There were in 1898, 622 schools, with 28,397 scholars. The schools are denominational and fees are charged. Grants are also made in aid of secondary schools, but there is no provision for technical education.

Sierra Leone.--A system of government grants and inspection was established in 1882. There are 65 elementary schools in the colony, with 7,789 scholars. They are all denominational and charge fees. Education is not compulsory. There are 3 secondary boys' schools in Freetown-the grammar school (C. M. S.), the high school (Wesleyan), and the educational institute. The Church Missionary Society has a training college at Fourah Bay, affiliated with Durham University. There are also in Freetown 3 high schools devoted to female education.

Basutoland.-Excellent work is being carried on in the country by missionaries, in whose hands the labor of education is almost exclusively vested. There are 177 schools, with 11,134 scholars, nine-tenths being in the schools of the French Protestant Mission. There are 4 small government schools, and grants in aid of education to the extent of £4,358 were made for the year 1899-1900.

Straits Settlements.-There is no law affecting education. The expenditure on education is voted each year by the legislative council of the colony. The control of all the government schools is vested in the inspector of schools.

Vernacular instruction is provided for Malays free of charge. Instruction in English for all nationalities is provided by government, and fees are charged. All the schools established by government are unsectarian and there is no compulsory education.

Turks and Caicos islands.-There are 8 elementary schools supported by government, with an attendance, in 1899,. of 718 children. The schools are entirely unsectarian and are at present free. A compulsory education ordinance, providing also for the payment of fees, was passed in 1883, but the compulsory causes have never been proclaimed.

Grenada.-There are 9 government elementary schools and 32 aided schools. The latter are under the local management of the ministers of the different religious sects. Building grants have been made by the government to assist in establishing schools in districts requiring them, and annual grants in aid are made on the result of inspections. The central administration is intrusted to a board of education, nominated by the governor, half the members being Roman Catholic. In 1888 an ordinance was passed imposing upon parents, as a legal obligation, the duty of providing elementary education for their children. In 1899 the average attendance was 4,817, the number on the rolls being 9,240. Fees are charged in all schools.

St. Lucia.-On June 30, 1891, the trustees of the Lady Mico Charity closed the 11 schools which they had till then maintained and withdrew their connection with the colony. Three of these schools became government schools, and the others assisted schools under the new education ordinance. In 1898 all the government schools were handed over to the Roman Catholic body and became assisted schools. There were, on December 31, 1899, 42 assisted schools. The number of children on the rolls was 5,735, and the amount spent by the colony on primary education was £3,079. The government grants £200 a year to a Roman Catholic second-grade school, which had 70 pupils on the roll; the Sisters of St. Joseph conduct a similar school for girls. The number of pupils on the rolls is 100, and a government grant of £50 was made to the school in 1900.

Anam. The area of the protectorate is about 88,780 square miles, with a population estimated at 2,000,000 by some and at 6,000,000 by others, the latter being considered the more probable. It is Annamite in the towns and along the coast, and consists of various tribes of Moïs in the hilly tracts. There are 420,000 Roman Catholics. There are 5 secondary schools, with 23 teachers and 596 pupils.

Tonkin.-In 1899, 38 schools had 1,800 pupils.

Algeria. The native population is entirely Mussulman, the Jews being now regarded as French citizens. The grants for religious purposes provided for in the budget of 1900 were: To Catholics, 829,700 francs; Protestants, 97,600 francs; Jews, 28,970 francs; Mussulmans, 307,430 francs; total, 1,263,700 francs.

At Algiers (city) there is an institution for higher instruction, consisting of faculties of law and sciences and a higher school of letters. The total number of students in 1899 was 522, of whom 264 were in the faculty of law. At Algiers (city), Constantine, and Oran are lycées with, altogether, 2,000 pupils. In the whole of Algiers are 9 communal colleges, with 3,863 pupils; at Oran, a college for girls has 194 pupils. There are higher Mussulman schools at Algiers, Tlemçen, and Constantine, where pupils are prepared for native employments. Primary schools are either French, French-Arab, or Arab. In 1897 the total number was 1,161, with 104,207 pupils (62,873 boys and 41,334 girls). The nationality of the pupils in 1896 was 52,108 French, 14,791 Jews, 19,362 Mussulman, 37,839 foreign. In 1896 the attendance at infant schools was 26,075. In 1897 the expenditure on primary instruction in Algeria was 5,224,620 francs, of which 3,696,860 francs was from the State.

Madagascar.-Up to 1895 a large portion of the Hova and of the other tribes in the central districts had been Christianized. The vast majority of professing Christians were connected with churches formed by the London Missionary Society, but Anglican, Friends', Norwegian and American Lutheran, and Roman Catholic missions were also at work. The Christian population was estimated at 450,000 Protestants and 50,000 Roman Catholics. Hospitals, colleges, orphanages, and about 1,800 schools, with 170,000 children, were connected with the various missions. Since the establishment of French rule much has been done to break down the influence of Protestant missions in the island. Though decrees have been issued proclaiming religious liberty, the Catholic propaganda has nevertheless been pushed in such a manner that many native Protestants have been constrained to call themselves Catholic. The form of tenure of the real property of the missions required the adherence of Malagasy Christians of the same profession as the holders of the property, and many British mission churches were lost in 1897 through the failure of this condition and in consequence of the terrorism of the Catholics. Many of these have, however, since been restored to the Protestant congregations. The outlying tribes are still mostly heathen.

A school system comprising three grades of instruction has been organized. There are rural primary schools where elementary instruction is given in the Malagasy and French languages; there are industrial and agricultural schools in various districts and provinces; and superior schools, the chief of which are a normal school for training teachers and government officials, a professional school, an agricultural school, and a school of medicine. There are many Protestant and Catholic mission schools carrying on successful work. Réunion.—In 1897 there were 148 schools, with 356 teachers and 14,034 pupils

Guadeloupe and dependencies.-Instruction is given in 1 lycée, with 255 pupils, and 117 elementary schools, with 321 teachers and 10,979 pupils.

French Guiana.-In the colony there are 27 primary schools, with 2,100 pupils, and there is a college at Cayenne. Martinique.-There is a law school (at Fort de France), with 76 students; 3 secondary schools, with 487 pupils; a normal school; 152 primary schools, with 13,371 pupils; also 13 clerical and private schools.

Togoland.-At Sebbi-vi there is a government school, with 50 pupils, and the 4 missionary societies at work in the colony have schools largely attended by native children at the chief centers of population.

Kamerun.-The military force consists of 32 Germans and 554 natives. There are 2 government schools, with 200 pupils. Four missionary societies, with schools attended by about 5,000 pupils, are at work in the colony.

German Southwest Africa.-The European population is 1,840 (January 1, 1899), of whom 1,557 are German. The military force consists of 761 officers and men, all European, but natives also are employed. Instruction is given in government schools and in those of several Protestant and Catholic missions.

German East Africa.-The European population in June, 1899, numbered 1,090 (881 German), 38 British, 34 Greek. The military force consists of 176 Germans and 1,572 colored men, while the police numbers 15 Germans and 482 colored men (Askaris). There are 7 Protestant and 3 Catholic missionary societies at work.

Dutch East Indies.-The whole population of Java is legally divided into Europeans and persons assimilated with them, and natives and persons assimilated with these. The former are generally living under the same laws as the inhabitants of the mother country, while in the jurisdiction of the latter the Indian customs and institutions are considered. The division of the whole population into these two classes is a fundamental principle in the policy of the administration and enacted in the code specifying the limits and conditions for legislation in Dutch East India. The governor-general, however, is, in agreement with the council, authorized to make individual exceptions to this rule.

According to the terms of the regulations for the government of Netherlands India, entire liberty is granted to the members of all religious confessions. The Reformed Church counts 35 ministers and 28 assistants, the Roman Catholic 30 curates and 16 priests, not salaried out of the public funds. The number of Christians among the natives and foreign Orientals was: In Java and Madura in 1873, 5,673, and in 1896 (January 1), 19,193; in the outposts in 1873, 148,672, and in 1896 (January 1), 290,065. In 1898, 127 missionaries of various societies were working to propagate Christianity in the Dutch East Indies. In the same year 9,900 natives went to Mekka on pilgrimage, whereof 7,991 returned.

For the education of Europeans and persons assimilated with them, there were in 1898, 7 public middle-class schools, with 1,016 pupils and 102 teachers. The cost of these schools to the government in the same year was 583,592 guilders, and the revenue out of the school fees 86,887 guilders.

In 1898 there were, for Europeans, 133 mixed public elementary schools, and 31 for girls only, with 20 private schools, or a total of 184 elementary schools. The 164 public schools had a teaching staff of 541 and an attendance of 14,955 pupils, whereof 1,590 were natives, and the 20 private schools a teaching staff of 160 and an attendance of 3, 122 pupils. The cost of the public elementary schools was, in 1898, 2,471,912, and the income 283,056 guilders.

The following statement relates to schools for natives:

In 1898 Dutch India had 5 normal schools, with 27 teachers and 169 pupils; besides there were 4 schools for sons of native chiefs, with 211 pupils.

The elementary schools for natives were, for Java and Madura, in 1875, 104 government schools, with 14,906 pupils, and 132 private schools, with 6,978 pupils, and, in 1898, 223 government schools, with 43,094 pupils, and 216 private schools, with 23,795 pupils. In the outposts, in 1881, 281 government schools, with 21,388 pupils, and 205 private schools, with 10,696 pupils; and, in 1897, 296 government schools, with 42,250 pupils, and 529 private schools, with 25,807 pupils. In 1875 the government spent 803,906 guilders for the education of natives, and in 1898 1,353,760 guilders. For foreign Orientals there were in 1898 about 519 schools, with 8,688 pupils.

Surinam or Dutch Guiana.-Dutch Guiana is divided into 16 districts and numerous communes.

The area of Dutch Guiana is 46,060 English square miles. At the end of 1898 the population was about 66,490, exclusive of the negroes living in the forests. The capital is Paramaribo, with about 31,200 inhabitants.

According to the terms of the regulation for the government of Dutch Guiana, entire liberty is granted to the members of all religious confessions.

At the end of 1896 there were: Reformed and Lutheran, 8,974; Moravian Brethren, 25,421; Roman Catholic, 11,773; Jews, 1,250; Mohammedans, 2,681; Hindus, 9,698, etc.

There were, in 1898, 19 public schools, with 2,335 pupils, and 35 private schools, with 4,854 pupils. Besides these elementary schools there are a normal school and a central school of the Moravian Brethren for training teachers, and of the Roman Catholics.

RELIGION IN THE COLONIES.

In the matter of religion within the colonies, it may be said in general terms that while the disposition of the countries now administering colonial governments is to encourage the establishment of the Christian religion through missionary work, churches, and education, there is no interference with existing forms of religion whose customs are not in contravention with the accepted ideas of civilization and morals.

In the self-governing or "habitation" colonies of the English system the various church organizations are well represented and as a rule maintained entirely by private contributions. In the Crown colonies the disestablishment or withdrawal of State aid from the churches has developed largely in the last thirty years, and in but a comparatively few cases are the churches maintained or aided by governmental appropriations. Dilke, in his "Problems of Great Britain," written in 1890, says: "It can not be doubted that the policy of the disestablishment of the Church of England in the few colonies where it remains established, and of the cessation of State aid in those few where concurrent endowment continues, will prevail, and that an end will soon be put to that mixture of systems which in matters of religion, as in matters of education, exists in countries under Colonial Office control. Since 1868 the opinion of the Colonial Office, in the direction of the withdrawal of State assistance, has been clearly shown, and in no case has any step been taken that leads the other way, while in all the colonies where State aid has ceased religion prospers. Of the self-governing colonies some have grown up without an established church, others possessed one at an early period of their history, but have abolished the system of State aid, while in Lower Canada there has existed since the French possession a parochial establishment of the Roman Catholic Church, and in the Cape from its earliest days a predominance of the Dutch Reformed Church. In most of the Crown colonies the disestablishment of the Church of England, or withdrawal of State aid in the case of those in which concurrent endowment prevailed, has been brought about since 1868. Generally speaking, the Christian churches in them are all in a flourishing condition. No bad consequences can be shown to have followed on the disestablishment that has taken place in some colonies, or, in others, upon the absence of religious establishment from the first; and the results of the withdrawal of State aid are not to be discerned in any marked departure in the colonies from the English standard. The number of religious edifices and the number of clergy of various denominations, in proportion to the white population, is greater throughout the colonies than in England, the influence of Sunday schools is far more widely spread, and we have noticed a stricter observance of the Lord's Day and the greater power of the Sunday schools."

Merivale, in his Nineteenth lecture on colonization, says: "The first step to be taken by a colonial government anxious for the improvement of its barbarian subjects is the encouragement of missionaries. Wherever land is rescued for their use, there, in fit proportion to the numbers to be instructed, missionaries ought to be invited, and, if possible, established; but although the missionary is not merely useful, but indispensable, as the pioneer of civilization, it does not appear that he is sufficiently adapted to complete the

work. *

*

Where the offices of the religious instructor partially fail, those of government, through its agent, the protector, ought to begin. Education should not be wholly left to the missionary; it should, at least in the higher grades, be under the superintendence of some central authority.”

Sir W. W. Hunter in his Indian Empire says that the census of 1891 showed that the Christians in British and Feudatory India had increased by 22 per cent, or more than one-fifth, from 1881 to 1891, and that this increase, while partly the result of more perfect enumeration, represents to a large extent a real growth. The total number of Christians in all India, including Burma, was in 1891, 2,601,355. Sir John Strachey in his work India, 1894, says: "It would be difficult to give too much honor to the work of secular education which has been undertaken by private agencies, and especially by Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries. In 1890 there were in British India nearly 300,000 scholars in the colleges and schools of Protestant missionaries."

Sir George Cornewall Lewis in his essay On the Government of Dependencies says: "It can rarely happen that any reason should exist why the supreme government should attempt to change the religion of a dependency whose people have a religion different from that of the dominant country. The religion of a people is in general less easily changed by a government than their language. The history of Europe abounds with examples of the misery produced by the ineffectual attempts of governments to convert their subjects to another creed by force or civil disabilities. Even Mr. Gladstone admits that the dominant country is not bound to deprive a church in a dependency of its endowments, although the doctrines of that church may be different from that of its own established church or churches." Mr. C. P. Lucas, in his introduction to the recent edition of the work from which the above is quoted, apparently agrees with the author on this subject, for in that introduction he says: "Nowadays it can hardly be said that Great Britain introduces or is likely to introduce into her colonial possessions her laws, language, and religion without due regard to the position and interests of the dependency."

Worsfold, in his work, A Visit to Java, 1893, discussing the question of religion in that island, says:

"The religion of the Javanese is Mohammedanism; although Brahmanism still survives in some of the islands of the archipelago, it has entirely disappeared from Java. Until recent years the colonial government have discouraged any efforts directed toward the conversion of the natives to Christianity. The quietism of the Mohammedan creed was regarded as better adapted to supply their religious needs than the doctrines of the missionaries.

"Of late years, however, a more generous policy has prevailed. As the mass of the Javanese regard the native princes as traitors and apostates, the Arab priests and hadjis have come to be recognized as the popular leaders. It is they, and not the princes, who now form the dangerous element. The priests are jealous of European influence, and are ready to incite the natives to revolt if occasion offers, but in any outbreak the native princes are the first to be attacked.

"The question of the moral and mental development of the Javanese natives is one which has lately been much discussed, both in Java and in Holland, and the result has been that the colonial government is now fairly pledged to a humanitarian policy. The large sum annually appropriated in the colonial budget to the purposes of public instruction is a sufficient evidence of the reality of the desire now manifested by the Dutch to give the natives of Java full opportunities for the education and training necessary for technical and industrial progress. There can be no doubt as to the capacity of the natives to benefit by such advantages."

"The contact of civilized nations with savages and barbarians," says M. Leroy-Beaulieu, "is full of difficulties, dangers, and temptations. Centuries were required for a savage people to pass to the barbarous state and for a barbarous people to pass to the civilized stae. It is to be desired that by means of benevolent and skillful methods the duration of these stages for the savages and barbarians of the Pacific islands, the interior of Africa, and America be shortened.

"The moral and material improvement, the benevolent tutelage, the steady and persevering education of these peoples or, rather, tribes-all of these things can not be achieved solely by our commercial people, our administrators, and schoolmasters; it would be folly to expect it. What is wanted is that these people should in a few generations pass through the stages which it has taken so long to pass the countless generations of our ancestors. It is religion, and the Christian religion particularly, through its gentleness, its elevated spirit, its love of the humble, and the concern shown by certain religious orders-the Jesuits, for example-for material progress, which is the only educating medium likely to facilitate the contact with the Europeans on the one hand and the savages and barbarians on the other, and which, by devices of its own will, if not suddenly, at least within a few generations, enable the savages and barbarians to understand our civilization and to take part in its development.

"The colonial governors owe to the missions and the natives a certain number of duties which they can not neglect," says M. de Lanessan, "without gravely compromising the work of colonization. They are bound to protect the religious missions, and encourage their efforts, with the view that every native converted to any of our religions becomes a sort of Frenchman, but they are bound to watch that the representatives of French authority, the European missionaries, and their native assistants should observe in all their acts, and words, very great moderation.

"If it is difficult to exact from the missions a spirit of toleration which rarely goes in hand with an ardent religious faith, this spirit has to be imposed on all European and native officials. The first rule of conduct should be never, either by words of mouth or by administrative acts, to take account of the religion of the natives with whom they may be brought into official relations, or who may in some way or other come under their jurisdiction. The slightest favor, the smallest privilege, the least indulgence accorded to a Catholic in preference to a Pagan, or vice versa, suffices to cause indignation among a part of the population, and to provoke among the followers of the different religions quarrels and fracases, which sometimes require forcible repression, and excite the passions. The administrator, if he wishes to be represented equally by all, must forget to which religion the native belongs, with whom duty of the service has brought him in contact.

SYSTEMATIC STUDIES OF THE ECONOMICS OF COLONIZATION.

The methods by which colonies are and should be governed and developed are followed and studied with great interest not only by those charged with the government of colonies, but by the people of the countries having colonies. Throughout England, France, Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium, and especially in their capital cities, the greatest interest is manifested not only in the colonies themselves, but in the details of their management and development. The result of this is both stimulating and enlightening to the officers whom the Government intrusts with the duty of developing and caring for the colonies. Colonial associations, colonial institutes, colonial periodicals, colonial books, and colonial libraries, and discussions of colonial matters, both in the deliberative and legislative

bodies and in the public press, present the various phases of colonial policy and conditions in the world's colonies in kaleidoscopic but ever instructive form. The literature of colonization is elaborate, and the students of this subject, in the countries having colonies, numerous, active, and thoughtful.

ENGLAND.

In London, a colonial institute, composed chiefly of men who have been or are employed in the colonial service of the Government. has about 5,000 members, with headquarters in the busy part of the city, containing a library of about 50,000 volumes, periodicals from all the colonies, and all the periodicals of the world which are devoted to colonial discussions, and its members hold monthly meetings to discuss matters pertaining to colonial affairs and methods. At these meetings papers pertaining to various colonies or colonial methods and matters are read, and these are followed by discussions by the members. These meetings are largely attended both by members of the association and their families, the wives, sons, and daughters evincing an equal interest in studies of this character. An annual unofficial publication, The Colonial Office List, and another, The India Office List, published by a corps of men whose association with the colonial office and colonial service gives them especial facilities, furnish much detailed and valuable information regarding the condition in every British colony of the world, and present those facts in the latest form each year, while the Year Book of the Imperial Institute, a volume of nearly 1,000 pages, also gives elaborate details regarding conditions-agricultural, financial, and otherwise-in all of the British colonies. An annual official publication, The Statistical Abstract of Colonial and Other Possessions of the United Kingdom, gives elaborate statistical statements regarding the conditions in the colonies, and a similar volume gives like information relative to British India. The great tropical gardens at Kew, just outside London, filled with the botanical products of the tropical colonies, and devoted to studies of and experimental work upon their products, are open to the public and prove a constant and valuable object lesson in awakening and maintaining their interest in matters of this character. Reports from the officers of various colonies, and special studies upon the colonies themselves, prepared by the colonial office, are printed and distributed widely throughout the Empire. At the colonial office, where a staff of officials, under the direction of the secretary of state for the colonies, administers that part of the government of colonies which is conducted in England, there is a library of nearly 50,000 volumes devoted to colonial matters, which may be consulted by those desiring information upon this subject. A colonial information office is also maintained by the Government for the purpose of supplying intended immigrants and others with information regarding the colonies. It is conducted by a committee named by the secretary of state for the colonies, who is himself the president of that body. The work of this office is extended to all of the colonies, to the publication and distribution of information, especially to those desiring either to emigrate to the colonies or to conduct business in them, and for its work a liberal appropriation is made by Parliament. The office is in constant touch with the labor department of the board of trade, and supplies to the publication of that department a column especially devoted to labor in the colonies. Its publications are supplied to hundreds of libraries and institutions in various parts of the Kingdom, and it has depots or branches at the public libraries in several of the larger cities of the Kingdom. The scope of its work is shown by the fact that the number of letters and dispatches sent out, largely in answer to inquiries, in 1900, was over 47,000, and the number of circulars distributed about 250,000, several thousand of these being supplied to teachers in the evening and public schools of the Empire. Quarterly posters, giving the names of all post-offices in the colonies, and quarterly circulars on the principal colonies are supplied free of charge to any persons desiring them, and handbooks on the principal colonies are also furnished at the nominal price of 1 penny to those who may apply

for them.

FRANCE.

In France the active interest in the subject of colonization is equally apparent. A colonial institute, with M. Chailley-Bert, the distinguished student of colonial matters, as its secretary-general, has a membership of several thousand persons, and is devoted to studies of colonial matters and especially to supplying commercial and business information to those desiring to undertake commercial or financial enterprises for their development. The department of colonies also maintains a special department-the "Office Coloniale," located in the Palais Royal, Galerie d'Orléans-which has for its duty the procuring and distribution to the public of all information regarding colonial agriculture, commerce, and industries, and the importation and exportation of the colonies, and of France in her commerce with the colonies. This is administered under the direction of a conséil d'administration, composed of the president and the commission of colonies in the Chamber of Deputies and certain officers of the department of colonies. M. Noufflard, as chief of the commercial section and secretary o' the board of administration, gathers information from all the colonies through constant correspondence with their officials, and distributes this information in frequent publications and through a large correspondence both in France and in the colonies. A permanent exhibit of the products of the colonies is also maintained, and these, with the publications, serve not only to distribute much information, but stimulate public interest in the products, commerce, and possibilities of the colonies. In addition to this, the publications, both by the French Government and by private individuals, in the form of periodicals, weekly and monthly, annual volumes issued by the colonial department, and a large number of volumes issued from the press on the French colonies and those of other countries, serves to not only maintain a public interest in matters of this character, but to distribute much detailed information upon the subject. A college for the training of young men for the colonial service is also maintained, as described on another page of this work.

THE NETHERLANDS.

In the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium similar interest is manifested. In the Netherlands a school for the training of men for the colonial service is maintained at Delft, and the educational institutions of the country are also encouraged to provide special lines of studies suited to matters of this character, and especially the class of colonies maintained by the Netherlands Government; while a large library connected with the department of colonies at The Hague supplies information to those desiring to make special studies along this line. A large and instructive exhibit of the products of the colony, with statistical statements showing the development of agricultural and other industries in the colonies, and especially in Java, is maintained at Amsterdam, and furnishes extremely valuable object lessons regarding the conditions in and value of the colonies of the country.

GERMANY.

In Germany a colonial association, composed of more than 20,000 members scattered throughout the German Empire and the German colonies, gathers, and in turn disseminates, information regarding both the German colonies and the colonial systems of the world, while in Berlin libraries and associations for study of colonial subjects, and discussions in the press, and publications issued by the Government aid in awakening and maintaining public interest, as does also an exhibit of colonial products which is permanently maintained at Berlin.

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