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New South Wales.-The Parliament consists of a Legislative Council of 66 members, appointed for life, and a Legislative Assembly, of 125 members, elected in separate districts for three years by manhood suffrage. The number of registered electors in July, 1895, was 267,458. The Governor is Viscount Hampden, appointed in 1896. The Cabinet at the beginning of 1897 was composed as follows: Premier, Treasurer, and Minister for Railways, George Houstoun Reid; Chief Secretary, James Nixon Brunker; Attorney-General, John Henry Want Secretary for Lands, Joseph Hector Carruthers; Secretary for Public Works, James Henry Young; Minister of Public Instruction and of Labor and Industry, Jacob Garrard; PostmasterGeneral, Joseph Cook; Secretary for Mines and Agriculture, Sydney Smith; Minister of Justice, Albert John Gould; Vice-President of the Executive Council and Representative of the Government in the Legislative Council, Andrew Garran. When all the Australian premiers went to England to take part in the Queen's jubilee a tacit truce was agreed to, in accordance with which no serious legislative proposals of a controversial nature were put forward by the acting premiers, and no attempts to overturn the ministries were made by the Opposition. Mr. Brunker, who filled the place of the Premier of New South Wales, encountered difficulties in connection with the collection of land and income taxes, though on the whole the revenue returns were satisfactory, showing a total revenue of £9.309,000 and an increase of £57,000 over 1896, strengthening, on the whole, the freetrade policy of the Government. The session of Parliament was opened in April. One of the laws passed abolishes the payment of school fees.

Victoria.-The Legislative Council has 48 members, elected under a property qualification, and the Legislative Assembly 95 members, elected by universal adult male suffrage. There were 138,393 electors for the former and 247,730 for the latter on the roll in 1896. The Governor is Lord Brassey, appointed in 1895. The Cabinet was composed as follows at the beginning of 1897: Premier and Treasurer, George Turner; Chief Secretary and Minister of Public Instruction, A. J. Peacock; Attorney-General, Isaac Isaacs; Solicitor-General, H. Cuthbert; Commissioner of Trade and Customs, President of the Board of Land and Works, and Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey, R. W. Best; Postmaster-General, J. G. Duffy; Minister of Defense, W. McCulloch; Minister of Mines and Water Supply, H. Foster; Minister of Agriculture and Commissioner of Public Works, J. W. Taverner; Minister of Railways and Minister of Health, H. R. Williams; Ministers without portfolios, A. McLean, David Coutts, and S. Williamson.

The recovery from former depressed conditions was more marked in 1897 than in any previous year. The clearing-house returns were much larger. The banks paid up a large share of the deferred deposits due since the Australian banking crisis. The coin deposits exceeded any sum previously recorded, amounting to £8,900,000 in January Later there were heavy shipments of gold, especially after imports of wheat set in from the United States. The production of gold has been stimulated in all the Australian colonies. The yield in Victoria during 1896 was 84,000 ounces above that of 1895. There were new alluvial mines discovered near the New South Wales border, and auriferous rock in several new districts. The output for 1897 promised to exceed any previous yield for twenty years. The revenue of Victoria for 1897 amounted to £6,600,000, an increase of £170,000. The increase in railways was £200,000, and in customs £25,000. The question of meat exports

has occupied the attention of the public authorities as well as the producers in several colonies. The exporters of Victoria, in a conference with Mr. Taverner, the Minister of Agriculture, agreed that the state should supervise and control all meat exports in order to insure their perfect condition. A bill was passed providing for Government inspection, grading, and branding of butter, meat, rabbits, poultry, and fruit exported from the colony. This was the result of an agreement with the other Australian governments, which promised similar legislation on exported produce from all the colonies. A trial shipment of Victorian tobacco was considered by the Government expert to be equal to the American leaf. The Parliament opened in the middle of June, and closed at the end of August to enable the delegates to attend the second federal convention. The principal business besides the budget estimates was the consideration of the federal bill made necessary in all the colonies by the dissolution of the Adelaide convention. One of the new labor laws of Victoria forbids working before seven in the morning or after five in the evening. The new factories act authorizes joint boards of employers and employed to fix a minimum wage for each trade. The Labor party has pressed for a State bank, reform of the Council, taxation of unimproved land, and a referendum. By his new programme, presented to Parliament in September, Sir George Turner appealed to the moderate politicians, breaking away from the Labor leaders with whom he has been in alliance.

Queensland.-The Legislative Council consists of 39 members, appointed for life, and the Legislative Assembly of 72 members, elected by universal adult male suffrage. There were 86,878 registered electors at the end of 1895. The Governor of Queensland is Lord Lamington, appointed in 1895. The Cabinet in the beginning of 1897 was composed as follows: Premier, Vice-President of the Executive Council, Chief Secretary, and Treasurer, Sir Hugh Muir Nelson; Minister for Lands, J. F. G. Foxton; Postmaster-General and Secretary for Agriculture, A. J. Thynne; Secretary for Mines and for Railways, Robert Philp; Secretary for Public Instruction and for Public Works, D. H. Dalrymple; Home Secretary, H. Tozer; AttorneyGeneral, T. J. Byrne; Ministers without portfolios, W. H. Wilson, Sir Thomas McIlwraith, and A. H. Barlow.

Queensland alone of the Australian colonies suffered a decline in its revenue in 1897, the total receipts being £3.613,200, or £28,400 less than in 1896. The industrial conditions, however, were not altogether unfavorable, though the pastoralists sustained losses due to the tick plague and agriculture suffered from drought. The sugar industry, according to the report of the Land Commission, was holding its own notwithstanding adverse conditions, and counted an export for the year of upward of 70,000 tons. The coffee and tobacco industries promised well, and there was a hopeful tendency in the mining interest as well as in agriculture. The output of gold was estimated for the year at £2,500,000. The legislative session began in the latter half of June. Owing to the absence of the Premier in England nothing of importance was transacted. A moderate and economical policy in extending the main railroad lines was proposed. The Premier conferred with the other colonial premiers in London with a view to providing against Asiatic immigration and concerning the administration of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. A committee appointed to study the question of a Pacific cable unanimously affirmed the practicability of the scheme. Experienced colonists have been sent by the Government to England, the Con

tinent of Europe, and America to lecture on the advantages of emigration to Queensland. Sir Hugh M. Nelson, the Premier, is desirous of amending the stringent mining laws by accepting the expenditure of money on machinery as a test of the good faith of the lessee in lieu of requiring the employment of a man on every acre, also by abolishing the dividend tax and by allowing a company to have only one shaft for two or more adjacent claims.

South Australia.-The Legislative Council contains 24 members, elected for nine years by property holders. One third of them retire every three years, and each of the 4 electoral districts elects 2 new members to succeed them. In 1894 the franchise was extended to women. The House of Assembly consists of 54 members, elected for three years by manhood suffrage, 2 for each assembly district. The number of registered voters in 1895 was 137,778. The Governor is Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, appointed in April, 1895. The Cabinet at the beginning of 1897 was composed as follows: Premier and Attorney-General, C. C. Kingston; Chief Secretary, J. V. O'Loghlin; Treasurer, F. W. Holder; Commissioner of Lands, L. O'Loughlin; Commissioner of Works, J. G. Jenkins; Minister of Education and Agriculture, J. A. Cockburn.

The position of Mr. Kingston's Government was somewhat weakened by the results of the elections in June to the Legislative Council, which gave a majority to the Opposition in that house. The Opposition in the lower house underwent also a reorganization under its new leader, Sir John Downer. These facts and the absence of the Premier deterred the Government from making any startling proposals when the session opened in June. The Railway Commissioners had an ambitious scheme to offer of important bearing on the development of the internal trade and communications of the Australian continent and of the export trade as well. This is a project for the construction of a connecting line of railway 1,000 miles long between South and West Australia, which would complete the railway circuit from Perth to Brisbane and bring Western Australia into easy communication with the other colonies. Mr. Holder, the acting Premier, laid the project before Mr. Wittenoom, who was filling that capacity in West Australia, and inquired if West Australia was prepared to undertake the construction of the part of the line crossing its territory. This the authorities of the vigorous young western colony would not promise, and hence this project, the cost of which is too great to be fairly borne by the two colonies alone, remains to be achieved by the future federated Australia. The proposed line, which will shorten mail communications between Australian cities and the outer world by two full days, will some day be as important for strategic as for commercial considerations. The revenue of New South Wales for 1896-'97 showed an increase of £44,000 over the previous year, and reached a total of £2,600,000. The increase in customs revenue was £23,000.

Western Australia.-The Legislative Council contains 21 members, 3 for each electoral district, elected for six years by holders of a certain amount of real property. The Legislative Assembly consists of 45 members, elected in separate districts for four years under a property qualification also, about half as high as the other. The Governor is Sir Gerard Smith. The Cabinet was as follows at the beginning of 1897: Premier, Treasurer, and Colonial Secretary, Sir John Forrest; Attorney-General, Septimus Burt; Commissioner of Lands, A. R. Richardson; Commissioner for Railways and Director of Public Works, F. H. Piesse; Minister for Mines and Education, E. H. Wittenoom.

The revenue of Western Australia reached the

astonishing figure of £2,842,751 for 1897, which was £984,057 more than the receipts for 1896. The yield of gold for 1896 amounted to 281,265 ounces, valued at £1,068.805, an increase of 49,753 ounces, as compared with the previous year. The yield for 1897 was expected to exceed £2,000,000 in value. The auriferous land extends from Dundas in the south to Kimberley in the northeast, covering a tract of 1,000 miles, in which 17 productive gold fields have already been discovered. The early boom was succeeded by a depression, from which the colony is emerging, as is shown by the increase in the railroad revenue and in land settlements. The Government has built railroads far into the interior, and in various other ways aided the goldmining industry, including the erection of smelting works at Freemantle. The duties on mining machinery have been abolished. Many of the mines are now equipped with an expensive plant. The difficulty arising from scarcity of water in the gold fields is now met in a great measure by condensing water. The colony has very liberal land laws, offering to every settler the fee of 160 acres without payment, and even lending money for the development of the land. European investors who have expended immense sums in the gold mines of Western Australia complain of the mining laws of the colony. Certain onerous conditions regulating the employment of labor have already been modified to meet their views. As a further concession, they desire a law enabling them to amalgamate claims in the same district, at any rate, when these claims adjoin each other, so that they may be deemed a single holding for the fulfillment of labor conditions; also that the conditions effecting the forfeiture of a lease should be changed so as to favor the holder and secure a permanent title to persons who have expended large sums of money on mines. The present conditions as to labor permit two men to hold a claim of 24 acres, or any other area, for the first twelve months, after which one man must be working on every 6 acres. Sir John Forrest, when in England, promised that the Government would endeavor to meet the views of investors as to security of title for property on which British capital had been expended, and on other points, but a request for the abolition of duties on articles of food he was unwilling to comply with, because the colony not only wants to obtain ample revenues but also to build up a farming community that will produce all the food required by the people living in Western Australia. The Government intends to give assistance and encouragement to the pastoral industry, and is prepared to introduce a new land bill for this purpose. The mines of Western Australia, since the collapse of the share market, are being worked in a legitimate and businesslike manner. Trained mining engineers have gone into the fields to succeed ignorant and venal charlatans. genuine properties are being opened up and developed under the supervision of competent managers, and are being equipped with the latest mining appliances. The labor conditions are at present extremely onerous for both the prospector and the capitalist, requiring an expenditure of £30 or £40 per annum on every acre of mineral ground, including the rental of £1 per acre. Wages vary from £3 10s. to £4 a week. The result has been that since the demand for prospecting exhibits ceased hundreds of leases have been abandoned, and no attempts are made to bring to light the properties, perhaps as rich as any yet discovered, that now lie hidden in the sandy desert of scrub. Capitalists are deterred from making new investments in Western Australian mines by the danger that they incur of having their property jumped and forfeited after they have spent large sums of money in purchasing

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claims and in development work and machinery, simply because, perhaps through an oversight, they have failed to employ the full complement of men on the lease that the law requires.

The result of the elections in Western Australia was the return of Sir John Forrest to a third lease of power, with a mandate to continue the work of development that he has conducted with success since the grant of responsible government to the colony in 1890. Since then the population of the colony has grown from less than 50,000 to 140,000, and the revenue, then under £500,000, has increased over fivefold. During the year ending March 31, 1897, no fewer than 35,000 persons went as emigrants into Western Australia. Trade has increased in the same proportion as the revenue, and the gold output in a larger ratio, the total yield since the first discovery in 1886 being £4,000,000. The railroads have been extended in six years from a total length of 400 miles to more than 1,400 miles, and telegraphs from 3,500 miles to 8,000 miles. The number of persons employed in the public services has fully doubled since 1894. The legislative machinery of the colony has itself been enlarged to meet the expanding needs of the population, the number of members in both houses having been increased, and an elective upper house substituted for a nominated Legislative Council. The franchise has also been remodeled and expanded to meet the wants of an inflowing adult population. Now the right to vote and to be elected as a member of Parliament is possessed by every man of full age who has lived twelve months in the colony and six months in his district. The property qualifications attaching to membership in the upper house have also been abolished, so that no colony in Australia has so extended a franchise save South Australia, where women are allowed to vote. The bold policy of public works that has distinguished the administration of Sir John Forrest has had the approval of the colonists. Just before the last general election he applied for authority to borrow to the extent of £6,000,000, and the proposal was passed without a division in both houses. During the last year he has been able to spend £1,000,000 out of the revenue upon public works, and he holds out the prospect of having for some time to come a sufficient surplus revenue to construct all necessary public buildings and local public works throughout the colony. He stated before the election that he has no further intention of increasing the loan liability of the colony, believing that the amount already authorized will suffice for several years, unless there is an unexpected influx of population. There was a board created for the protection of the aborigines under the act conferring responsible government. The Government of Western Australia proposed to transfer this duty to one of the departments, but objections were raised in England, where the system of indenturing natives was condemned as a species of slavery, and stories of inhuman treatment were circulated. The Colonial Office in London finally sanctioned the creation of a special Government department to look after the interests of the natives and to superintend the distribution of funds provided for their relief.

Tasmania.-The Parliament of Tasmania consists of an elective Legislative Council, for which the larger property holders and professional men vote, with 18 members elected for six years, and a Legislative Assembly of 37 members, voted for by all owners or occupiers of real property or possess ors of an income of £60 and serving three years. The Governor is Viscount Gormanston, appointed in August, 1893. The Cabinet in the beginning of 1897 was composed of the following members: Premier, Sir E. N. C. Braddon; Chief Secretary,

W. Moore; Treasurer, Sir P. O. Fysh; AttorneyGeneral, A. I. Clark; Minister of Lands and Works, A. T. Pillinger; minister without portfolio, Thomas Reibey.

In Tasmania the revenue returns were so favorable that the Government felt justified in making a reduction of income and other taxes. Attention has lately been directed with satisfactory results to mineral development in this colony. The Government has introduced a crédit foncier system.

New Zealand.-The legislative power is vested by the act of 1875 in a General Assembly, consisting of a Legislative Council of 44 members and a House of Representatives, whose number was reduced in 1887 to 74, including 4 Maoris. The Representatives are elected for three years, every adult man or woman having a vote who has resided a year in the colony and three months in the electoral district or possesses freehold property worth £25. Members of the Legislative Council who were appointed prior to Sept. 17, 1891, hold their seats for life; others are appointed for seven years. There were 302,997 registered white voters in 1893, of whom 193,536 were men and 109,461 women. In the Maori community 11,269 were registered. Of the whole population 45 per cent. were qualified voters. The Governor at the beginning of 1897 was the Earl of Glasgow, appointed in June, 1892. He was succeeded by the Earl of Ranfurly. The ministry at the beginning of 1897 was composed as follows: Premier, Colonial Treasurer, Postmaster-General, and Electric Telegraph Commissioner, Commissioner of Trade and Customs, and Minister of Labor, R. J. Seddon; Acting Colonial Secretary and Commissioner of Stamp Duties, J. Carroll; Minister of Justice, Industries and Commerce, and Defense, T. Thompson; Ministers of Lands, Minister of Agriculture, and Commissioner of Forests. J. Mackenzie; Minister of Public Works and Minister of Marine, W. Hall-Jones; Minister of Railways and Mines, A. J. Cadman; Minister of Education and Immigration and Minister in Charge of Hospitals and Charitable Aid, W. C. Walker.

New Zealand continues to advance in wealth and prosperity. The revenue for 1897 was £78,000 more than in the preceding year. This colony has in the past few years enacted some of the most original and advanced laws in the world in regard to land, labor, and taxation, legislation that has been denounced as democratic and semisocialistic, but which has been, on the whole, successful in operation and met with the popular approval of the colony. By the new land laws hundreds of worthy industrious men have been made into honest, sturdy farmers for one who through inexperience or indolence has met with failure. Immense estates have been broken up, and every man in the colony has been afforded an opportunity of obtaining a piece of land on which to build himself a home. The labor legislation has been less entirely successful, and some of it is regarded by many of the well-to-do colonists as vexatious. Against their opinion may be placed the fact of increased prosperity in every branch of trade. Prices are good, the interest rate has fallen to 4 or 5 per cent.. and the waste lands of the colony are being rapidly taken up. With the introduction of one man one vote and the extension of the franchise to women, the power of corporate wealth in New Zealand seems to have been irrevocably destroyed. The United States consul at Auckland, in reporting on these conditions, says that the more reasonable members of the labor associations are now disposed to let well alone for the present, and considers that the leveling process, which began about seven years ago, has reached a point where prudence, good taste, and a due regard for

the rights of others might fairly suggest a respite, and that, too, without loss of dignity or interest to any class. Compulsory labor arbitration, a principle that has been vigorously resisted in some countries, has worked satisfactorily in New Zealand during the short time that the arbitration law has been in operation. Under the act the colony is divided into districts, in each of which a board of conciliation, composed of an equal number of workmen and employers, can be constituted. Over this is a special central tribunal, which possesses appellate functions and whose decision is final. The central arbitration court is presided over by a judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, who is assisted by two assessors, one chosen by the employers, the other by the workmen. The trade unions have power to sue and are themselves liable to be sued, not only the union funds being attachable, but the individual members responsible to the extent of £10 each should the common fund fail to cover the liabilities. The penalty for evading the award of the tribunal is limited to £500. Since this act has been in operation no strike or lockout has occurred in New Zealand. A protest was raised in England against the shipping act of 1896, which compels all masters of vessels engaged in the coasting trade in New Zealand to pay the scale of wages fixed by arbitration boards. As these wages are twice as much as seamen ordinarily get, the act prevents British vessels from engaging in that trade unless the contract wages of the sailors are doubled while the vessels are thus employed. New mining laws have been enacted in this colony, and to these some persons have attributed the decrease in the yield during last year, notwithstanding the large amount of fresh capital employed. Mr. R. J. Seddon, the Premier, on the contrary, lays it to the delays caused by the initiation of a less primitive system of working the various properties. Time and labor that would otherwise have been spent on obtaining gold have been devoted to the erection of improved machinery and the driving of winzes and stopes. He claims that by the mining legislation of last year the New Zealand Government has acted in the interest of all concerned, as it has thereby defined the position of the various parties interested in mines instead of leaving it in doubt. The tenure given by the colony for mines on Crown lands is as good and permanent as though it were freehold, and in every case where a lease has expired the Government has been willing to grant a renewal. It offers special facilities for such renewals, subject to the conditions imposed being observed. The labor requirements, which some have complained of as being too severe, are only such as guarantee bona fide occupancy, and in fact the jumping of properties is unknown and impossible in New Zealand. Although £51,000,000 of gold has been dug in the colony from 1857 up to the present time, the deepest shafts have not been sunk more than 600 feet, and mining experts consider that only the surface has been scratched in the mining operations hitherto.

The Parliament which was opened on Sept. 23 passed laws promoting technical education, enacting a referendum, establishing Government fire insurance, providing old-age pensions for laborers, promoting the beet-sugar industry, and abolishing the tax on commercial travelers entering the colony. Fiji. The British flag was hoisted in the Fijian Islands at the invitation of the Queen and chiefs on Oct. 10, 1874. The Governor is assisted by an executive council, and laws are approved by an appointed legislative council, consisting of 6 official and 6 nonofficial members. In 12 of the 16 provinces a native chief, called the Roko Tui, governs the people, under the supervision of European ofVOL. XXXVII.—5 A /

ficials, after their native laws and customs. European commissioners administer 3 Fijian provinces and Rotuma.

The population on Dec. 31, 1894, consisted of 2,666 Europeans, 1,167 half-castes, 9,130 East Indians, 2,232 Polynesians, 2,113 Rotumans, 103,750. Fijians, and 808 others; total, 121,867, divided into 67,152 males and 54,708 females. Of the Fijian natives 55,332 were males and 48,418 females. Among them 3,912 were born and 4,620 died in 1894.

The revenue from customs in 1894 was £37,677; from navigation dues, £4,754; from internal revenue and licenses, £4,754; from native taxes, £18,679; from court fees, etc., £7,058; from stamps, £1,868; total, £80,054. The expenditures were £36,889 for personal emoluments and £35,315 for other charges; total, £72,204.

There were 1,401 acres planted by European settlers to bananas in 1894, 18,603 acres planted to cocoanut palms, 19,382 acres under sugar cane, and small plantations of tea, sisal hemp, peanuts, yams, and tobacco. The export of sugar was 27,265 tons, valued at £436,245; of copra, 5,833 tons, value £57,261; of bananas and other green fruit, £49,115; of distilled spirits, 133,971 gallons, valued at £16,746.

Dependencies of the Australian colonies are the British half of New Guinea (see “Annual Cyclopædia" for 1896) and the southern Solomon Islands. The northern part of this archipelago belongs to Germany. The southern islands, which have only recently been placed under British protection and are subject to the jurisdiction of the High Commissioner of the Western Pacific, lie between 74° and 13° of south latitude and 150° and 163° of east longitude. The chief islands are Guadalcanar, San Christoval, Malaita, New Georgia, Gela, and Tulage. The number of foreign residents is about 50, mostly traders, scattered in twos and threes on the different islands and owning little trading schooners in which they collect produce and convey it to central stations, whence it is shipped to Sydney, There is a Government coaling station at Gavertu. The chief export is copra, which is smoke-dried, and hence less valuable than the sun-dried product of other South Sea islands. Next in importance are ivory nuts, growing in inexhaustible profusion on a species of sago palm and sent to Germany and Austria to be made into vegetable ivory buttons. Pearl sheli, turtle shell, and bêche de mer are also exported. Tobacco is the chief article of barter. Pipes, matches, axes and other tools, cotton stuffs, and beads are also traded with the natives. Plantations of the cocoanut palm have been set out by some of the traders. The sago palm grows in vast numbers, and in New Georgia a kind of ebony is found.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, a dual monarchy in central Europe, composed, under the fundamental law of Dec. 21, 1867, of the Empire of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary, two inseparable constitutional monarchies that are hereditary in the male line of the house of Hapsburg-Lorraine or, in the event of the extinction of the male line, in the female line. The legislative power for affairs common to both monarchies, viz., foreign relations, military and naval affairs, common finance, commercial and railroad affairs concerning both monarchies, the customs tariff, the coinage, and the administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is exercised by committees of the legislative bodies of the two halves of the empire, which meet alternately in Vienna and Buda-Pesth. These committees, called the Delegations, are composed of 20 of its members elected every year by the Austrian House of Lords and the same number from the Hungarian Table of Mag

nates, and 40 from each of the lower houses, the Austrian House of Deputies and the Hungarian Table of Representatives. The two Delegations meet and vote separately, except when there is a disagreement, in which case the matter is decided by joint . ballot. The common ministers are responsible to the Delegations and may be impeached for any dereliction of duty.

The Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary is Franz Josef I, born Aug. 18, 1830, who was proclaimed Emperor of Austria on Dec. 2, 1848, when his uncle Ferdinand I abdicated in consequence of a popular uprising. He was crowned King of Hungary on June 8, 1867, when the ancient privileges of that monarchy were restored. The heir presumptive is the Emperor's nephew, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, son of the late Archduke Karl Ludwig and the Princess Annunciata, daughter of King Ferdinando II of Naples.

The ministers for the whole monarchy at the beginning of 1897 were: Ministers of Foreign Affairs and of the Imperial House, Count Agenor Maria Adam Goluchowski, born March 25, 1849; Minister of War, Gen. Edmund Edler von Krieghammer; Minister of Finance, Benjamin de Kallay.

The Common Budget.-According to the Ausgleich or agreement in force in 1897 the expenses of the administration of common affairs, after deducting from the amount required the proceeds of the common customs and departmental receipts and 2 per cent. of the remainder, which is charged to Hungary, are borne by the two halves of the monarchy in the proportion of 70 per cent. for Austria and 30 per cent. for Hungary. The budget for 1897 was estimated at 160,584,751 florins, of which 2,618,871 florins are receipts of the Ministry of War, 122,412 florins those of other ministries, 50,573,136 florins the surplus from customs, 2,145,407 florius Hungary's 2 per cent., 73,578,452 florins Austria's quota, and 31,537,479 florins the quota of Hungary. The appropriations for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are 4,019,500 florins for ordinary and 77,400 florins for extraordinary expenses; of the Ministry of War, 125,382,512 florins for ordinary and 14,797,187 florins for extrordinary expenses of the army, and 10,481,060 florins for ordinary and 3,600,200 florins for extraordinary expenses of the navy; of the Ministry of Finance, 2,093,500 florins; of the Board of Control, 133,392 florins.

The revenue collected in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1896 was estimated at 14,413,590 florins, and the expenditure at 14,368,296 florins, exclusive of the extraordinary expenses of the army of occupation, estimated at 3,533,000 florins.

Public Debt.-The general debt, contracted before 1878, amounts to 2,766,183,000 florins. The interest and sinking fund in 1896 amounted to 127,377,468 florins, of which Austria paid 97,066,393 and Hungary 30,311,075 florins. There is a common floating debt, amounting at the end of 1896 to 192,846,145 florins. Austria's special debt was 1,435,338,000 florins in 1895, costing 70,696,391 florins a year. The special debt of Hungary has grown from 1,793,484,000 florins in 1890 to 2,144,786,000 florins

in 1895.

Area and Population.-The area of AustriaHungary is 240,942 square miles. The population at the census of Dec. 31, 1890, was 41,231,342. Austria, with an area of 115,903 square miles, had a population of 23,895,413, composed of 11,689,129 males and 12,206,284 females. The number of marriages in 1894 was 194,233; of births, 928.739; of deaths, 682,803; excess of births, 245,936. The population of Vienna, the capital, in 1890 was 1,364,548; of Prague, 184,109; of Trieste, 158,344. There were 19.146 elementary schools in 1894, with 68,038 teachers and 3,312,530 pupils, out of a total

population of school age of 3,807,376. These schools are supported by the communes. The subjects of instruction are religion, reading, writing, language, arithmetic and elementary geometry, geography, history, some branches of natural history and physics, drawing, singing, gymnastics, and for girls domestic economy. The age of compulsory attendance is from six to fourteen. There are 81 training colleges for teachers.

The area of Hungary is 125,039 square miles. Its population in 1890 was 17,463,473, comprising 8,667,971 males and 8,795,502 females. The number of marriages in 1894 was 166,033; of births, 761,607; of deaths, 563,558; excess of births, 198,049. BudaPesth, the capital, had on Dec. 31, 1890, a population of 506,384. In Hungary education is compulsory between the ages of six and twelve. There were 16,536 primary schools in 1895, with 28,731 teachers and 2,540,183 pupils out of a total of 3,221,513 of school age. For teachers there are 70 normal schools.

The number of emigrants from Austria-Hungary in 1894 was 25,566, against 65,544 in 1893, 74,947 in 1892, and 78,524 in 1891. The destination of 22,965 in 1894 was North America. In 1895 the number of Austrians emigrating was 18,256, and of Hungarians 15,206; in 1896 there were 34,196 Austrian and 30,898 Hungarian emigrants.

The Army. The military system established by the Austrian and Hungarian laws of 1889 divides the military forces into the army and its Ersatz troops, or reserve, common to the whole monarchy, and the Landwehr, with its Ersatz reserve, a national institution in each half of the empire. Men who do not belong to either the army or the Landwehr and those who have served their time in the Landwehr are enrolled in the Landsturm for ten years. The period of service in the active army is three years, beginning at the age of twenty-one; then seven years in the reserve. Those not called into active service spend the whole ten years in the Ersatz reserve. Men transferred from the army serve two years with the Landwehr; others twelve years. There are 15 army corps, usually consisting of 2 divisions of 2 brigades of infantry, 1 brigade of cavalry, and 1 brigade of artillery. The annual contingent of recruits for the regular army is 103,100 men, 60,389 being furnished by Austria and 42,711 by Hungary. The annual contingent for the Austrian Landwehr is 10,500, and for the Hungarian Honved 12,500. The peace strength of the Austro-Hungarian army in 1896 was 25,176 officers and 334,717 men; total, 359,883, with 47,149 horses. There were 3,738 staff officers, with 3,843 men, 79 officers, and 2,854 men in the sanitary corps, 1,536 officers and 7,680 men in the military schools and other establishments, 10,047 infantry officers and 177,712 infantry men, 1,874 officers and 45,506 men in the cavalry, 1,636 officers and 28,152 men in the field artillery, 412 officers and 7,760 men in the fortress artillery, 575 officers and 9,918 men in the pioneers, railroad, and telegraph corps, etc., and 393 officers and 1,899 men in the artillery train of the regular army. The Austrian Landwehr consisted of 2,168 officers and 20,657 men in the infantry and 196 officers and 1,899 men in the cavalry; the Hungarian Honved of 2,132 infantry officers and 21,232 men, and 390 officers and 4,251 men in the cavalry. The war strength of the army is stated to be 45,238 officers and 1,826,940 men, with 281,886 horses, not counting the Landsturm, estimated at more than 4,000,000 men. There are 1,048 field guns in peace and 1,864 on the war footing.

The Navy. The Austro-Hungarian navy is small, but is kept up to the modern requirements for the defense of the ports and commerce of the empire. There are 8 battle ships, 8 port-defense

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