Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/765

Rh P R I P E I 741 for the House of Assembly is practically residential manhood suffrage. In 1882 the public revenue was $233,464 and the expenditure $257,228. The chief source of revenue is the yearly subsidy granted by the Dominion Government under the terms of the British North America Act. In 1883 it amounted to 164,674. The remainder of the receipts is derived from the sale of Government lands, licences, and miscellaneous fees. The provincial legislature meets at Char- lottetown, where the public offices are situated. The judiciary con sists of a supreme court with one chief and two assistant judges ; a court of chancery, of which the lieutenant-governor is ex oj/icio chancellor, and the judicial powers of which are exercised by a master of the rolls and vice-chancellor ; a court of marriage and divorce, of which the lieutenant-governor and members of the executive council are judges ; a court of vice-admiralty with one judge and two deputies ; a court of probate and wills with one judge ; three county courts with one judge for each ; and stipendiary magis trates and justices of the peace. The province has authority to make its own civil laws, but in all criminal cases the form employed in the courts is the criminal law of the Dominion. Prince Edward Island is the twelfth military district in the militia of Canada. The established strength of the active force, by arms, is composed of three batteries of garrison artillery, one company of engineers, and ten companies of infantry, total, 54 officers and 608 non-commis sioned officers and men. The period of service in time of peace is three years. Education. The free-school system has obtained in the island since 1852. Previous to that date the schools were mainly supported by voluntary subscription and such local assistance as could be obtained. In 1877 the Public Schools Act an ample and liberal measure was passed, and a department of education was instituted. Two years later ladies were admitted to Prince of Wales College, an institution established in 1860, and amalgamated in 1879 with the normal school, and since then the department has introduced many improvements into the system. The total number of teachers in 1883 was 473, of school districts 419, and of schools 424. The number of pupils enrolled was 21,495, and the average daily attend ance was 11,759. The total expenditure for education was, by the provincial Government 101,193, by the school districts 35,624, total 136,817. The Bible is read in all public schools. Besides the institutions named there are St Dunstan s College (exceedingly Avell conducted, and Roman Catholic in religion), a model school, thirteen high schools, and several private schools and academies. The local government maintains a hospital for the care of the in sane, and the marine hospital is under the control of the Dominion authorities. History. Sebastian Cabot is said to have discovered this island in 1497, but the authority 011 which this statement rests is at least doubtful. Certain it is that Jacques Cartier had the credit of naming it Isle St Jean when he discovered it on 24th June 1534 during one of his voyages up the St Lawrence. That name clung to it for 265 years. Champlain, early in the next century, took possession of it for France, and in 1663 a grant was made of it to Captain Doublet, an officer in the army, who, however, failing to make settlements in the colony, soon afterwards lost his grant. Little attention was paid to the island until after the peace of Utrecht, when the French, allured by its fertility, made efforts to colonize it. In 1719 it was granted, en seigncurie, to the count of St Pierre, who tried to establish fisheries and a trading company. He lavished considerable means on his enterprise, but the scheme proved unsuccessful and his grant was revoked. In 1755 the island was captured by the British, but after the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle it was restored to France, from which it was again wrested in 1758. It was afterwards placed under the administration of Nova Scotia, and some years later it was erected into a separate government. The first parliament was called together in 1773, and a constitution was given to the colony. In November 1798 the legislature passed an Act changing the name of the province to Prince Edward Island, out of compliment to the duke of Kent, who was at that time com mander of the forces in British North America. In February 1799 the Act was confirmed by the king in council. After the peace of 1763 a plan was agreed to by which the island was divided into townships of about 20,000 acres each. Grants of these lands were made to individuals supposed to have claims on the Government. They were to pay a small sum as quit rents, and the conditions imposed provided for the establishment of churches and wharves, and bonn fide settlement. The grantees, however, were in most cases mere speculators, who had no mind to brave the trials of colonization in a new country. Many promptly dis posed of their &quot;lots,&quot; and the lands fell into the hands of a large number of non-residents. The land question remained a vexed point of contention until 1860, when the Government was compelled to appoint a commission to appraise the rights of the absentee owners, and to formulate a scheme of adjustTnent. The commission advised the Government to buy the lands and resell them to the tenantry. A Bill for that purpose was passed, but the imperial authorities dis allowed it. A second attempt proved more successful, and a measure, having the same object in view, was agreed to. The agitation was silenced, and the tenants eagerly availed themselves of their privi leges. At the close of 1882, out of the 843,981 acres of land acquired by the Government, only 142,011 acres remained to be disposed of. Of that amount about 75,000 acres represented land held by parties who had not yet purchased. Prince Edward Island declined to accept the Act of Confederation in 1867, but in July 1873 it entered the union of American colonies which constitute the Dominion of CANADA (q.v.). (G. ST.) PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND, 1 the official name of the island popularly known as PENANG or PULO-PENANG (i.e., Areca Nut Island), which lies 8 or 9 miles off the west coast of the Malay peninsula in 5 20 N. lat. and 100 20 E. long. The island is about 15 miles long by 5 broad and has an area of 107 square miles or 69,000 acres, considerably less than the Isle of Wight. When in 1785 it was ceded to the English by the rajah of Kedah in re turn for an annual pension of 10,000 dollars, it was almost uninhabited; at the census of 1881 its population amounted to 90,951 (comprising 612 Europeans, 21,772 Malays, 45,135 Chinese, 15,730 natives of India), and it has since been increased mainly by further Chinese and Indian im migration. The people from the east coast of India are locally known as Klings, a Malay corruption of Telinga or Telugu ; and the half-breed race between Indian and Malay is distinguished as Jawi-Pekan. About two-fifths of Penang are lowland and the rest consists of hills, which towards the north reach their culminating point, 2922 feet above the sea, in the peak now utilized as a sanatorium. A con siderable portion of the surface is still uncleared, and from the summit of the peak the whole island presents very much the appearance of a forest, the villages always lying in the midst of groves of the cocoa-nut palm. On the whole, however, vegetation is not so rich as on the neigh bouring mainland. Apart from the cocoa-nuts and areca- nuts, the principal products are sugar, coffee, and pepper ; but increasing attention is again being given to nutmegs and cloves, which can be grown on the hillsides. Of the landholders 2280 were Chinese and 1482 Malays in 1882. In the lowlands the temperature ranges from 80 to 90, but on the peak from 60 to 75. The rainfall in 1882 was 126 50 inches somewhat above the average. George town or Penang, the only town on the island, lies on the east coast on a low plain stretching out into the sea ; its harbour, always well filled with both European vessels and native craft, is the strait between island and mainland. Water- works were undertaken in 1865. Among the public buildings are the town-hall (1872-80), the post-office (1881), the free school with upwards of 600 pupils, the Christian Brothers school, several Tamil schools, the general hospital (1882), and the pauper hospital. An important leper hospital is maintained on Pulo-Jarajah, a small but lofty island in the strait opposite the town. Though Singapore has withdrawn much of the trade that formerly found its way to Penang, there has been a great increase both in exports and imports, the aggregate value for 1859-60 being 3,530,000 and for 1882 8,855,919. The attention of the East India Company was first called to Pulo- Penang by Captain Light in 1771, and it was inder his personal command that the settlement was founded in July 1786. At his death in 1794 he left &quot;a compact little township with fort and public buildings.&quot; In 1798 Sir George Leith (for the purpose mainly of rooting out piracy) purchased from the rajah of Kodah for 2000 dollars the tract of land opposite Prince of Wales Island, which has since become known as Province Wellesley (area in 1885, 234 square miles). In 1806 the island was made a presidency of equal rank with Madras or Bombay ; and after Singapore and Malacca were incorporated with it in 1826 it remained the seat of the general government till 1832. The commercial part of the town was destroyed by fire in 1808. 1 Prince of Wales Island is also the name of an island separated by Endeavour Strait from York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia, discovered by Captain Cook in 1770, and since famous for its pearl fishery.