Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/1398

1042 II. .

The admiuistrative division of the country is into twenty districts, each governed by a chief executive functionary (Amtmand), viz., the towns of Kristiania and Bergen, and 18 'Amts' (counties). They are subdivided into 39 towns and 56 'Fogderier,' the latter comprising 22 'Ladesteder' (ports). There are 525 rural communes (Herreder), mostly parishes or subparishes (wards). The government of the Herred is vested in a council and a body of representatives. The members (from three to nine) of the former (the 'Formænd') are elected from the different wards within the Herred. The representatives, who vote the expenditure of the Herred, are three times the number of the Formænd, These bodies elect conjointly every year from among the 'Formænd' a chairman and a deputy chairman. All the chairmen of an Amt form with the Amtmand and the Fogder (sheriffs) the 'Amtsformandskab' or 'Amtsthing' (county diet), which meets yearly to settle the budget of the Amt. The Amtmand is the chairman of the diet. The towns and the ports form 59 communes, also governed by a council (4 to 12, Kristiania 15), and representatives (three times the size of the council). The members of both local governing bodies are elected, in towns and rural communes, by voters for the Storthing.

Area and Population.

I..

Norway has an area of 124,445 English square miles; at the census of January 1, 1891, the population amounted to 1,988,674 present, and 2,000,917 domiciled inhabitants.

The area and population of the twenty districts (Amter) are as follows:—