Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/529

 RELIGION AND INSTRUCTION

185

Oi' the European popiilatiou in 1891, 14,253 were of professional occupation, 77,118 domestic, 17,922 commercial, 74,095 agricultural, 31,177 industrial, 155,333 were dependants, nnd 7,089 indefinite or unspecified. Of the coloured population the great majority are engaged in agricultural or domestic employ- ments.

The births and deaths registered in the whole colony in 1895 and 1896, and the marriages solemnised in 1895, 1896, and 1897, were as follows : —

Years

Marriages

Birtl^

Deaths

1895 1896 1897

7,360 7,860 8,443

Europeans 14,763 14,733

Others 31,432 35,696

Europeans 6,660 7,070

Others 24,919 25,871

The European birth-rate is about 33*40 per thousand and death-rate 16 "46. Government immigration was stopped in 1886. The number of adult arrivals by sea in 1893 was 15,617, and" departures 7,922; in 1894, 18,133 and 10,288 ; in 1895, 27,047 and 11,637 ; in 1896, 38,669 and 17,695 ; and in 1897, 30,203 and 20,531.

Eeligion and Instruction.

According to the census of 1891, there were in the Colony 732,047 Protestants, comprising 306,320 of the Dutch Reformed Church, 139,058 of the Church of England, 37,102 Presbj'terians, 69,692 Independents, 106,132 "Wesleyans and 5,390 other Methodists, 20,278 Lutherans, 16,297 Moravians, 14,271 Rhenish Mission, 6,954 Baptists. The Catholics numbered 17,275 ; Mohammedans 15,099; Jews 3,009, The number described as ' of no religion ' Avas 753,824, of whom 528,338 were Kafirs and Bechuanas, 165,389 Fingos, 22,545 Hottentot, and 36,998 of mixed race. There were in all 1,882 places of worship. There is no State Church, but a certain sum is appropriated annually for ' religious wor- ship' (6, 055Z. in 1898-1899) to the Dutch Reformed, Episcopalian, Presbyte- rian, and Roman Catholic churches ; in 1875 an Act was passed for the gradual withdrawal of this grant.

Education is not compulsory. Of the European population in 1891, 28 "82 per cent, of the males and 28 '02 per cent, of the females could neither read nor write. In 1891, according to the census results, there were in the colony 99,280 European children between the ages of 5 and 14. Of these 22,080 were taught in the government-aided schools, 17,697 in private schools, and 20,223 at home or in Sunday schools only. Between the same ages there were 316,152 native or non-European children of whom 34,133 were taught in government- aided schools, 4,561 in private schools, and 5,021 at home or in Sunday schools only. In the 2,315 aided schools on December 31, 1897, the enrolment was 120,019, with a daily attendance averaging 91,018.

Cape Colony has a University, incorporated 1873, and granted a royal charter in 1877. It is an examining body, empowered to grant degrees, but with no attached teaching institutions. There are 5 colleges aided by Government grants, each with full staff" of professors and lecturers in the tlepartnients of classics, mathematics, and jdiysical sciences. Number of students in 1896-97, 505.

Government expenditure on education for 1896-97, 194,742?.

There were 107 public libraries in the colony in 1897, with an aggiegate of 357,199 volumes. There are about 90 newspapers and periodicals published in the colony.