Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/531

 DEFENCE — PRODUCTION AND INDUSTRY 187

The colony had apul)lic deht of 27,282,405Z, on January 1, 1898, includgiii 2,666,617/. raised for corporate bodies, harbour boards, but guaranteed in the general revenue. Nearly the whole of the loans have ])een spent in public works — eighteen millions sterling on railways alone. The total value of as- sessed property in the colony, excluding the ' Transkeian Territories,' in 1897 was returned at 43,981,419/., excluding Government property.

The total revenue of the Divisional Councils iu 1897 was 180,749/., and expenditure 169,066/. The total Municipal revenue in 1897 was 662,788/., and expenditure, 659,733/. The total debt of the Divisional Councils, Detwnber 31, 1897, was 43,571/., and of the Municipalities 1,624,010/.

Defence,

The whole of the Cape Peninsula, in which is the great naval station of Simon's Bay, is fortifted against foreign attack by a series of forts and batteries. Here is maintained a contingent of the imperial army, the im- perial military expenditure in 1897 amounting to 275,474/.

For the defence of the colony a military force is maintained — the Capo Mounted Riflemen, 1,015 officers and men. By a law passed in 1878, every able-bodied man in the colony between 18 and 50 is sulgect to military service beyond as well as within the colonial limits. There was besides a body of 7,007 volunteers in 1897. Probable expenditure in 1898-99 on colonial defence, 254,846/. The Cape Police, which consists of 68 officers and 1,843 men, with 1,683 horses, is available for defence purposes in case of emergency. On the Cape and West African station, a squadron of 16 of her Majesty's ships is maintained.

Production and Industry.

In 1897, 3,588 titles were issued, alienating 1,382,880 acres of land. Up to Dec. 31, 1897, the total area disposed of was 127,550,480 acres, the quantity undisposed of being 49, 453, 840 acres. There are 537 square miles under forest.

Regarding the area under cultivation there are no recent statistics. In 1875 the total was 580,000 acres of which 18,000 acres were under vines.

In the year ending May 31, 1898, the chief agricultural jjroduce of the Colony and native territories was : — wheat, 1,950,831 bushels ; oats, 1,447,353 bushels; barley, 907,920 bushels ; mealies, 2,060,742 bushels; Kafir corn, 1,140,615 bushels; rye, 287,679 bushels; oat-hay, 48,850,184 bundles of about 5^ lbs ; tobacco, 3,934,277 lbs. There were 83,759,031 vine-stocks, yielding 4,861,056 gallons of wine, 1,387,392 gallons of brandy, and 2,577,909 lbs. of raisins. There were also fruit trees (peach, apricot, apple, pear, plum, fig, orange, lemon, and naartje) to the number of 4,195,624. The chief pastoral products were: — wool, 39,141,445 lbs. ; mo- hair, 8,115,370 lbs. ; ostrich feathers, 294,733 lbs. ; butter, 2,623,329 lbs. ; cheese, 36,729 lbs. In 1898 there were 1,201,522 head of cattle, 382,610 horses, 85,060 mules and asses, 12,616,883 sheep, 5,316,767 Angora and other goats, 239,451 pigs, 267,693 ostriches.

The sheep-farms of the colony are often of very great extent, from 3,000 to 15,000 acres and upwards: those in tillage are comparatively small. The graziers are, for the most part, proprietors of the farms whicn they o<M'upy. In 1875 the total numl»er of hohlings was 16,166, comprising 83,900,000 acres ; of these 10,766, comprising upwards of 60 million acres, were held on <{uit-rent.

At the census of 1891 there were 2,230 industrial establishments employing altogether 32,735 persons, having machinery and plant valued at 1,564,897/.