Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/597

 WINDWARD ISLANDS 240

acres ; cacao and coflTce, 99,500; ground provisions, 13,500 ; coco-nuts, 14,000 ; pasture, 10,000. There is a large pitch lake in the island, which is leased to an English Company, and from which 124,672A tons of asphalt were ex- ported in 1897. Railway 84 miles. 690 miles of telegraph. There is a Colonial Bank with note circulation of 150. OOOZ. Government savings-bank, depositors (1897), 10,936 ; deposits (Dec. 31), 232,650^. Volunteer corps, 800. Police force, 500.

Tobago was annexed to Trinidad, Jan. 1, 1889. The culture of cotton and tobacco has been introduced. The cocoa industry is receiving increasing attention.

Virgin Islands. See Lkeward Islands.

WINDWAKD ISLANDS

Consist of Grenada, St. Vincent, the Grenadines (half under St. Vincent, half under Grenada), and St. Lucia, and form the eastern l)arrier to the Caribbean Sea between Martinique and Trinidad.

Governor and Commander-in-Chief. — Sir Alfred Moloney, K.C.M.G. (2,500^ — resident at St. George's, Grenada). Each island has its own institutions ; there is no common legislature, laws, revenue, or tarift' ; there is a Common Court of Appeal, and the colonies unite for other com- mon purposes. Legal currency, British sterling, doubloons, and United States gold coins. The Colonial Bank issues 5 -dollar notes to the extent of 9,800Z. in St. Lucia, 11,700^. in Grenada, 8,000Z. in St. Vincent.

Grenada. There is a Legislative Council of the Governor, 6 official members nominated by the Governor, and 7 unofficial members nominated by the Crown. Each town has a Board for local affairs, semi-elective for the chief town and wholly elective for the others, and each parish a nominated Board for roads and sanitation. Area 133 square miles; ]>o])ulation (1897) 61,229 ; the birth rate was 38-1, and the death rate 2278 per 1,000. There are (1897) 36 Government and Government aided elementary schools, with 7,585 pupils ; Government grant (1897) 4,861Z. ; and a grammar school Avith 38 pupils ; Government grant, 41 5Z. In 1897 there were 1,239 summary con- victions, and 36 in superior courts. There were (1892) 20,418 acres returned as being under cultivation : sugar-cane, 911 acres ; cocoa, 11,115 acres ; cotton, 1,812 acres ; spices, 1,343 acres ; coffee, 58 acres ; but the accuracy of these figures is not guaranteed. Culture of sugar-cane is decreasing, of cocoa and spices increasing. In 1897, 968 depositors in savings-banks ; balance (Dec. 31) 7,371Z.

The largest of the Grewidines attached to Grenada is Carriacou ; area, 6,913 acres ; population, 6,000.

St. Vincent. Administrator and Colonial Seeretary, Harry L. Thompson, C.M.G., with Legislative Council of 4 official and 4 nominated unoffi- cial members. Area, 132 square miles ; population (1891), 41,054 ; white, 2,445; coloured, 554; black, 31,005. Capital, Kingstown, 4,547 popula- tion. Education: 44 schools; Government grant, 2,019?. Sugar, rum, cocoa, spices, and arrowroot are produced ; good timber from the forests. Most of the cultivated land belongs to three firms. About 13,000 acres (one- sixth of area) under cultivation.

St. Lucia. Administrator and Colonial Secretary, C. A. King-Harinan, C.M.G., with a nominated Executive and Legislative Council. Area, 233 square miles ; population (1897), 47,332. Chief town, Castries, 7,000. Births