Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/1017

 IN THE PACIFIC 895

Kiau-Ghau.

Kiau-Chau, on the east coast of the Chinese province ot Shaii-tung, was seized by Germany in November, 1897 ; the town, harbour, and district Avere by treaty transferred to Germany on a 99 years' lease, March 6, 1898 ; and the district was declared a Protectorate of the German Empire, April 27, 1898. The administration is entrusted to the navy department, and a naval ofl&cer is governor..

Area, about 200 square miles, exclusive of the bay (about 200 square miles). There are 33 townships, and a population of about 165,000 ; white population with the garrison, 1910, 3,896 (Germans, 3,806). Surrounding the district and bay is a neutral zone, whose outer limit is 30 miles from highwater mark on the coast of the bay, its area being about 2,500 square miles, and popula- tion about 1,200,000. There are numerous German Schools for Chinese, mostly taught by missionaries. At Tsing-Tau there is a school for European children with 140 and a higher-class school with 145 pupils. For the year 1912 the sum required for administrative expenses was 14,640,000 marks (Imperial subvention, 8.298,000 marks). The garrison (2,391 men) consists of German marines, with a small force of Chinese soldiers. There are judicial officers for European residents, with an appeal to the German consular court at Shanghai ; Chinese residents are subject to this jurisdiction only in specified cases. In the year 1909, 225 Europeans and 119 natives were convicted in the criminal courts.

The products are fruits, beans, ground-nuts, sweet potatoes, &c., and silk culture, coal mining, briquette-making, brewing, soap-making are carried on, and there is a prosperous silk factory. Over 1,000 Chinese are employed on the floating dock. At Kiau-Chau in 1910 the imports amounted to 69,375,000 marks and the exports to 60,561,000 marks. The chief imports were raw cotton, cotton goods, and cotton yarn, metals, paper, sugar, and matches. The chief exports were straw braid, silk, ground nut and bean oil, and Shantung pongees. In 1910, 555 vessels of 832,245 tons entered at Kiau-Chau. 6,014 junks entered, and 5,550 cleared. A railway, Tsing-Tau to Poshan — 272 miles.

In the Pacific.

1. Kaiser Wilhelm's Land. — Kaiser Wilhelm's Land, the northern section of south-east New Guinea, was declared a German protectorate in 1884. In- cluding Long Island, Dampier Island, and some other small islands, it has an estimated area of 70,000 square miles, and a population of 531,000 natives ; white population (1910) 723 (Germans, 578). There is a chief judicial court in Rabaul and district courts there and in Friedrich Wilhelmshafen. In the year 1910, 31 Europeans and 325 natives were convicted in the criminal courts. Three Protestant and two Catholic missionary societies are at work with schools in the territory and in Bismarck Archipelago, attendance about 7,500. The development of the Protectorate has been entrusted to the German New Guinea Company, but the administration was transferred to the Imperial Government on April 1, 1899. Areca and sago palms, bamboos, ebony, and other woods abound. Cultivated area 20,520 hectares, cliiefiy under coco-palms, and caoutchouc. The natives barter copra, mother-of-pearl, and trepang. Horses, cattle, and goats flourish on the islands. Gold has recently been found in the Bismarck Mountains. Imports of the whole colony except Samoa (1911) 8,014,831 marks ; exports, 12,026,851 marks (mostly copra). In 1910, 785 merchant vessels of 695,200 tons visited the port of Kaiser Wilhelms Land and the Bismarck Arcliipelago. The chief harbours are Friedrich Wilhelmshafen,