Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/1078

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GREECE

present, and the men receive no training. The conntry is divided into 4 zones, or regions.

The Greek infantry are armed with the Mannlicher Schijnauer rifle, model 1903. The field artillery is armed with Schneider-Canet Q.F. guns.

The Greek Navy was re-organised in 1906, and, in view of the subsequent expansion of the Turkish fleet, a corresponding increase is under considera- tion. The principal vessels are as follows : —

Spetsai

Hydra

Psara

Averoff New Shi])

Displace-

Armour

Launched

ment

Belt 1 Gun

Tons

In. In.

1889

- 5,000

1889

12 13f

1890

1910

10,118

8 1 6i

Building

—

— —

Principal Armament

3 10-6 ; 5 6in. ; 1 4in.

4 9-2; 8 7 -Sin.

Torpedo Horse Tubes Power

3 6,700

3 19,000

Max.

Speed Knots

17 22 -5

There are eight destroyers of about 400 tons launched in 1906-07. Some new boats are building or projected. There are also 11 old torpedo boats, some of which have recently been reboilered, one submarine, and a number of miscellaneous craft, including an old battleship, Basileii.s Georqios, which dates from 1868.

Tlie Averoff WAS acquired through a deceased millionaire of that name leaving the bulk of his fortune for improving the navy.

Production and Industry.

Greece is mainly an agricultural country, and the economic life is directly dependent on the products of the soil. The cultivated area extends to about 5,563,100 acres, of which about 1,112,000 acres are under cereals, 1,200,000 fallow, and 2,025,400 covered with forest ; there are, besides, alDout 5,000,000 acres under pasture, and 3,000,000 acres of waste land. By the draining of Lake Copais, an area of about 53,000 acres has been acquired for agricultural purposes. Irrigation and drainage canals, farm roads, and buildings are being constructed, tree planting is undertaken, and the breed of cattle is being improved.

While there are a few large proprietors in Greece, the land is to a large extent in the hands of peasant proprietors and metayer farmers. On the whole, agriculture is in a backward state, though the soil is of unusual fertility. The cereals grown are wheat, barley, rye, maize, mezlin. The most favoured and best cultivated crop is the currant, which covers vast districts. The yield for 1911 was 325,000,000 lbs. Thirty thousand stremmata (stremma — 0*2,471 acre) of currant plantations have been up- rooted in accordance with a law to limit the production of currants. Five thousand stremmata still remain to be destroyed. Olives are next in importance to currants, yielding 31,224.000 okes (1 oke=:2'85 lbs.) in 1911. The total yield of olive oil was about 20,292,000 gallons. The wheat fields of Thessaly yielded 2,473,941 bushels in 1911, About a similar quantity of wheat is imported into the country. Tobacco in 1911 yielded 76,820 cwts. ; the vineyards, 140,551,000 okes; figs, 240,000 cwts. The fig industry is centred in the port of Calamata, Two kinds of cheese are produced in Greece — sliced cheese in brine and head cheese. The production of the former in 1911 amounted to about 8,000 barrels, or from 320,000 to 400,000 okes. Most of the sliced cheese is consumed in Greece, chiefly in the cities of Athens and Pirfeus, The productitm of head cheese reached