Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/230

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THE BRITISH EMPIRE: — CEYLON

Population 1911

Population 1911

(exclnding im-

(inclncling im-

migrants, etc.)

migrants, etc.)

Europeans

5,278

7,625

Burghers or Eurasians,. . •

25,173

26,857

Singhalese ......

2,676.230

2,714,616

Tamils

599,771

1,059,354


 * ' Moors " (non-Malay Mohaniniedans).

260,842

266,454

Malays

11,870

13,089

Veddahs (aborigines) ....

5,342

( 17 540

Others .......

7,891

All races .....

3,592,397

4,105,535

Of the 3,565,954 persons (exclusive of the Military, the Shijiping and the Prisoners of War) at the census of 1901, the occupation of 2,348,164 or 65"8 per cent, (of whom 1,057,357 Avere earners and 1,290,807 dependents) was returned as agriculture ; 613,689 or 17 '2 per cent. (275,739 earners and 337,950 dependents) manufactures ; 126,747 or3'5 per cent. (57,712 earners and 69,035 dependents) commerce.

The population on estates, mainly consisting of immigrant Tamils from Southern India, numbered, at the census of 1901, 441,601, and formed 12*4 per cent, of the total population. Since 1891 this population has increased 68 '4 per cent.

The birth-rate in 1910-11 (18 months) was 39-6 per 1,000 of population, and the death-rate, 28 '0.

The urban population is 11 '8 per cent, of the total population. The principal towns and their population, according to the census of 1911, are : — Colombo, 213,396 ; Galle, 40,187 ; Jaffna, 40,539 ; Kandy, 30,148.

Religion and Instruction.

The principal religious creeds were in 1911 : — Buddhists, 2,144,605 ; Hindus, 500,375 ; Mohammedans, 276,361 ; Christians, 369,947.

Buddhism in Ceylon (unlike that in Tibet, China, and Japan) is, in its philosophy, materialistic and atheistic, and in popular usage has a large ad- mixture of the doctrines and practices of popular Hinduism and of the aboriginal wild tribes. '^

Education is under a separate Government department with a Director of Public Instruction and a staff of Inspectors.

The numbers of vernacular schools in 1910 were: Government .'^chools, 734 (Httendance, 71,148 boys, and 19,761 girls) ; Aided schools. 1,699 (attendance, 111,191 boys and 59,354 girls) ; Unaided schools, 1,546 (36,754 children). There were also 236 English and Anglo-vernacular schools, attended by 31,131 boys and 7,033 girls.

The total sum spent l)y Government on vernacular education during 1910-11 (18 months) was 85,000^.

English education has obtained such a hold upon the people that it is becoming gradually self-supporting. The Royal College (234 pupils in 1910) and other high English schools receive grants in aid. The total grants to English schools in 1910-11 (18 mouths) amounted to 15,700/. The Govern- ment also gives two scholarships of 200/. a year, each tenable for three years, with outftt allowances of 50^. each and free passages, to enable the two best