Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/301

 UGANDA PROTECTORATE 179

buildings, 46,000 baptized Christians, and about 200,000 adherents. Two Catholic missionary societies have 36 churches, about 114,400 baptized Christians and 230,000 adherents ; besides 806 places of Avorship with native teachers. There are Protestant schools with about 57,000 children, and Catholic with about 26,000(1911-12). The various Missionary Societies receive grants amounting to 1,250Z. towards scholarships, &c., for students and teachers. About 1,700, 000 natives speak Bantu languages ; there are a few Congo pygmies living near the Semliki river ; the rest of the natives belong to the" Masai, Nilotic, and Sudanese groups. The soil is very fertile, except in the Rudolf region. Commercial products are cotton, the output of which is rapidly increasing, sugar, chillies, ghee, ground nuts, coffee, ivory, hides and skins, and rubber, while arrowroot and cocoa are being experimentally cultivated. Iron is found abundantly in I'.unyoro, and Buganda, copper in the Central province, gold in unworkable quantities in a few places. Alum, graphite, coalshale, mica are found. Concessions have been granted for prospecting and for collecting rubber in specified districts. In 1910-11, imports, 555,3.58Z. ; exports, 340,326?. ; in 1911-12, imports, 624, 537?. ; exports, 392,591/. (inclusive of specie). The imports are chiefly provisions, yarns and textiles (204,500?. in 1911-12), ironwork and hardware, and apparel. The exports are chiefly goat skins, hides, rubber, chillies, ivory, and about 230,850?. worth of cotton (5,247 tons). The trade is chiefly with Great Britain, the United States, Germany, Belgian Congo, and India. The revenue and expenditure for 2 years (ending March 31) were : 1910-11 ; revenue, 191,094?.; expenditure, 252,374?.; 1911-12, revenue, 203,492?.; expenditure, 283,689?. Grant-in-aid, 1910-11, 96,000?.; 1911-12, 65,000?. (not included in the preceding revenue figures).

The Fleet of the Marine Department consists of three steamers and a number of subsidiary craft. One steamer on Lake Victoria (the rest of the traffic there being under the Uganda Railway Administration), another, with a steam launch, lighters and dug-out canoes constitutes the Lake Kioga service, while the third sails between Butiaba on Lake Albert and Nmmle.

The British headquarters are at Entebbe (population, 9,569), the ad- ministrative capital of Uganda ;the native capital of Uganda is at Mengo Kampala (population, 32,441). Nile steamers from Khartum ply to Gon- dokoro, on the northern boundary of the Protectorate. The railway steamers visit Entebbe, Port Bell, and Jinja weekly, and make fortnightly voyages round the Lake. Vessels also ply on Lake Albert and the Nile to Nimule. A short railway, of the same gauge as the Uganda Railway, of 52 miles in length, has been constructed from Jinja to Namasigali, a point on the Nile below the rapids. It was formally opened for business on January 1, 1912. This railway is known as the Busoga Railway and was built to deal with the cotton output in the regions round Lake Kioga.

In June, 1912, East Alrica received a loan of 500,000?. from the Imperial Government. Uganda's share amounts to 125,000?. and will be devoted to a railway connecting Kampala with Port Bell, its port on Lake Victoria (a distance of some 7h miles), and to the improvement of communication in the Eastern Province, with a view to bettering the conditions of cotton transport. A mail service by relays of runners radiates from Entebbe, and is being extended. Money and postal orders and parcel post exchange systems are working in several districts. The Sudan-Egyptian telegraph and telephone system is established to Gondokoro. The telegraph line is extended to Wadelai and to Nimule, 110 miles from Gondokoro. The length of telegraph line in the Protectorate is 891 miles, .with 14 telegrai^h offices and 7 telephone stations.

The currency is based on the Indian rupee, and consists of silver rupees

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