Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/354

 232 THE BRITISH EMPIRE: — WEST AFRICAN COLONIES

proper consists oi the peninsula about 26 miles long, and 12 miles broad, with an area of about 300 square miles, terminating in Cape Sierra Leone. The Colony of Sierra Leone extends from the Scarcies River on the north, to the border of Liberia in the south, 180 miles. It extends inland to a distance varying from 8 to 20 miles and includes the Yellaboi and other islands towards the north, as well as Sherbro and several smaller islands to the south, but the Isles de Los were ceded to France under the Convention of 1904. Area of the Colony 515 square miles ; population (census, 1911), 75,572, of whom 702 were whites. The birth-rate for Freetown (1911) was 14 per thousand, and the death-rate 21 ; infant mortality is very high. The assisted schools are all denominational belong- ing to 8 missionary societies. In 1910 there were 96 primary schools with 8,549 enrolled pupils and an average attendance of 5,460 ; grant-in-aid 2,190^. There are (1911) 14 secondary schools in the Colony, 8 of which are missionary institutions, while the remainder are owned privately. Pupils exceed 1,000. A technical school has (1911) 31 pupils. Fourah Bay College is afl&liated to the University of Durham; at the close of 1911 it had 25 students. Under the Government department of Mohammedan Education there are 5 schools, with an average attendance (1911) of 456, in the Colony, Mohamme- dan youths are being trained as teachers. Chief town, Freetown, 34,090 inhabitants (1911), headquarters of H.M.'s forces in West Africa. The battalion of the West African Frontier Force has its headquarters at Daru on the Moa River. Freetown, the greatest seaport in West Africa, is a second-class Imperial coaling station, with an excellent harbour fortified with several batteries of heavy guns. There is a Supreme Court, and police and petty debt courts in each district ; in 1911, 86 persons were convicted of indictable offences in the Supreme Court. Revenue, 1911, 457,759Z. (Customs, 242,324Z.; railway, 107,925Z.) Expenditure, 432, 448Z. (public debt charges, 61,336Z. ; Government railway, 79,785Z. ; public works, 50,135Z. ; education 8,521Z.). (For further statistics, and for statistics of trade and shipping, see pages 233-6.) Chief products and exports : palm oil and kernels, ginger, ground nuts, kola nuts, india-rubber. There are many native skilled workers in gold and silver. A Government light railway, a single line of 2ft. 6in. gauge, is open from Freetown to Baiima, near the Liberian frontier, a length of 227 miles. The receipts from traffic in 1911 amounted to 107,925Z. and the working expenses to 79,784Z. Further rail- way and port works are projected, for which a loan of 1,338,000Z. has been obtained. In 1911, 1,490,618 postal packets were dealt with in the Colony ; money order transactions amounted to 133,637Z. There are 298 miles of telegraph line, viz., Freotown-Baiima, Freetown-Hill Station, and Mano Station-Bendu. There is a telephone system in Freetown. There are 9 savings bank offices. At the end of 1911 there were 6,002 depositors with 99,812Z. (exclusive of interest) to their credit.

The Protectorate extends inland about 180 miles, being bounded by the line demarcated by the Anglo-French and Anglo-Liberian Boundary Commissions. It has an area of 24,400 square miles, and a popu- lation according to the census of 1911 of 1,327,560. The Protectorate was pro- claimed August 21, 1896, and the whole territory has been divided into 5 districts each of which is placed under a European commissioner. Circuit courts are held at the chief centres of population. There are also district commissioners' courts for non-native cases, chiefs' courts lor purely native cases (not serious crime), and combined courts (a chief and a non-native) for small debts and trivial misdemeanours (assault, abusive language) arising between native and non-native. There are native courts for disputes between natives. Cotton goods, tobacco and spirits are imported ; rice, palm kernels,