Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/892

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JiCUADOK

Galajjagos or Tortoise Islands, with an area of 2,400 square miles, and a population of about 400. Ecuador and Colombia, under treaty of Novem- T)cr 6, 1904, are to submit their boundary dispute to the German Emperor as arbiter. The dispute between Ecuador and Peru was referred to the King of Spain, but he has declined to interfere. (See under Peru.) The population of the Republic is distributed as follows : —

Provinces Carchi Imbabura Pichincha Leon

Tungurahua Chimborazo Canar.

Pop.

36,000

68,000

205,000

109,600

103,000

122,000

64,000

Provinces Azuay. Loja Bolivar. Rios Oro Guayas.

Pop. 132,400 66,000 43,000 32,800 32,600 98,100

Provinces Manabi Esmeraldas Oriente Galapagos

Pop 64,100 14,600 80,000

400

1,272,000

Estimated population 1910 : 1,500,000.

The chief towns are the capital, Quito (70,000), Guayaquil (80,000), Cuenca (^30,000), Riobamba (18,000), Ambato, Loja, and Latacunga (each about 10,000), Bahia (8,000), Esmeraldas (4,000).

Religion and Instruction.

The Church of the Republic, according to the Constitution, is the Roman Catholic, which has one archbishop (Quito) and six suffragan bishops. Its income, in substitution for tithes, is annually provided for in the estimates. In 1904 a law was passed and promulgated placing the Church and its property under the control of the State, and forbidding the foundation of new orders or the entrance of foreign religious communities into the country. All members of the Episcopate are required to be Ecua- dorian citizens. Civil marriages are obligatory in accordance Avith regula tions prescribed by law of December, 1902. Primary education is gratuitous and obligatory. There is a University in Quito with 32 professors and University bodies in Cuenca and Guayaquil. There are 9 schools for higher education, 35 secondary, and (1912) 1,590 primary schools ; Avith 98,413 pupils and 2,326 teachers. There are commercial and technical schools in Quito and Guayaquil, and, in 1900, English began to be taught in the normal schools, about a dozen American teachers being employed.

Justice and Crime.

The appellate courts are the Supreme Court in Quito, AA^hich is the highest tribunal and consists of 5 justices elected by Congress for a term of 6 years. The six superior courts are located at Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca, Riobamba, Loja and Portoviejo. The first two are composed of 6 judges, the remainder of 3 judges each, all elected by Congress for 6 years. The Court of Accounts is empoAvered to audit and investigate all public accounts. In the Republic there are 33 cantonal and 359 parochial justices, and 85 solicitors admitted to practice.

Finance

Of the total revenue about 70 per cent, is derived from customs duties ; 15 per cent, from taxes on cocoa, real estate, white rum, and tobacco ; 6 percent, from salt and gunpowder monopolies, and the remainder mostly from excise, rents of State property, and the postal department. The revenue and