Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/938

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FRANCE : — FRENCH INDO-CHINA ASIA.

FRENCH INDIA.

The French possessions in India, as established by the treaties of 1814 and 1815, consist of five separate colonies, which cover an aggregate of 50,803 hectares (about 196 square miles), and had in 1909 the folloAving estimated populations : —

Bahour.

Lettapacom ^Karikal.

Grande Aldee

Neravy.

Tirnoular

■Pondichery Oulgaret

Modeliarpeth Anaucoupom Villenour Tiroubouvane

48,538 26,353 15,153 15,267 23,459 21,769

19,665

Nodouukadou

. 5,703

14,550

Cotchery.

. 11,645

17,857


 * Chandernagar

. 25,293

8,827


 * Mahe.

. 10,729

6,359


 * Yanaon.

. 5,033

6,186

Total.

282,386

In 1912 the population of the Provinces was as follows : — Pondiche'ry, 184,754 ; Karikal, 56,579 ; Chandernagar, 25,293; Mahc, 10,729 ; Yanaon, 5,033 ; Total, 282,386.

The colonies are divided into five depenclanccs (the chief towns of which are marked with an asterisk ill the above table) and seventeen communes, having municipal institutions. There is also an elective general council. The Governor of the colonies resides at Pondichery. The colonies are represented in the Parliament at Paris by one senator and one deputy. At Pondichery the birth-rate in 1911 was 427, and the [death-rate 34*3 per 1,000. There were in 1911-12, 53 primary schools and 4 colleges, all main- tained by the Government, with 266 teachers and 5,240 pupils. Local revenue and expenditure (budget of 1912) 1,709,312 rupees; expen- diture of France (budget of 1913), 230,000 francs. Outstanding debt, January 1, 1912, 470,400 francs. The princij)al crops are paddy, ground- nut, and ragi. There are at Pondichery 5 cotton mills, and at Chan- dernagar 1 jute mill ; the cotton mills have, in all, 1,622 looms and 73,092 spindles, employing 12,020 persons. There are also at work 2 oil factories and a few oil presses for ground nuts, 2 ice factories and a cocoatine factory. The chief exports from Pondichery are oil seeds. At the ports of Pondichery, Karikal, and Mahe in 1911 the imports amounted to 8,618,302 francs, and the exports to 37,988,286 francs. At these three ports in 1911, 372 vessels of 783,527 tons entered and 353 of 759,821 tons cleared. Pondichery is visited by French steamers sailing monthly between Colombo and Calcutta in connection with the Messageries Maritimes. Railway open, 18 miles, Pondichery to Villapuram, and Peralam to Karikal.

FRENCH INDO-CHINA.

French Indo-China, with an area of about 256,000 square miles and a population in 1911 of lf,990,229, of whom 20,784 were European (excluding military forces), consists of 5 States : Annam, Cambodia, Cochin- China, Tonking and Laos, and Kvvang-Chau-Wan leased from China (see below). The whole country is under a Governor-General, assisted by a Secretary- General, and each of the States has at its head a functionary bearing the title of Resident-Superior or Lieutenant-Governor, according as the State is a Protectorate or a direct Frencli Colony.

Throughout the country there are native tribunals from which there is an appeal to courts at Saigon and Hanoi. In these appeal courts European judges, in matters affecting natives, are assisted by Annamite mandarins.