Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/1040

 988 HONDURAS.

(Republica de Hondttras.) Constitution and Government.

The Republic of Honduras, established September 15, 1821, is governed under a charter proclaimed October, 1894. It gives the legislative power to a Congress of Deputies consisting of 42 members, chosen for 4 years directly by popular vote, in the ratio of one per 10,000 inhabitants. It meets for 60 days on January 1 each year. The executive authority rests with a President, nominated and elected by popular vote for 4 years, and holding office from February 1st.

President. — General Rafael Lopez Gutierrez (1920-1924).

The administration of the Republic is carried on by a Council of five ministers, to whom are entrusted the departments of Foreign Relations, Government and Justice, War, Treasury and Public Credit, Public Works and Agriculture, and Instruction.

Area and Population.

Area about 44,275 English square miles, with a population, in 1920, of 637,114 (314,528 males and 322,846 females), according to official figures, or 12*5 inhabitants to the square mile. The inhabitants are chiefly Indians with an admixture of Spanish blood. On the north coast there is a considerable proportion of negroes. The Republic is divided into 17 departments. La Mosquitia is still practically unexplored and is inhabited by native races who speak no Spanish. The capital of Honduras is Tegucigalpa, with 38,950 inhabitants in 1920 ; other towns are Pespire, 7,132 ;Nacaome, 8,152; La Esperanza, 11,453 ; Santa Rosa, 10,574 ; Choluteca, 8,065; San Pedro Sula, 7,820. The main ports are Amapala on the Pacific, and, on the Atlantic, Puerto Cortez (2,500), Omoa (1,000), Uhia, La Ceiba, Trujillo, Roatun, and Tela. Amapala, on Tiger Island, is 3 hours by gasoline launch from San Lorenzo on the mainland, where a cart road starts for the capital Tegucigalpa, 81| miles (130 kilometres). Traction is by autos and bull carts. Tegucigalpa is 4 days' mule travel from the end of railroad on North Coast, and 5 hours from the end of the cart road at Comayagua, by auto, to Tegucigalpa.

Vitalstatisticsinl919 :— Births, 24,128 ; deaths, 14,107; surplus, 10,021.

Religion, Instruction, Justice.

The Roman Catholic is the prevailing religion, but the Constitution guarantees freedom to all creeds, and the State does not contribute to the sup- port of any. Instruction is free, compulsory (from 7 to 15 years of age), and entirely secular. In 1920 there were 867 schools, with 1,107 teachers. In 1920 there were 87,207 children of school age, of whom 35,912 attended school. The expenditure for education in 1920 was 371,538 pesos. At Tegucigalpa there is a central university with faculties of medicine, and of science, law, and political sciences, also a military and automobile school, and at Comayagua there is a school of jurisprudence. For secondary instruction the Government maintains a Central Institute at Tegucigalpa, and subsidised colleges in the departments. To these colleges five normal schools are annexed.