Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/1300

 1248 LITHUANIA

Minister of Education. — K. Bizauskas.

Minister of Agriculture and State Domains. — J. Aleksa.

Minister of Justice. — V. Karoblis.

Minister for Jewish Affairs. — M. Soloveicik.

Minister for White- Russian Affairs. — D. Siemasko.

For administrative purposes the non-occupied territory of Lithuania is divided into 20 districts, of about 100,000 inhabitants each. The districts are divided into communities, with about 15 communities to each district.

Area and Population. — The Lithuanian Government claims that Lithuania consists of : (1) the whole of the former Russian Province of Kaunas (Kovno) ; (2) the Province of Vilnius (Vilna), minus the districts of Disna and Vileika ; (3) a part of the Province of Gardinas (Grodno), north of the Niemen River and the narrow hinterland of the city of Gardinas (Grodno) in; the south; (4) tbe Province of Suvalki minus the southern patts of the districts of Suvalki and Augustovo ; (5), part of the Province of Courland between the old German frontier and the Holy Aa (Sventoji) River by the Baltic Sea, and part of the district of Illuksta between the Dvina River and the boundary of the Province of Kaunas.

The eastern frontier of these territories is defined in the Treaty of Peace between Lithuania and Russia, signed July 12, 1920, at Moscow, and runs as follows : Beginning at the Dvina River westward from Druja (estate of Safronovo), along the Drujka River, along the eastern shore of Lake Driviaty, southward through Koziany, Postavy, by the eastern shore of Lake Narocz, along the Narocz River ; then it cuts in half the Molodecno railway junction, runs by Volozino, along the Beresina River, and further to the west along the Niemen to the Svislocis River ; further on it circles the city of Gardinas at a radius of 15 to 20 versts to the south.

The northern frontier (with Latvia) almost coincides with the old boundary between the Provinces of Courland and Kaunas. A special arbitration convention was adopted by the Lithuanian and Lettish Govern- ments on September 28, 1920, at Riga, according to which the British representative is to act as arbiter in finally fixing the details of this frontier and determining the corrections to be made.

In the south (in the region of the Province of Suvalki) the frontier with Poland has not yet been conclusively agreed upon by Lithuania and Poland. The line which was provisionally established by the Allied Supreme Council on December 8, 1919, gives over the territories to the south of it temporarily to Polish administration, but the Lithuanians object to this, suggesting that the Lithuanian-Polish frontier should run considerably to the south of the said line, leaving on the Lithuanian side the cities of Seiny, Punsk, and Vizainy.

This territory had, according to the statistics of 1914, an area of 154,491

kilometres (59,633 square miles) and 4,800,000 inhabitants, viz. : the the former Province of Kaunas, 20,260 sq. kilometres, and 1,857,100 inhabitants ; 5 districts of the former Province of Vilnius, 29,818 sq. kilometres, and 2,075,700 inhabitants ; 5 districts of the former Province of Suwalki, 101,913 sq. kilometres, and 718,000 inhabitants; also parts of the former Provinces of Courland and Gardinas, 2,500 sq. kilometres, and 150,000 inhabitants.

The Lithuanians form 70 per cent, of the total population, the Jews, 13 percent. ; the Poles, 8 percent. ; the Russians and White-Russians, 7 b« cent. ; and othrr nationalities, 2 per cent.

The Lithuanians also lay claim Memel (area 1,080 square miles, popu-

sq. kilom wnole of