Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/147

 ADEN, PERIM, SOKOTRA, ETC. 95

newspaper?, &c, 1,077,344; dispatched, letters, 2,559,027: postcards, 146,989; newspapers, 309,135 ; parcels, received 61,103 ; dispatched 12,002. British coins and Government currency notes are the legal tender. The amount of British Treasury currency notes in circulation on March 31, 1920, was roughly estimated at 880,000/.,' but the amount of British gold, silver, and bronze coins in circulation on that date cannot be ascertained. The notes of the Anglo-Maltese Bank and the Banco di Malta are in circulation : but as the Banks are not under statutory control and do not publish balance sheets the amount of the note circulation is not known.

Books of Reference

Colonial Report. Annual. London.

Correspondence Relating to the Political Condition of Malta, 1890, [Cd. 715], \P0\ [Cd. ISM), 1903 [Cd. 2023], 1904, and [Cd. 5217].— Correspond- ard to

1'rotestant U es at the Theatre Royal, Malta, [Cd. 3024. 3t«9], 1906, [Cd.

Also Despatch from Secretary of State on tit* sam« subject. London, 190*.

Ballou (M. M.), The Story of Malta. Boston, 1 -

LucatiC. P. J.Historical Geography of the British Colonies. Snded. Vol. I. London, 19.

Matmilla* (A.), (Editor), Malta and Gibraltar : HUtorical and DeacriptiTe, Ac- London, 1915.

Oxford Surrey of British Empire. Vol. I. London, 1914.

Page(G. A.), Guide to the Laws aDd Regulations of Malta. Malta, 1SP0.

Report of theRoral Commission on the Finances, Economic Position, and the Judicial Procednra of Malta, 1912. [Cd. «090.]

Blue Book. Annual Gorernment Printing Office. Malta.

ASIA. ADEN, PERIM, SOKOTRA, AND KURIA MORIA ISLANDS-

Aden is a volcanic peninsula on the Arabian coast, about 100 miles east of Bab-el-Mandeb. It forms an important coaling-station on the highway to the and is strongly fortified. The settlement includes Little Aden, a peninsula very similar to Aden itself, and the settlement and town of Shaikh Othman on the mainland, with the villages of Imad, Hiswa, and Bir Jabir.

In April, 1905, after demarcation of the frontier, Ottoman and British Commissioners signed an agreement which determines the boundary of the hinterland from Sheikh Murad on the Red Sea to Bana river, and thence north east to the great Desert. By the Anglo-Turkish Convention of 1914, the boundary was prolonged through the desert to a point on the coast opposite Bahrein in the Persian Gulf. The settlement also includes the island of Perim at the entrance to the Red Sea, and is subject to the Bombay Government. The Government is administered by a Political Resident (who is also General Officer commanding the troops) with four assistants. The India Office has hitherto exercised internal administrative control (through the Government of India) ; the Foreign Office has been responsible for political questions, and the War Office for military questions, but it is under consideration (March, 1921) to transfer Aden to the Colonial Office.

Political Resident and General Offixer Commanding. — Major-General T. E. Scott, C.B., CLE., D.S.O.

First Assistant Rmdcnt,— Major C. 0. J. Barrett, CLE.

The only Government revenue is from duties on liquor, opium, and salt, and from income tax, court fees aud judicial fines ; local taxes go to the Aden Settlement Fund. There is a Port Trust. The gross revenue of the settlement in 1919-20 was 1,694, 121Z.

Area 75 square miles ; including the Protectorate, about 9,000 square miles ; of Perim, 5 square miles. Population of Aden and Perim in 1911, 46,165 (31,290 males and 14,875 females), against 43,974 in 1901. Imports (1919-20),