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 164 THE BRITISH EMPIRE : — THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS

some 1,211 were on ticket-of-leave in the settlement supporting them- selves. Of the women, about half are on ticket-of-leave, and married to convicts. The Andaman Islands are under the Government of India, and the Officer in Charge is the Chief Commissioner. The Civil, Military and convict population of Port Blair in 1919 was 16,316.

The Kicobar Islands are situated to the South of the Andamans, 75 miles from Little Andaman. There are nineteen islands, seven uninhabited ; gross area, 635 square miles. The islands are usually divided into three group.-:, Southern, Central and Northern, the chief islands in each being respectively, Great Nicobar, Camorta with Nancowry, and Car Nicobar. There is a line land-locked harbour between the islands of Camorta and Nancowry, known as Nancowry Harbour. The Nicobarese inhabitants, numbering 8,818 (4,833 males and 3,985 females) in 1911, are a variety of the Majay (more piob- ably Talaing* race. They are known to have eagerly pursued the coconut trade for at least 1,500 years. English and Hindustani are understood in most villages. The coconut production is estimated at 15 million nuts per annum, of which si me 5 mijlion are sold by barter and exported in small-native craft and Chinese junks in the form of copra. The climate is tropical and, except, perhaps, at Car, unhealthy for Europeans. The Government is represented by a permanent agent and an assistant agent. The islands are attached to the chief Commissionership of the Andamans and Nicobars.

Chief Commissioner at Port Blair. — Lieut. -Col. H. C. Beador. OLE., LA.

Annual Administration Reports by the Chief Commissioner.— Selections from tli« Records of the Government of India (Home Department) Nos. XXV. and LXXVII.

Klott (C. B.), In the Andamans and Nicobars. London, 1903.

LACCADIVE ISLANDS. A group of 14 islands (9 inhabited), about 200 miles off the west or Malabar coast of the Madras Presidency. The northern portion is attached to the eollectorate of South Kanara, the remainder to the administrative district of Malabar. Population 10,600, nearly all Muhammadans. The language is either Malayalam or Mahl. The staple product is the fibre known as coir.

Keeling Islands. See Straits Settlements. Kuria Muria Island. See Aden.

THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. Constitution and Government.

Thk Straits Settlements, a Crown colony, which comprises Singaportj Tenang (including Province Wellesley and the Dindings), and Malacca, were transferred from the control of the Indian Government to that of the Secretary of State for the Colonies on April 1, 1867. The Cocos Islands were placed under the Straits Settlements in 1886, and Christmas Island in 1889. Christmas Island was annexed to the Settlement of Singapore in 1900, and the Cocos Islands in 1903.

By a proclamation dated October 30, 1906, the boundaries of the Colony woe extended so as to include the Colony of Labuan, with effect from January 1, 1907.