Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/237

 THE UGANDA PROTECTORATE

185

The total population of Uganda (March 31, 1919) was estimated as 3,318,000, composed as follows: Natives, 3,314.000; Asiatics, 3,500; Europeans, 847. Among the natives approximately 785,000 belong to the intelligent, civilised Baganda, a race converted to Christianity by British and French missionaries. Educational work is undertaken by the various Missionary Societies, who receive grants amounting to 2,2252. towards scholarships, &c, for students and teachers. The attendance at the Mission Schools in 1918-19 was 51,000 boys and 28,000 girls. About 1,700,000 natives speak Bantu languages ; there are a few Congo pygmies living near the Semliki river ; the rest of the natives belong to the Masai, Nilotic, and Sudanese groups.

Cotton is the piincipal product, and i* grown a'most entirely by na; The area under cultivation in 1920 is estimated at about 155,000 acres, and a crop of at least 50,000 bales is expected. Other products are coffee, Para rubber, cocoa, oil-seeds. There are valuable for<-

In 1918-19 total exports, 1,247,457/. ; 1919-20, 1,828,5372. ; the import figures are now merged in those of the Colony of Kenya. The export trade, which is incrta>ing, is mainlv in cotton, 1,209,6632., in 1919-20: coffee, 161,7142. ; chillies, 10,2512. foil seeds, 57,8682. ; rubber, 25,9922. ; ivory, 65,9522. ; hides and skins, 270,4722. The trade is chiefly with Great Britain, the United States, and India.

The revenue and expenditure for 6 years (ending March 31) were : —

Tear

Revenue

Grant-in- aid

Expenditure ; Year

Revenue

Grant-in- aid

Expenditure

1913-14 1915-16 1916-17

£ 256,559

315,45i

35,000

4 290,180 1917-18 2S5.072 | 1918-19 289,305 1919-20

£

ste,SM

351.S34 495,548

£

1 ^'13 323.691 465,117

In 1919-20 the poll-tax amounted to 247,3712., and customs to 90,8492. Debt, 282,9312.

The headquarters of the British administration is at Entebbe ; the native capital of Buganda is at Mengo, Kampala. Nile steamers from Khaitnm ply to Rejaf, which is about eight days march from Nimule, the Sudan port of the Lake Albert Marine Service. A regular steamer service is maintained by the Uganda Railway Administration between Kisunm, the railway termiuns, and Entebbe, Port Bell, and Jinja, the principal Uganda ports on Lake Victoria. The Busoga Railway Marine, which, with the Busoga Railway/is controlled by the Uganda Railway, deals with the traffic on Lake Kioga. There are two steamers aud a large number of lighters on that waterway. An additional steamer and subsidiary craft ply on Lake Albert and the Nile between Butiaba, Nimule and the Belgian Port of Kasenye at the South of Lake Albert. The Busoga Railway of the same gauge as the Uganda Railway, 62 miles in length, runs from Jinja (on Lake Victoria) to Namasagali, a point on the Nile below the rapids. It was formally opened for business on January 1, 1912. This railway was built to deal with the cotton output in the regions round Lake Kioga, and connects that lake with Lake Victoria There is a railway from Port Bell to Kam- pala, 7| miles in length. There is a fleet of government motor vans.

In June, 1912, East Africa received a loan of 500,0002. from the Imperial Government. Uganda's share amounted to 125,0002. and was devoted to the construction of the P<>rt Bell- Kampala railway, and to the improvement of communications in the Eastern Province, with a view to dealing more effectively with cotton transport.