Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/963

 NEW CALEDONIA AND DEPENDENCIES 911

The island is situated between the 20' 1' and 22° 26' parallels south lati- tude, and 161° 30' and 144* 40' east longitude. It has a total length exceed- ing 248 miles and an average breadth of 31 miles. Area, 7,650 square miles. According to the census of March 5, 1911, the population was 50,608, of whom 13,138 were free, 5,671 of convict origiu, and 28,075 Melanesians and Polynesians. On January 1, 1916, the population of convict origin totalled 2,680. Noumea had (1915) 10,000 inhabitants, of whom 8,000 were free. The immigrants from France are not numerous. Other immi- grants (June 30, 1917) were 1,483 Javanese, 297 Tonkinese, 62 Indians, and 578 islanders from the New Hebrides. Primary instruction is provided in public and also in private elementary schools, the latter being assisted by the municipalities. In 1919 there were 50 public and private primary schools with 2,591 pupils (1,252 being girls), and 70 native schools with 2,408 pupils. In Noumea the ' College La Perouse ' gives classical tuition to 120 pupils and professional instruction (iron and wood) to 80 pupils. Local budget for 1921, receipts and expenses, 18,359,125 francs. In 1921 the military force consisted of 400 Europeans. Of the total area more than half is mountainous or not cultivable ; about 1,600 square miles is pasture land ; about the same area is cultivated or cultivable ; and about 500 square miles contain forest which is being worked. The land is divided into 3 domains : that of the state (in which gratuitous concessions may be made) ; that of the penal establishment (about 400 square miles) ; and that of the native reserve. The chief agricultural products are coffee, copra, cotton, manioc (cassava), maize, tobacco, bananas, pine-apples. There are 200,000 cattle and about 25,000 sheep. Local in- dustries are developing ; there are a grain storage and cleaning depot, meat preserving works, barking mills for coffee and cotton, and two blast furnaces melting nickel ore. About 179,563 hectares of mining land are owned, and 90,722 hectares have been granted for prospecting. In 1919 the mineral export comprised nickel ore, 1,560 metric tons ; chrome ore, 23,547 tons, and manganese, 2.359 tons. The value of the mineral export was 95,4007. The blast furnaces produced 3,613 tons of nickel valued at 222,5007. The imports in 1919 were valued at 1,000,0007., and the exports at 950.000Z. The imports comprise wine, coal, flour, rice ; the exports, minerals, coffee, copra, rubber, guano, and preserved meats. In 1919, 98 vessels of 88,434 tons entered and 106 of 92,751 tons cleared at the ports ol New Caledonia. Noumea is connected three times monthly with Sydney in N. S. Wales by regular steamers sailing monthly, and by other vessels sailing irregularly. There is a mail service by steamer along the coast. A railway from Noumea to Bourail (90 miles) is under construction ; it is open for traffic to Paita (about 20 miles). Harbour improvements are in progress ; a pier and a slip are being constructed, dredging operations are about to begin, and a wharf and a dry dock are contemplated. There are 580 miles of telegraph line and 115 of telephone line.

Dependencies of New Caledonia are :

1. The Isle of Pines, 30 miles to the south-east, with an area of 5S square miles and a population of about 600.

2. The Wallis Archipelago, north-east of Fiji, with an area of 40 square miles and about 4,500 inhabitants. The islands were placed under the French protectorate in 1887. There is a French Resident, and the archipelago is in regular communication with Noumea.

3. The Loyalty Islands, 60 miles east of New Caledonia, consisting of 3 large islands, Mare, Lifou, and Uvea, and many small islands with a total