Page:The British Empire in the nineteenth century Volume VI.djvu/15

 Rh of all these Windward Isles); a Legislative Council, nominated by him, of six official members, and seven unofficial members nominated by the Crown; and an Executive Council of five members, including the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, and the Treasurer. Each little town has an elective Board for local affairs, and the island, divided into six parishes, possesses an excellent system of roads now kept in thorough repair, including about 40 miles of highway, and a network of byways. In religious affairs, the Anglicans are under the Bishop of Barbados; there are numerous Roman Catholics, and some Presbyterians and Wesleyans. Education is in a fairly satisfactory condition, with 37 Government and aided elementary schools in 1896, containing over 7000 pupils; a grammar-school for boys, partly supported from public funds, and a school for the secondary education of girls. Most of the elementary schools are under the local management of the different sects; of the central Board of Education, nominated by the Governor, half the members are Roman Catholics. The climate is, on the whole, of a character highly favourable to the health, comfort, and safety of the inhabitants. As in all other tropical islands, it is damp and hot during the wet season, but the temperature is equable, yellow-fever is almost unknown, and the island lies outside the range of hurricanes. The average mean temperature is 79 degrees, and the rainfall somewhat exceeds 80 inches. During the six "winter" months, from November to May, the weather is delightful, and the place is then a great health-resort for people from Trinidad, who in Grenada enjoy a restorative air and good sea-bathing. In 1896, the births were 2450 against 1184 deaths. The fauna include opossums, iguanas, agoutis, and armadilloes, abounding in the woods, and largely used as food by the negro population; a large number of turtle, one article of export; several kinds of wild pigeons, and migratory birds such as wild ducks and plovers. Goats, sheep, pigs, and poultry, reared on the island, supply fresh meat. The forests contain valuable timber mahogany, the gigantic locust-tree, with tough close-grained wood, and the white cedar, with vanilla and some gum-yielding trees.

The chief industry is, of course, the tillage of the soil, and the recent features in production are the decline in sugar; the vast