HONDURAS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10116, 11 October 1910, Page 5

HONDURAS.

HICH-HANDETJ COMMANDANT. BRITISHERS AND AMERICANS ORDERED IMPRISONMENT. A WARSHIP DESPATCHED. (Received Last iNight, 8.20 o'clock.) NEW YORK, October 9. The New York "Sun's" Guatemala (Central America) correspondent states that the foreigners at Amapala, a seaport town in Foncesca Bay, Honduras, have fled, owing to General Valadares, the Commandant, or- : dering all Americans and. Britishers to he imprisoned and their property confiscated. 'Hie buj.- of the American property has been seized. The British Consul (Mr. Robert Motz) fied to San Salvador amid a shower of bullets from the troops. The Commandant wanted to arrest him on a charge of fomenting a revolution, i The Consul lias asked for a warship to be sent. The Commandant threatens to burn the city immediately a warship is sighted. The American gunboat rrineeton, which is at Acapulco, has been ordered to Amapala. '

Honduras is a RecalJic in Central America, established m 1839, just before the Confederation of Central America broke up: Governed by a President and Congress,, elected by popular vote for four years. Religious liberty is guaranteed by the Constitution, but Roman Catholicism prevails. Education is free, compulsory from 7 to 15 years of age, and secular. Army about 500, but there is a militia of about 20,000. The country possesses great agricultural resources and much mineral wealth, but these have been neglected, because of the lack of capital and transport. Agriculture, however, is now showing signs of development. The revenue is derived mainly from the customs and from Government monopolies in spirit, powder, and tobacco. Chief products: Bananas, tobacco, coffee, sugar, indigo, wheat, gold, silver, and cattle. Mo.sx of the foreign trade is with the United States. Area, 43,000 squai-e miles; population, 400,000 to 600,000, the majority of whom, are Indians. Capital, Tegucigalpa, population 34,692.