The British Empire.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 101, 26 January 1901, Page 3

The British Empire.

Tho British Empire consists of (1) thn of Great Britain and liel.md, (2) India, tho colonics, protoctorarps and dependencies. Tho letter cksu include tho following portions of "tha globs :■—ln Europe : Gibraltar and Malta; In Asit: Cyprus*, Ceylon, British Borneo, Hong Kong, India and its dependencies, Beluchistan, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Laccadive Islands, Samara Island, and Labuau; tho Straits Settlomonta and Weihaiwei in Chins. In Africa: Asconsien Island, B-.sutoland, Becbuanaland Protectorate, Capo Colony, Orarje Kiver Colony, Transvaal, Rhodesia, Natal, British Central Africa, British East Africa (including tho East Africa and Uganda Protectorate* and Zanzibar), Wabisch Bay, Nigeria, St. Helena, Tristan d'Acunha, Somai Coast, and tho "West Ai'risan colonic (including the .Gold Coast, Lagos, Gambia, and %-rra Leone). In America: Tho Bermudas, the Dominion of Canodi, Falkland Wands, British Guiana. British Honduras, Newfoundland, and Labrador and the Wtwfc Indies (ineluding the Bahamas, Barbadoes, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Trinidad, and Windward Islands), Australasia and Oceania-Fiji, British Now Guinea, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, end the Pacific Islands (including tha Gook Islands, Tonga, and other small possessions). Tha total population -of the Emphe is about 385.782,293, and tho total area 11,726,217 square miles. The total revenue of the United Kingdom, India and tho colonies is about £261,323,955, and the total national debt of the combined Empire £1.226,554,652. Its registered tonnage is 10,469,791 tons, and the leng-tk of railway is 80,076 miles.

Over this mighty Empire Queoa Victoria ruled in her own right, holding the Crown both by inheritance and election. The legal title rested on a .statute of the reign of William 111., by which the succession to the Throne of Great Britain and Ireland was settled on the Princess Sophie of Hanover and tfce "heirs of her body, being Proto3tant."

The Queen was allowed a fixed Parliamentary grant, which amounted to less than the incomes of previous sovereigns. Under Ceorge I. this sum amounted to £1.000,000 sterling, which was reduced in the time of William IV. to £510,000. When tho Queen ascended the Throne the civil list assigned to her an" annual allow ance of £385,000, of which the Lords of the Treasury were directed to pay yearly £60,000 into Her Majesty's privy purso ; to set aside £231,260 for the salaries of the Royal household, £44,240 for retiring allowances and pensions, and £13,200 for Royal bounty and alms, thus leaving a surplus of £36,300 to be applied to the general expenditure of Her Majesty's Court. The Queen had also paid to her the revenue of the Duchy of Lancaster, which in 1898 amounted to £81,202.

The heir-apparent to the Throne has settled upon him -£40,000, and by »n Act passed in 1899 receives £37,000 annually in addition for the support of his children. The Prince of Wales receives besides the revenues, of the Duchy of Cornwall, which in 1898 were £101,588, the sum paid to the Prince being £61,248. The Princess of Wales has wtfcled upon her the annual sum of £IO,OOO. The constitution of the United Sinffem wmairta t* t s«ttt&

monarchy. The present form ol Parlianrut, as divided into the House of Lords and the House of Commons, dates from the middle of tho fourteenth century. The House of Lords, numbering i.i 1859,591 members, consists of peers who hold t'hoir seats—(l) by hereditary right; (2) by creation of the «OT-;reign ; (3) by virtue of office—English bishops j (4) by election for life—lrish tion for duration cf Parliament— Scottish peers. The House ef Commons, which has undergone many reforms daring the 'Queen's reign by the passage of such measures as the Befoon Bill of 1837, iha Representation of the People Act of 1834, and the Redistribution of Seata Act ef 1838, now consist* of 670 morabers. The Executive Government of Great Britain and Ireland is vested nominally iu (he Crown, but rests largely in a Committee of Ministers called the Cabinet, whose existence is depeudent on the possession of * majority in the House of CommonH. It the Premier's recommendations that his colleagues lire appointed. The same system prevails in all the selfgoverning colonies in which the Crown is represented by a Governor. Crown colonies are governed directly by a Governor appointed b- 'h* Oown.