staying from two or three days to two or three weeks, at a place according to the number of children to be taught. Thus education, which is made compulsory by local ordinance, is brought within the reach of all, however isolated their homes may be.

Travelling in the islands is not very pleasant, owing to the entire absence of roads, except in the immediate vicinity of the town of Stanley. The soft, boggy nature of much of the ground makes the cost of making roads prohibitive.

Communication between the Falklands and England can be made either by the German Kosmos Company's steamers, or by the Pacific Steamship Company's boats to Punta Arenas, and thence to Stanley by a Kosmos steamer. The Kosmos Company's boats call at Stanley once every three weeks on their outward voyage to Callao, and also once every three weeks on their return voyage, the time taken from London to Stanley being thirty days.

The mails are brought out alternately by the Kosmos boats, which bring parcels as well, and by the Pacific Steamship Company, which conveys letters only to Punta Arenas, whence they come on to Stanley by a Kosmos boat. The Kosmos Company receive an annual payment from the local Government of £2500. The mails are distributed from Stanley by a contract schooner at an annual cost of £450.

The Post Office revenue amounted in 1898 to £2109, and the expenditure to £3995, leaving a deficit of £1886. The number of letters carried was 28,000, papers and books 34,000, parcels 5400. In consequence of the adoption of Imperial penny postage, and a reduced parcel rate, the figures are sure to be largely exceeded in the present year. The nearest telegraph station in communication with Europe is Monte Video, 1000 miles away: the rate from Monte Video to the United Kingdom being 5s. 9d. a word.

The trade of the islands is chiefly in the hands of the Falkland Isles Company, which was formed in 1851 to acquire the rights and property of a Monte Video merchant, Lafone by name, who in 1846 received from the Government a grant of the southern portion of East Falkland, and certain rights over the wild cattle, then very plentiful on the islands. The wild cattle were descendants of those introduced by the French settlers.

The company is now in a very prosperous condition, and has for several years paid 15 per cent. on a capital of £110,000. Besides extensive sheep-farming on their own freehold and on 97,000 acres purchased from the Government, they are engaged in importing goods and repairing ships, which often come to the islands in distress.

At Darwin (named after the great naturalist, who stayed here during his voyage on the Beagle), their head-quarters, they maintain a school of twenty-four pupils, an itinerant teacher visiting thirty-four pupils, a medical doctor, and a Church of England clergyman.

The only local industry of any importance is sheepfarming. In 1896 there were 761,768 sheep, chiefly Cheviots and Southdowns, in the islands; and in 1898, 4,801,222 lbs. of wool, representing a value of £92,206; 35,000 sheepskins, value £4375; and 150,000 lbs. of tallow, value £1250, were exported; besides 25,811 live sheep, value £6686. A trade in frozen meat with Great Britain is being developed. Other exports are hides, horns, hoofs, bones, &c.

The total value of the exports in 1898 was £106,984; all this, with the exception of £3284 which went to the Argentine Republic, coming to the United Kingdom.

The imports for the same year, consisting of textiles, alcohol, hardware, ships' stores and general supplies, were of the value of £72,987-£64.992 coning from

the United Kingdom, £5171 from Chili, £2119 from Uruguay, and £705 from Germany.

The prices of most articles imported are from 25 per cent. to 50 per cent. higher than in England. In Stanley, bread is 9d. per 4 lb. loaf, beef 5d. per lb., mutton 2d. per lb., and vegetables 2d. per lb. House rents are from £1 to £4 a month; labourers are paid 8d. per hour; domestic servants £2 a month; shepherds £5 to £6 a month.

The price of land in 1890 was 3s. per acre; in 1895, over 4s. was bid for government land, and a half-acre plot in the outskirts of Stanley fetched £74.

Empty houses are difficult to obtain, but there are several good though small hotels.

The currency is British. There are no local banks, but a Government Savings-Bank was opened in 1888, and the amount deposited has increased year by year, in 1898 there being £43,172.

The local law is the law of England, supplemented by local ordinances.

Since 1843 the islands have been a Crown Colony with a Governor, who is aided by an Executive and a Legislative Council. The latter consists of the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, and two unofficial members appointed by royal warrant, for the term of five years. The Governor also acts as chief-justice, and the Colonial Secretary as a police magistrate.

During 1898 six persons were imprisoned for short terms, the local jail being able to accommodate six prisoners at once, giving each a separate cell. During the same year the number of offences reported to the police was 46; of these 43 led to summary convictions, the remaining 3 cases being acquitted by the Inferior Courts, the Supreme Court having no cases.

The islands possess a Volunteer Rifle Company, consisting of 6 officers, 4 non-commissioned officers, and 75 men; armed with Martini-Henry rifles, and

two nine-pounder field guns. The corps receives a capitation grant from local revenue of £2 per annum for each efficient, the money being expended on new uniforms, &c., the amount received in 1897 being £90.

The total revenue of the colony from customs, port-dues, licenses, fees, post office, rents, interest on investments, and miscellaneous receipts amounted to £13,039 in 1898, the expenditure being £14,278, an excess over the receipts of £1239. £5000 of the revenue is received from land leased to farmers for grazing purposes.

South Georgia, a dependency of the Falkland Islands, is an uninhabited and perpetually ice-bound island, lying 1200 miles to the south-east. It was discovered by Captain Cook in 1775, who landed in three places and took possession for King George, naming it "the Isle of Georgia." He describes it thus: "The wild rocks raise their lofty summits till they lose themselves in the clouds, the valleys lay covered with perpetual snows, not a tree or a shrub is to be seen." Captain Weddell visited it in 1823, and mentioned a coarse strong-bladed grass as being almost the only form of vegetation. A German expedition to observe the transit of Venus visited it in 1882-83.

APPENDIX

CANADA

CANADA was visited in 1497 by John Cabot and his son Sebastian, who sailed under orders of Henry VII. of England. In 1525 Verrazano of Florence took possession of the country in the name of Francis L, King of France, and called it New France. Jacques Cartier, a seaman of St. Malo, in 1534-35 explored Newfoundland and Labrador and ascended the St. Lawrence as far as the site of the city of Montreal; the first settlement being made by him in 1541. Early in the seventeenth century the Sieur de Monta obtained a charter from Henry IV. granting him a monopoly of the fur-trade of "La Nouvelle France." Under his auspices Samuel Champlain explored Canada and first attempted to found a colony in Acadia (Nova Scotia), which was abandoned. In 1608 Champlain founded Quebec, the first settlement of importance.

In 1629 Quebec was taken by Sir David Kirk, Champlain himself being taken prisoner, but it was restored in 1632. A society called "Les cent Associés" was formed by Cardinal Richelieu to promote the colonisation of Canada, and Montreal was founded in 1642. In 1663 Louis XIV. raised Canada to the status of a Crown Colony under the control of a Governor and Council.

General Wolfe took Quebec in 1759, and in 1763 the whole territory of Canada was ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris. A Governor-General was appointed and the country was to be administered "according to the law of England." From 1763 to 1774 Canada was governed by military authority, during which time there was a constant flow of immigrants from England. In consequence of the petition by the English for a more popular form of government and by the French Canadians for the restoration of their ancient laws, the autho