WESTEBN EMPIRE 341 WEST INDIES consisted of a legislative Council or Upper House and a Legislative Assembly or Lower House. Education is compul- sory, but not free. In 1900 female suf- frage vpas. carried by the amendment to the constitution. The estimated revenue for 1920 was over $25,000,000; expen- diture, over $30,000,000; debt, about $185,000,000. History. — Western Australia was first settled in 1829 as the Swan River Settle- ment, and for many years the popula- tion was very small; but in the year 1891 it had risen to 49,782. In 1850 it was made a convict station, and remained such till the abolition of transportation in 1868. Since that time it has been mak- ing gradual progress. Pop. about 300,- 000. See Australian Commonwealth. WESTERN EMPIRE, THE, a portion of the Roman empire, consisting of Italy, Illyricum, Spain, Gaul, Britain, and Airica, which Valentinian I. reserved for himself when in 364 he shared the imperial authority with his brother Va- lens, who reigned in Constantipople as Emperor of the East, and whose terri- tories comprised the E. half of the Bal- kan Peninsula, Greece, Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, as far as Persia. This partition of the Roman empire became final in 395, when Theodosius the Great divided the Roman world between his two sons, Honorius, who became Em- peror of Rome and the West, and Ar- cadius, who became Emperor of Constan- tinople and the East. The Western Em- pire terminated in 476. See Byzantine Empire: Rome. WESTERN MARYLAND COLLEGE, a coeducational institution in Westmins- ter, Md.; founded in 1867 under the au- spices of the Methodist Protestant Church; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 23; students, 275; president. Rev. T. H. Lewis, D. D., LL. D. WESTERN RESERVE, THE, a tract of land in t^e N. E. of what is now the State of Ohio, once forming part of the claims of Connecticut in the Northwest Territory. When, by the treaty of 1783, Great Britain relinquished the territory S. of the Great Lakes and E. of the Mississippi, disputes arose among the States of Virginia, New York, Massa- chusetts, and Connecticut as to the right of occupancy in that locality. The diffi- culty was finally settled by the cession of the whole to the Federal Government, but Connecticut reserved a tract of nearly 4,000,000 acres on Lake Erie. The State finally disposed of this in small lots to colonists, and so accumulated a very large school fund. WESTERN RESERVE UNIVER- SITY, a coeducational non-sectarian in- stitution in Cleveland, O.; founded in 1826; reported at the close of 1919: Pro- fessors and instructors, 369; students, 2,787; volumes in the library, 134;000; productive funds, $4,074,039; president, Charles F. Thwing, D. D. WESTERN SARATOGA, a name given to Waukesha, Wis., which has nu- merous mineral springs. WESTFIEjjD, a town in Hampden co., Mass. ; on the Westfield river, and on the New York, New Haven and Hartford and the Boston and Albany railroads; 9 miles west of Springfield. It comprises the villages of West Farms, Little River, Middle Farms, Mundale, East Farms, and Westfield Center. Here are the Western State Normal School, public library, high school, churches, electric lights, waterworks. National and sav- ings banks, and weekly and monthly periodicals. It has manufactories of organs, piano legs, paper, coffin trim- mings, bicycles, steam heaters, cigars, whips, etc. Pop. (1910) 16,044; (1920) 18,604. WESTFIELD, a town of New Jersey, in Union co. It is on the Central Rail- road of New Jersey. It is chiefly a resi- dential suburb of New York, and con- tains many fine residences. Pop. (1910) 6,420; (1920) 9,063. WEST HOBOKEN, a town in Hudson CO., N. J.; opposite New York City and 2 miles W. of Hoboken. It adjoins the N. W. part of Hoboken and is built or elevated ground. Here are St. Michael' Monastery, a Dominican Convent, puiil and parochial schools, a public park street railroads, electric lights, trust and savings banks, and weekly newspapers. It has manufactures of penholders, brushes, silk goods, etc. Pop. (1910) 35,403; (1920) 40,074. WEST INDIES, or the ANTILLES, an extensive archipelago lying between North and South America, stretching from Florida to the shores of Venezuela. It is divided into the Bahamas, the group stretching from near the coast of Florida in a S. E. direction; the Greater Antilles, comprising the four largest islands of the group, Cuba, Haiti, Porto Rico, and Jamaica; and the Lesser Antilles, stretching like a great bow, with its con- vexity toward the E., from Porto Rico to Trinidad, near the coast of Venezuela. Almost the whole archipelago lies within the torrid zone. The total area does not exceed 95,000 square miles, of which the Greater Antilles occupy nearly 83,000 square miles. The climate is extreme-
