646
GERMAN EMPIRE : — MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN
48 towns. The Ritterschaft has nearlj^ 800 members, but only a few of them take seats in the Diet. The Domain has not a representation of its own. The only elected representatives of the people are the 6 deputies returned to the German Reichstag.
The executive is represented by a ministry divided into four departments, appointed by, and responsible to, the Grand-duke alone.
Area and Population.
Mecklenburg-Schwerin is situated on the north-east coast of the Empire. The total area is 5,135 English square miles. There is no other administra- tive division than that springing from the ownership of the soil, in which respect the country is divided as follows, with population in 1895 : — Grand- ducal Domains, 192,101 ; Knights' Estates (Rittergiiter), 118,477 ; Convent Estates (Klostergiiter), 8,095 ; Towns and Town Estates, 278,184. Total, 596,857. Average density, 116 '2 per square mile. Population : 1880, 577,055 ; 1890, 578,342 ; 1895 (final returns), 596,436. Of the total population in 1890, 427 per cent, lived in towns of 2,000 inhabitants or upwards, 57 "3 per cent, in rural communes ; in 1895 86,300 lived in medium towns, 80,257 in small towns, and 100,485 in country towns. The rural population was thus 329,815. The chief towns are Rostock (49,912 in- habitants), Schwerin (36,388 inhabitants), the capital, Wismar (18,240 inhabitants), Giistrow (17,531 inhabitants), and Parchim (10,275 inhabitants). In 1895 the population included 296,981 males and 300,455 females, i.e. 101*2 females per 100 males. In 1895 there were 1,572 foreigners.
Nearly one-half of the people are engaged in agriculture and cattle rearing, as is shown in the table on p. 534. Marriages, 1896, 4,698 ; total births, 18,207 ; stillborn, 561 (3"1 per cent.) ; illegitimate, 2,385 (13'1 per cent.) ; total deaths, 11,031 ; surplus of births, 7,176.
The numbers of emigrants, via German and Dutch ports and Antwerp, for eight years were as follows : —
1890
1891
1892
1893 1,046
1894 1895
1896
1897
217
1,133
1,536
1,329
396 354
345
Religion and Instruction.
Nearly all the inhabitants are Protestants. In 1890 there were : Roman Catholics, 5,034 ; Jews, 2,182 ; other Christians, 905. The State Church is Protestant. There are 478 Protestant churches and 346 clergymen. The parishes are generally well endowed with landed property.
There are about 1,315 elementary schools in the Grand-duchy ; Gymnasia, 7 with 1,782 pupils ; Realschulen, 9 with 1,838 pupils ; normal schools, 2 with 204 pupils ; navigation schools, 2 ; agricultural school, 1 ; architectural schools, 2. There are besides several middle and special schools. There is a university at Rostock (see German Empire).
Justice, Crime, and Pauperism.
The Grand-duchy contains 43 Amtsgerichte, 3 Landgerichte, and 1 Ober* landesgericht at Rostock, which is also the supreme court for Mecklenburg* Strelitz. There are also certain special military and ecclesiastical tribunals.
