Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/1398

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1042
SWEDEN AND NORWAY:—NORWAY

II. Local Government.

The admiuistrative division of the country is into twenty districts, each governed by a chief executive functionary (Amtmand), viz., the towns of Kristiania and Bergen, and 18 'Amts' (counties). They are subdivided into 39 towns and 56 'Fogderier,' the latter comprising 22 'Ladesteder' (ports). There are 525 rural communes (Herreder), mostly parishes or subparishes (wards). The government of the Herred is vested in a council and a body of representatives. The members (from three to nine) of the former (the 'Formænd') are elected from the different wards within the Herred. The representatives, who vote the expenditure of the Herred, are three times the number of the Formænd, These bodies elect conjointly every year from among the 'Formænd' a chairman and a deputy chairman. All the chairmen of an Amt form with the Amtmand and the Fogder (sheriffs) the 'Amtsformandskab' or 'Amtsthing' (county diet), which meets yearly to settle the budget of the Amt. The Amtmand is the chairman of the diet. The towns and the ports form 59 communes, also governed by a council (4 to 12, Kristiania 15), and representatives (three times the size of the council). The members of both local governing bodies are elected, in towns and rural communes, by voters for the Storthing.

Area and Population.

I. Progress and Present Condition.

Norway has an area of 124,445 English square miles; at the census of January 1, 1891, the population amounted to 1,988,674 present, and 2,000,917 domiciled inhabitants.

The area and population of the twenty districts (Amter) are as follows:—

Amter. Area : English
square miles
Population
Jan. 1, 1891
Density per
square mile
Kristiania (town) 6 15,239 25,206.5
Akershus 2,055 99,111 48.2
Smaalenene 1,600 120,360 75.2
Hedemarken 10,621 119,129 11.2
Kristians 9,793 108,076 11.0
Buskerud 5,790 104,769 18.1
Jarlsberg og Larvik 896 100,957 112.7
Bratsberg 5,865 92,034 15.7
Nedenes 3,609 81,043 22.4
Lister og Mandal 2,805 78,738 28.1
Stavanger 3,532 117,008 33.1
Söndre Bergenhus 6,026 128,213 21.3
Bergen (town) 5 53,684 10,736.8
Nordre Bergenhus 7,132 87,552 12.3
Romsdal 5,788 127,806 22.1
Söndre Trondhjem 7,184 123,817 17.2
Nordre Trondhjem 8,791 81,236 9.2
Nordland 14,517 131,850 9.1
Tromsö 10,134 65,125 6.4
Finmarken 18,296 29,170 1.6
Total 124,445 2,000,917 16.1