254
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: — FIJI
Religion.
The number of persons attending worship in the native churches of the Wesleyan Mission in 1897 was 95,056 ; attending the churches of the Roman Catholic Mission, 9,325. The Wesleyan Mission establishment comprises 11 European missionaries, 70 native ministers, 63 catechists, 1,077 teachers, and 2,042 local preachers, 4,684 class leaders, with 972 churches, and 339 other preaching places. The Roman Catholic Mission has 28 European ministers and 180 native teachers, 24 European sisters, 64 churches and chapels, and 3 European and 3 native training institutions.
Instruction.
Two public schools receive State aid to the extent of about 750Z. a year, one in Suva and one in Levuka. The number of scholars attending these two schools in 1897 was 171. The education of the native Fijians is almost entirely conducted by the Wesleyan Mission, in whose 1,978 schools 34,043 children were taught in 1897. 136 schools are also conducted by the Roman Catholic Mission, the number of day-scholars being 1.705 in 1897. The Roman Catholic Mission also maintain 3 schools for Europeans, at which 138 children received instruction during 1897. These mission schools receive no State aid, but an industrial and technical school is carried on by the Government, in which 73 native youths are being trained in elementary branches of reading, writing, and arithmetic, in boat-building, house-building, and cattle-tending.
Finance.
The following table shows the revenue and expenditure (exclusive of that on account of Polynesian and Indian immigration) for 1875 and for the last five years : —
Year
Revenue
Expenditure
Year
Revenue
Expenditure
1875
1893
' 1894
£ 16,433
76,774 80,054
£
41,522 85,981 1 72,204 j
1895 1896 1897
£ 78,240 73,869 74,492
£ 76,204 73,099 73,232
The principal sources of revenue in 1897 were: — Customs, 32,994/., wharfage and shipping dues, 4,254Z. ; general licenses and internal revenue, 7,298Z. ; native taxes (this is paid in native produce prepared by the natives, and sold by the Government on their behalf by annual contract), 19,217/.; fees of court, &c., 6,847/.; postal dues and stamps, 2,686/. The expenditure on personal emoluments was 37,726/. ; on other charges, 35,506/. ; total, 73,232/.
The jjublic debt of the colony consists of a loan amounting to 115,700/. ; and advances from the Imperial Government making a total indebtedness of 213,256/.
Production and Industry.
There are 5 sugar mills in the Colony, with an aggregate nominal daily output of 155 tons of dried sugar, 1 tea factory, with an aggregate nominal daily output of 400 pounds of dried tea, 13 boat-building yards, and 1 tobacco factory.
In 1897 there was under cultivation by European settlers : — Bananas, 1,253 acres; cocoanuts, 19,912 acres ; maize, 407 acres; sugar-cane, 23,118 acres ;
1 Including 11, 4382. expended 1883-86, and now brought to account.
