FINANCE
551
Area and Population.
The southern boundary of Algeria is not very well defined, large portions of the Sahara being claimed both by the French Government and the nomad tribes who inhabit it and hold themselves unconquered. The colony is divided officially into three departments, consisting as a whole of the ' Territoire civil, ' and a ' Territoire de commandcment.' The follow- ing table gives the area of each of the three departments of Algeria, according to the census of 1896 : —
Departments
Area, sq. uiiles
Population
Pop.
per sq.
mile
23-1 23-0 25-3
Civil Territory
Military Territory
Total
Algiers . Oran Constantine .
Total
65,929 44,616 73,929
1,313,206
888,177 1,671,895
213,461 140,071 202,611
1,526,667 1,028,248 1,874,506
184,474
3,873,278
556,143
4,429,421
24
The total does not include the Army.
The total population in 1891 was 4,124,732. In 1896, of the total population, there were 318,137 French, 446,343 belonged to other foreign nations, and the remainder were natives. In 1891, 3,301,795 persons (1896, 3,454,594) were dependent on agriculture, 494,435 on trade, industries and carriage by sea and land, 56,075 on the public service, 33,893 on liberal professions, 72,759 lived on their means, 56,374 were without profession or means, and 94,319 were of unknown or unclassed occupation.
The Algerian Sahara contains about 123,500 square miles with a popula- tion of about 50,000.
The population of the city of Algiers in 1891 was 82,585 ; Oran, 74,510 ; Constantine, 46,581; Bone, 30,806; Tlemgen, 29,544; Ghardaia, 28,782; Tizi-Ouzou, 26,007 ; Mustapha, 24,349 ; Blidah, 23,686.
Religion and Instruction.
The native population is entirely Mussulman ; the Jews being now regarded as French citizens. The grants for religious purposes provided for in the budget of 1898 were : to Catholics 821,500 francs, Protestants 97,000 francs, Jews 29,570 francs, Mussulmans 13,000 francs ; total 961,070 francs.
There is an Academy at Algiers, consisting of faculties of law, medicine, science and letters, with (1894) 463 students. In 1894 there were 1,936 pupils at the 4 lycces of Algiers, Oran, and Constantine ; 7 communal colleges had 1,132 pupils, and one college for girls at Oran had 169 pupils ; in 1896, 1,127 (130 private, mostly^clerical) primary schools, had 101,123 pupils ; and 151 infant schools had 26,075 pupils. The budget for 1899 provided for an expenditure of 6,487,130 francs on instiiiction in Algeria,
Crime.
Before the Assize Courts in 1895, 444 i)ersons were convicted of crime ; before the correctional tribunals, 15,008 ; before the jtolicc courts, 60,576. For the maintenance of order there are 1,271 gendarmes, 74 police com- missaires, 814 police agents, 329 maircs, 2,603 police officials of various kinds, and 1,061 custom-house officers.
