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COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.

Statistics ofthi Colonies — continued.

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Possession >

Area

Population

Sq. miles

Number

Hongkong .

32

115,098 1

Labnan

45

3,828

Ceylon

2-1,700

2,088,027

Mauritius .

70S

322,517

Natal.

16.145

193,103

Cape of Good Hope

200. (Uo

566.158

St. Helena .

47

6.860

Sierra Leone

468

41,800

Gambia

21

6,939

Gibraltar .

Is

24,005

Malta

115 4,556,317

116,852

General total .

161,111,574

The difficulty of making accurate measurements of the area, and of taking enumerations of the population of many of the Colonial Posses- sions, reduces many of the statistics of the above table to mere estimates; and they differ as such, often to a considerable extent, from other official returns.

The commercial importance of the various colonial possessions of the United Kingdom is exhibited in the following table, which gives he total value of their imports and exports, including bullion and pecie, in the year 1868 : —

Colonial Possessions

Total Imports

Total Exports

India (year ending March 31, 1809)

£

50.9-13,191

£ i

53,706,830

Straits Settlements

7,711,680

7,086.005

Ceylon ......

4,403,177

3,786,722

Mauritius .....

2.200.097

2,339,342

Labuan ......

229,726

203.853

Hong Kong (no returns) . Australasia :

New South Wah-s

8,051,377

7,192,904

Victoria .....

13,320,662

15,593,990

South Australia ....

2,238,510

2,819,300

Western Australia

225,614

192,636

Tasmania .....

845,152

920,820

New Zealand ....

4,985,748

4,429,198

Queensland .... Total of Australasia .

1,899,119

2,107,437

31,566,182

33,256,285