COLONIES.
413
White
Coloured
Tree
Slaves
Total
323,032
2-19,900
42,642
292,542
The Philippine Islands contain an area of 52,647 English square miles, with a population, in 1864, of 2,679,500 souls, of whom about one-fourth slaves. The islands, more than 500 in number, are divided into 27 provinces, 13 of which are on the isle of Luzon, 4 on the isle of Negros, 3 on Panay, and 3 on the isle of Mindanao.
The estimated receipts and expenditure of Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands for the year 1870 were stated as follows in the colonial budget laid before the Spanish Cortes in March 1870 : —
Cuba : — Receipts, 6,002,333/. ; expenditure, 5,203,557/. ; surplus, 798,776/.
Porto Rico : — Receipts, 667,824/. ; expenditure, 749,442/. ; deficit, 81,6 is/.
Philippine Islands: — Receipts, 2,451,918/.; expenditure, 2,475,009/.; deficit, 23,091/.
From Cuba Spain derives important commercial advantages, be- sides a direct revenue. The cultivated lands of Cuba under sugar," coffee, tobacco, and gardens, were estimated, in 1858, at 54,000 caballerias, or 1,728,000 acres. There were 1,238 sugar estates, employing 138,701 persons; 1,838 coffee plantations, with 114,760 persons; and 42,549 farms, with 393,993 persons, or a total, 647,454 agricultural labourers.
The following is a statement of the increase of production of Cuba within the fourteen years from 1846 to 1862 : — ■
Siigar
. arrobas
1846
1862
17,729,589
41,418,444
Coffee .
,,
1.17H.7.31
1.711,542
Tobacco .
. cargas
168,091
305,626
Indian corn
. fanegas
912,491
2,179,7-' I
Eice
. arrobas
929,858
1,747.171
Wax
• "
32,326
68,420
Cuba is divided into three provinces, the SE. and central being the richest and most populous, containing 22 cities and towns, and 204 villages and hamlets. The chief towns are Havana, Santiago, Matanzas, Santa Clara, Santa Maria, and Trinidad. The commercial prosperity of Cuba has been of late years rather on the decline, and an insurrection, which broke out September 1868, and was not subdued at the end of 1869, put an increased check upon industry.
