Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/1256

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1204 PORTUOAL

293,531 tons, and cleared 187 vessels of 270,917 tons. The Portuguese National Navigation Company has most of the carrying trade to and from Europe ; the steamers of 3 British lines and one German line visit ports of the Colony. The length of railways open for traffic, is 818 miles, made up as follows : Loanda-Lucalla line, 226 miles (metre gauge); Lucalla-Malanje line, 149 miles (metre gauge), which it is intended should link up with the Central African Railway ; Canhoca-Golungo Alto, 9 miles ; Lobito-Chinguar, 323 miles ; and Mossamedes-Chela Mountains, 111 miles. In July, 1918, the Government purchased the Trans-African railway. Angola is connected by cable with East, West, and South African telegraph systems.

Mozambique (Portuguese East Africa) is separated from British

Central and South Africa by the limits of the arrangement between Great Britain and Portugal in June, 1891. It is separated from late German East Africa, according to agreements of October and December, 1886, and July, 1890, by a line running from Cape Delgado at 10° 40' S. lat, till it meets the course of the Rovuma, which it follows to the point of its confluence with the 'Msinje, the boundary thence to Lake Nyasa being the parallel of latitude of this point. In accordance with the Treaty of Versailles the Peace Conference on September 23, 1919, allotted to Portugal ' as the original and rightful owner' the territory south of the Rovuma, known as the " Kionga Triangle " (formerly part of German East Africa).

Portuguese East Africa, with an area of 428,132 square miles, comprises three distinct entities: (1) the Province of Mozambique (295,000 square miles) ; (2) the Companhia de Mozambique (59,840 square miles), and (3) the Companhia do Nyassa (73,292 square miles). The first, which is ruled by a High Commissioner, with his seat at Lourenco Marques, is divided into 6 districts : Lourenco Marques, Gaza, Inhambane, Quilimane, 'Pete and Mozambique, each with its own Governor. Lourenco Marques (population 13,154 in 1912) is the capital of the Province. There is a Government Council composed of officials and elected representatives of the commercial, industrial and agricultural classes, and a Provincial Council with the attributions of an administrative and account tribunal. The existing organisation of the pro- vince is that which was established by decree of May 23, 1907, with some modifications. The Manica and Sofala region is administered by the Mo- zambique Company, which has a royal charter granting sovorcign rights for 50 years from 1891. Under the Company's administration the country on the Zambezi has become settled, there is convenient transport by river, and facilities are granted for securing titles and working mines. The Nyasa Company, with a royal charter, administers the region between the Rovuma, Lake Nyasa, and the Lurio. Estimated population, about 3 million natives, 10,500 whites, and 1,100 Asiatics and half-castes. The military force of the Colony varies between 2,250 men (1,379 natives) and 3,904 men (2,468 natives). For 1917-18 the actual revenue was 9,440,665 escudos.

The chief products of the Colony are sugar, coco-nuts, bees-wax, and mining products. Important gold-bearing reels have beon discovered on the Uppt'r Zambezi, and extensive, coal deposits in the Tete region.

The principal ports are Mozambique (population, 1910, 472 Europeans, 895 Asiatics, and about 361,367 natives), I bo, Quiliniane, Chinde (population 1,690, of whom 218 European), lieira (population, li,420, of whom 738 white), Inhambane (population, 3,330, of whom 100 European and 250 Asiatic), and Lourenco Marques (9,849, of whom 4,691 European).