POPULATION.

623

About one-fourth of the revenue is derived from customs, and the rest from miscellaneous sources of income, among them a ' hut- tax on natives.' The customs produced 30,629/. in the year 1868. The chief item of expenditure is for police and the administration of justice. The public debt, which was 50,000/. in 1860, had risen to 263,000/. at the end of 1868.

Natal is a solitary instance of a colony having been established by Great Britain without cost to imperial funds. In its early days it had a loan of ten thousand pounds, which has long since been repaid. Its military expenditure is, however, still paid by Great Britain, with the exception of a sum of 4,000/. given as a contribution by the colony. — (Communication of the Lieutenant-Governor to the Statesman s Year-book.~)

Population.

The colony has an estimated area of about 18,000 square miles, with a seaboard of 150 miles. But the extent of some of the districts is all but unknown. The following table gives the area of the best explored counties and divisions, and the population of each, according to Government returns of June 1869 : —

Area in

Counties and divisions

square miles

Population

County of Pietermaritzburg .....

—

38,831

Borough of „

—

6,192

County of Durban

3,774

23,179

Borough of „

—

5,708

County of Klip River

—

3,578

Ladysmith Division

—

46,379

Newcastle „

2,232

9,600

County of Victoria

—

870

Inanda Division

482

24,451

Tugela „

1,000

25,837

County of Umvoti

2,000

37,542

County of Weenen

—

34,379

Division of the Upper Umkomanzi

1,440

12,661

„ Lower „

1,600

18,905

County of Alfred .

—

1,562

Coast district

—

6,572

Midland „ ...

—

6,446

Northern „ ...

—

4,540

Tota

I

•

—

315,250

About one-seventh of the population enumerated in the above table are of European origin. In the two towns of Pietermaritz- burg and Durban, the European and native population are about

equal in numbers. Comparatively few emigrants arrived in recent