ANTIGUA. FROM 1854 to 1864 the public debt of this colony decreased annually, almost without exception, as appears from the following official statement. Since then it has been augmented by the loan referred to below: In 1844, the Imperial Government lent this Colony £100,000; but this debt has now been all redeemed. Antigua Government Six per Cent. Debentures of Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies having directed the Crown Agents to raise the sum of Thirty Thousand Pounds for the Government of Antigua, by the issue of Six per Cent. Debentures, authorized by the "Antigua Water Supply Act of 1864," for the construction of Works for supplying the City of St. John and its vicinity with a supply of pure Water, the undersigned hereby give notice that they will be prepared to receive Tenders for the whole or any portion of the said amount until One p.m. on Thursday, the 11th instant. The Debentures (with Interest Coupons attached) will be issued in sums of £500, £300, and £100 each, redeemable in twenty years from the date thereof. The Principal when due, and the Interest half yearly, will be paid either at the Offices of the Crown Agents for the Colonies in London, or at the Treasury in the Island of Antigua, as the lenders may elect at the time of allotment. For the final extinction of the debt, the Act provides that a fund shall be formed in this country, by the payment out of the General Revenue of the Colony of £1000 per annum, which sum, together with the Interest arising therefrom, is to be invested in Government Securities by Trustees to be appointed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Both Principal and Interest are amply secured; first, on the Water-works themselves, and on the Rates and Moneys to be derived from the Water supply; and secondly, on the General Revenue and Assets of the Colony, preferably to any other claim thereon, except the small charge of £15,000, for which the Revenue is liable to the Home Government in respect of a Loan of £100,000 granted to the Colony in 1844. The Instalments and Interest on that Loan have been paid with great regu larity, and the remainder of the Debt will be extinguished during the next three years, after which the £30,000 now required will form the sole charge on the Revenue. PENROSE G. JULYAN, Crown Agents for the Colonies. Spring Gardens, London, May 1st, 1865. Gross Amounts of Public Revenue and Expenditure in each Year from 1860 to 1871. The principal source of revenue is the import duties. The following Table contains the value of the import and export trade of Antigua in the years mentioned: The area of Antigua is 183 square miles. The population in 1850 was 36,178; in 1861, it was 37,125; and in 1871, it was 35,157. The returns for 1871, however, did not apparently include the adjacent Island of Barbuda. |