, 1891-11-18

h~ereinbefore spoken of was held in it,
The island has not more than $4,000 souls.
It's population has often exceeded this. at one
time numbering $4,000 or more. It is a motley
population, there being in its composition
representatives in varying numbers of almost
every nationality under the sun. They mlngle
and commingle pretty generally, but yet, as is
the wontofforeigners in any other country, they
are quite clannish. Therefore St. Thomas has
its various COLONIES" just like New York, Paris
London and the other great cosmopolitan CEN
tres, but Of course on a very much reduced
scale.
These nationalities are prominently repre-
sented English, Spanish, French, Danish,
German, Italian, American, Dutch, Irish and
Scotch. Thus it happens that every language
under the sun almost Is spoken on the streets
of the little town, and it is not an
thing, indeed, for natives to be efficient in
three, four and even five different ones usually
English, Spanish, French, Danish and German,
in the order mentioned.
The communal schools of the government
compel the pupils to study Danish, which is
of course, the official language Of the place.
Only the officials from Denmark, however,
employ that language outside of the govern
ment Offices and schools. English is by far the
tongue in most general use. All the schools
use it for the basis of instruction, and it is the
language of the pulpits also. However, every
body is obliged to know and cannot help but
know something of French and Spanish besides.
They would otherwise be seriously handicap :,
ped, in business especially.
1t is worthy of note that the English spoken
on the island for the most part bears little or
no resemblance in pronunciation to the English
spoken in England or America. The people
know the language remarkably well, though,
being able to write it according to its genius
and grammatically. 1t is the language in which
they are all, with only a few exceptions, the
best schooled.
There are eleven churches in St. Thomas.
The Roman Catholic denomination has two,
the Church of England one, the Reformed
Dutch one, the Moravian three, the Lutheran
which is the State Church, one the Methodist
one, the Hebrews one, and the remaining
one being an independent mission, the Beth
eSda, that the Reformed Dutch Church estab-
lished, but that is now independently main
tanned.
There are two banks in St. Thomas, one being
the Bank of St. Thomas and the other a branch
of the English Colonial Bank. The paid up
capital of the former is 1926, 900. It has just
declared a dividend of five per cent on that
amount, vet it's half shares of $3.50 are not
worth much more than $165 when on the mar
ket, which is not very often. They are prin-
cipally owned by retired merchants now in
Europe and elsewhere. There are several
money broking firms that used to do a rafting
good business when passengers were numerous
and the importing trade brisk. There is a gas
Illuminating company that renders a good SER
vice and that is very widely patroni2ed.
Several hospitals are maintained by the gov
eminent.
The higher officials in the government of St.
Thomas are appointed by the Crown. They
are as follows Governor, c.. Fl. Arendrup
a colonel in the engineer corps of the Danish
army, commander off Dannebrog and various
other high titles Judge. Schultz (acting)
Police Master, H. M. W. Fischer; Custom
House Collector and Treasurer, H.. 4. Anthem,
and Bookeeper, H. Arctander. These officials
select many of their subordinates. The man
who takes the Governors place when he is
absent is called the government secretary. His
name is H. Hanschell. The Governor spends
six months in St. Thomas and six months Ia
Santa Cruz. He is II man of about fifty years,
and has beenflling the place since 1880. His,
aggregate salary amounts to 81 ,OO0~
A curious feature of the government is what
is called the Colonial Council. This is a body
of twelve members, eight of whom are elected
by the people and the remaining four are APP
pointed by the Governor. 1t is not altogether
a legislative body, for it cannot by any means
IL wbo+ II wants IN If tba Govarnor ohiacta