For 1926-27, the budget was balanced at revenue 10,213,658 escudos, and expenditure 9,173,658 escudos ordinary and 1,040,00o extraordinary. A new customs tariff protects Portuguese products, especially beer, cement (1,000 tons used annually), wines and dig tilled liquors.
Population.—At the last census, the inhabitants of S. Tome were returned at 53,969, of whom 19,751 were natives, 32,817 imported labourers and 1,401 were classed as Europeans. The inhabitants, apart from the Europeans, consist (i.) of descendants of the original settlers, who were convicts from Portugal, slaves and others from Brazil, and negroes from the Gabun and other parts of the Guinea coast. They are known as "natives" and use a Negro-Portuguese "lingua de S. Tome." (ii.) On the south west coast are Angolares—some 3,00o in number—descendants of 200 Angola slaves wrecked at Sete Pedras in 1544. They retain their Bunda speech and customs, and are expert fishermen and canoemen. (iii.) Contract labourers from Cape Verde, Kabinda, etc., and Angola. These form the bulk of the population. In 1891, before the great development of the cocoa industry, the popula tion was only 22,000. According to Aug. Chevalier (in Occidente, May 2o, 1910), the population of St. Thomas and Principe corn bined in Dec. 1909 was 68,221, the "natives" being given at over 23,00o.
St. Thomas, capital and chief port of the province, residence of the governor and of the Curador (the legal guardian of the servicaes, i.e., labourers), is situated on Chaves bay on the north east coast. It is the starting point of a railway 9 m. long, which connects with the Decauville railways on the cocoa estates. Ma terial has been acquired for the installation of a water supply; and plans are being made to supply the town and plantations with electricity produced by water power from the Contador river.
In the middle of the 16th century there were over 8o s'ugar mills on the island, which then had a population of 5o,000 ; but in 1567 the settlement was attacked by the French, and in 1574 the Angolares began raids which only ended with their subjugation in 1693. In 1595 there was a slave revolt ; and from 1641 to the Dutch, who had plundered the capital in 1600, held possession of the island. The French did great damage in i7o9; the sugar trade had passed to Brazil and internal anarchy reduced St.
Thomas to a deplorable state. It was not until the later half of the 19th century that prosperity began to return.
The greatly increased demand for cocoa which arose in the last decade of the century led to the establishment of many addi tional plantations. Planters, however, were handicapped by the scarcity of labour. The difficulty was met by the recruitment of indentured natives from Angola, as many as 6,000 being brought over in one year. The mortality among these labourers was great, but they were well treated on the plantations. No provision was, however, made for their repatriation, while the great majority were brought by force from remote parts of central Africa and had no idea of the character of the agreement into which they were compelled to enter. The system was denounced in both Portugal and Great Britain as indistinguishable from slavery, though slavery had been abolished in Portuguese dominions in 1878. In March 1909 certain firms, British and German, as the result of investigations made in Angola and St. Thomas, refused any longer to import cocoa from St. Thomas or Principe islands unless the recruitment of labourers for the plantations was made voluntary. Representations to Portugal were made by the British government, and the Lisbon authorities stopped recruitment en tirely from July 1909 to February 1910, when it was resumed under new regulations. British consular agents were stationed in Angola and St. Thomas to watch the working of these regula tions. As one means of obviating the difficulties encountered in Angola the recruitment of labourers from Mozambique was begun in 1908, the men going out on a yearly contract.
The plantations are now well equipped and administered, with good houses and good labourers' quarters. There is an excellent medical service, government doctors visit all labour centres weekly, and there are special health regulations for the plantations. The labourers are well fed. In S. Tome, mortality among negro labourers on plantations, in 1923-27, was 27.6 per i,000, including infant mortality and accidents in work, as against a total mortality for the Province of 4o per I,000. In 1927, 4,900 labourers, re cruited in Angola, entered the colony. Many were repatriated to Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde, after finishing their con tracts. The number of labourers at the end of the year was 3,000 more than at the beginning. Recruiting is from Angola, Cape Verde and Mozambique. Labourers are contracted in their country of origin, in the presence of the authorities, for two or three years. On termination of their contracts, they are repatriated, unless they wish to re-engage. They are fed, lodged and clothed by the employers. Generally half of their earnings is treated as deferred pay, and paid on their return home, in the country of origin. Fulfilment of contracts is supervised by a State depart ment, with a branch in Principe.