Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/437

 REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. 401

The national and church property of Spain was and is still of immense value, but there was a reluctance in some persons to buy the latter on account of religious scruples, till 1858, when a con- cordat was concluded with the Pope and sanction obtained for the sales, which were then actively continued, the Government giving great facilities to the purchasers. The payments are made one- tenth in cash, and the remainder in promissory notes from 1 to 10, and, in some cases, to 19 years, the property remaining mortgaged to the final instalment, owing to which the biddings at times have been for even more than double the amount of its value. The Cortes, in 1859, 1861, and 1863, authorised the Government to apply 28,000,000/. for extraordinary expenses in constructing roads and railways, and of this sum about 18,000,000/. had been spent in 1869, the money being obtained out of the funds placed at in- terest by capitalists, corporations, and the public in the ' Caja de Depositos,' or Deposit Bank, under the direction of the Government.

The constant and ever- increasing excess of Government expendi- ture over public revenue created a national debt of very large amount, At the end of September 1870, the nominal capital of the debt amounted to 237,411,091/. Two years previous the debt was 225,093,091/., and it rose to the former amount by two foreign loans, the first, of 10,000,400/., negotiated in April 1869, and the second, of 2,318,000/., raised in June 1870, on the mortgage of the Almaden quicksilver mines. On November 30, 1867, the total debt of Spain amounted to 21,366,656,870 reales, or 213,666,568/., the annual charge upon which was 540,498,039 reales, or 5,404,980/. The previous year, en March 1, 1866, the national liabilities amounted to 16,397,747,225 reales, or 163,977,472/. Of this capital the sum of 7,652,720/. represented bonds issued by the Government in payment of sub- ventions to railway companies ; and 2,722,590/. represented bonds, or ' obligaciones de carreteras,' given in payment for common roads, canals, and other public works, Avhile the sum of 17,737,068/. sterling represented the amount of stock created, and given to the civil, ecclesiastical, and charitable corporations in exchange for their property, sold under the law of ' Desamortizacion ' passed in 1855. The following statement gives the various items of the debt as existing on the 1st of March, 1366 : —

Description of Debt Amount in Reales

Debt of 5%, due to the United States .... 12,000,000

consolidated of 3%, due to Denmark claim of England, 5% external, consolidated 3% internal ,, „. .

external, deferred ,, internal ,, ,,. .

D D

26,000,000 70,000 1,051,667,952 6,167,651,024 2,346,944,000 2,613,956,035