Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/450

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SPAIN.

The government of Cuba is vested in a captain-general, who is supreme military commandant and civil governor of one of the provinces. There is a governor of the other provinces, who has independent civil power, being responsible only to the government of Spain.

The island of Porto-Rico, in point of importance the second Spanish colony, produces, like Cuba, mainly sugar, tobacco, and coffee, besides which there are exported considerable quantities of cotton, molasses, rum, and hides. The exports of the island in each of the years 18G4 and 1865 comprised the following articles: —

Articles

1864

1865

Sugar

Lbs.

110,425,025

157.332,185

Molasses.

. Gallons

3.732,076

5,554,037

Coffee

Lbs.

14,993,831

23,724,624

Tobacco

,,

4,698,729

5,559,569

Hides

„

569,665

722,838

Cotton

„

1,583,187

2,229,766

Rum.

. Quarts

32,055

191,887

The value of the commercial intercourse between Cuba and Porto- dAico and the United Kingdom is shown in the subjoined tabular statement, which gives the value of the total exports of the two pos- sessions to the United Kingdom, and the total imports into these of British produce in the five years 1865 to 1869 : —

Exports from Cuba

Imports of British

Years

and Porto-Rico to

produce into Cuba

Great Britain

and Porto-Rico.

£

£

1865

5.063,839

2,193,677

1866

2,961,338

2,240,975

1867

4,267,684

2,266,624

1868

4,830,295

2,519,271

1869

4,823,331

1,088,517

The staple article of export from Cuba and Porto-Rico to the United Kingdom is unrefined sugar, the value of which was 2,788,484/. in 1865; 1,903,232Z. in 1866: 3,379,549/. in 1867; 3,814,681/. in 1868 ; and 3,996,249/. in 1869. The British im- ports mainly comprise cotton and linen manufactures.

The chief articles of produce of the Philippine Islands are sugar, hemp, and tobacco. The total exports to Great Britain in 1869 were of the value of 1,406,892/., and the imports of British produce of 832,981/. Of these imports the value of 748,952/., or consider- ably more than two-thirds, was represented by cotton fabrics.