Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/519

 REVENUE, ARMY, AND POPULATION.

483

ment, called upon to defray the expenses of the army and navy, of the Foreign Department, and to meet other obligations imposed upon it by the constitution. Each of the fourteen provinces, or states, of the Confederation has a revenue of its own, which is derived by the imposition of local taxes. Buenos Ayres, the most important state of the Confederation, requires annually about 400,000/. to meet the expenses of its government, law courts, chambers, militia, country schools, and other public institutions. The liabilities of all the states are internal, with exception of Buenos Ayres, which contracted a foreign loan of 1,03-4,700/. in June 1870 in England. The loan, issued at 88, with interest of 6 per cent., is to be redeemed at par in 38 years.

The army of the Confederation, now in course of reorganisation, consists of about 10,700 men, exclusive of the militia and the national guard of Buenos Ayres, numbering 19,867 men. The navy comprises seven small steamers and ten sailing vessels.

The following table contains a list of the fourteen provinces actually composing the Argentine Confederation, the number of inhabitants of each, and their superficial extent, according to returns of the year 186G:—

Provinces

Estimated population

Area — English square miles

Littoral or Eiverine :

Buenos Ayres ....

450,000

63,000

Santa le.

45,000

18,000

Entre Bios ....

107,000

45,000

Corrientes .....

90,000

54,000

Provinces contiguous to the Andes :

Bioja .....

40,000

31,500

Catamarca .....

97,000

31,500

San Juan .....

70,000

29.700

Mendoza .....

58,000

54,000

Central provinces :

Cordova

140,000

54,000

San Luis .....

58,000

18,000

Santiaga .....

90,000

31,500

Tucuman .....

100,000

13,500

Northern provinces :

Salta ......

80,000

45,000

Jujuy

Total.

40,000

27,000

1,465,000

515,700

A census taken in 1870, and under revision, stated the total population of the Argentine Confederation at 1,736,700 souls.

The increase of population of recent years has been due chiefly to


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