Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/1111

 MONEY AND CREDIT

755

The gross revenue from posts was 52,653,221 lire, and telegraphs 13,785,725 lire (exclusive of official despatches), total, 66,438,946 lire ; the expenditure was 55,018,028 lire ; and the net revenue 11,420.918 live.

Money and Credit.

The following table shows the amount of State notes and bank notes iti circulation at the end of each of the last five years in thousands of lire : —

State notes Bank notes^

1893

1,000 Lire

351,792

1,221,634

1894

l,000Lire

492,149

1,128,598

1895

1,000 Lire

510,000

1,085,675

1896

1,000 Lire

510,000

1,069,233

1897

1,000 Lire 576,491 1,086,129

1 Including, for 1893, 9,182,000 lire, for 1894 2,445,000 lire and for 1895, 857,355 lire of notes of the Banca romana (in liquidation).

The total coinage from 1862 to the end of 1897 was: gold, 427,099,650 lire; silver, 567,037,025 lire; nickel, 20,000,000 lire; bronze, 83,679,051 lire; total, 1,097,815,726 lire. The re-coinage was 30,846,271 lire.

The nominal value of the money coined (including recoinage) in the last five years has been : —

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Nickel

Total

1893 1894 1895 1896 1 1897

1

Lire

824,280

766,660

Lire 1,595,632

Lire 3,667,338 3,790,978

170,080 42,930

125,725

Lire

17,780,200 2,219,800

Lire

4,491,618

21,571,178

2,389,880

42,930

2,488,017

1,590,940

1,595,632

7,797,051

20,000,000

30,983,623

By the monetary convention of October 29, 1897, the contracting States agreed that each (except Greece) might increase its fractional silver coinage (2-franc pieces and .smaller coins) from the limit of 6 francs per inhabitant to 7 francs ; and thus Italy, which, by the convention of 1885 was restricted to 182,400,000 lire of fractional silver and 20,000,000 lire additional for special reasons, may increase its issue by 30,000,000 lire, the total amount authorised being now 232,400,000 lire. By a protocol of March 15, 1898, Italy is freed from the obligation, created by the convention of 1885, to take back its fractional coins within the year following the dissolution of the Union on condition of forbidding the exportation of such coins while the Union continues, and undertaking not to change its present system with respect to such coins during five years following the dissolution of the Union. Not- withstanding these arrangements the fractional silver money remains withdrawn from circulation.

By law of July 22, 1894, gold and silver were temporarily withdrawn from circulation, being represented by paper. In January, 1898, the actual cur- rency consisted of 466,491,470 lire of State notes, 110,000,000 lire of "buoni di cassa" (one and two-lire notes guaranteed by .silver in the Treasury), 1,086,129,247 lire of bank notes, and aboiit 100,000,000 lire of copper and nickel coin.

There is no national l)ank in Italy. According to the law of Augitst 10, 1893, there are only three banks of issue : the Banca d' Italia (formed by the fusion of the two Tuscan banks with the Banca Nazionale nel Regno d'ltalia), the Banco di Napoli, and the Banco di Sicilia. The following table

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