Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/1240

 884

PORTUGAL

Year

3 7o Consolidated Fund

Aniortisable

Floating Debt

Internal

External

6 7=

5 7o,4rL 4 7o and various

1853 1863 1873 1883 1890

Milreis

25,704,627

90,053,802

204,507,489

235,681,119

258,086,897

Milreis 3,667,435 17,182,619 31,571,908 43,513,350 46,366,759

Milreis

2,034,000 16,273,3601

Milreis

1,377,270

53,614,890

104,172,464 2

Milreis 19,565,172 '

1 Paid up by conversion.

All the old 5 % debt is converted into 4i 7o bonds.

Ill 1891 the finances became quite deranged, and steps were taken for the reduction of the amount of interest payable. The law of February 26, 1892, reduced by 30 per cent, the interest on the internal public debt payable in currency, and that of April 20, 1893, reduced by 66| per cent, the interest on the external debt to be paid in gold.

In 1898 (according to the Report of the Council of the Corporation of Foreign Bondholders) the outstanding debt of Portugal was as follows; —

£

External 3 per cent. Consolidated. . . 38,504,551

,, 4 ,, ,, Redeemable. . . 1,817,009

4^ ,, ,, ,, ... 12,760,348

,, 4| ,, ,, Tobacco Loan. , . 9,024,600

Total external. Internal, 3 per cent, (quoted in London)

Total. . ., Also outstanding:

Internal, at 4 and 4 J per cent.

Stated to be in hands of Government: External, at 3, 4, and 4^ per cent. . Internal, at 3 and 4 percent.

62,106,508 58,761,423

120,867,931 6,158,204

3,286,558 26,782,391

30,068,949 The floating debt in January, 1898, amounted to 58,576,400 milreis.

Defence.

The fortified places of the first class in Portugal are Lisbon (with the forta of Monsanto, San Juliao-da-Barra, and other defensive works), Elvas and Angra (Azores). The defences of Lisbon, now almost complete, are the only thoroughly modern ones.

The army is formed partly by voluntary enlistment and partly by conscrip- tion. The conscription is regulated liy the law of 1887, modified in 1891, 1892, 1894, 1895, and 1896. All young men of twenty-one years of age are, with certain exceptions, obliged to serve. The period of service extends over twclyo years, of which three years are spent in the active army, five vears in the first reserve, and four in the second reserve. The number'of men in tl)'