Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/798

 442 BRAZIL

The following are the values of the principal imports into Great Britain from Brazil :— Raw cotton, 201,589Z. in 1896 ; 303,425Z. in 1897 ; unrefined sugar, 190,108Z. in 1896; 143,082Z. in 1897; caoutchouc, 3,017,921Z. in

1896 ; 2,671, 569Z. in 1897; coffee, 186,742^. in 1896 ; 190,273Z. in 1897. The most important articles of British produce and manufacture exported

to Brazil are manufactured cotton, the value of which was 2,261,600Z. in 1896 ; l,77l,235Z. in 1897 ; wrought and unwrought iron, of the value of 756,686Z. in 1896 ; 598,225Z. in 1897 ; woollen manufactures, 295,265Z. in 1896 ; 164,124Z. in 1897; coals, 552,158Z. in 1896; 582,315Z. in 1897; and machiner}', 628,4397. in 1896 ; 323,3587. in 1897.

Shipping and Navigation.

At Rio Janeiro in 1897 there entered in the foreign trade 1,274 vessels of 2,146,834 tons (546 of 887,814 tons British) ; in 1896, 1,535 of 2,469,628 (687 of 1,238,596 British) The total shipping entered at Pernambuco in

1897 comprised 948 vessels of 1,145,706 tons (280 of 444,845 tons British ; at Ceara, 285 of 258,368 tons (42 of 45,297 tons British) ; at Maranham, 189 vessels of 260,443 tons (50 of 56,985 tons British) ; at Rio Grande do Norte, 241 of 51,763 tons (11 of 10,422 tons British) ; at Rio Grande do Sul, 474 of 249,145 tons (47 of 14,741 tons British) ; at Parahyba, 194 of 18.5,488 tons ^25 of 21,883 tons British); at Paranagua, 429 of 227,713 tons (28 of 10,921 tons British).

The merchant navy in 1898 consisted of 229 steamers of 94,262 tons net, and 344 sailing vessels of 88,000 tons net. In December, 1896, the law requiring that all coasting and river vessels should be Brazilian, after being twice deferred, came into force. In 1897, 212 steamers of 70,680 tons, and 388 sailing vessels of 26, 637 tons were emploj-ed in the coasting trade.

Internal Communications.

Brazil possessed in December 1896 railways of a total length of 8,662 English miles open for traffic, besides 4,963 miles in process of con- sti'uction, 4,670 under survey, and 8,440 to be surveyed. Of the lines open, 1,982 miles were Union lines, 2,430 miles were subventioned lines, 990 miles were non-subventioned lines, and 3,260 miles were lines conceded to or administered by the State. Of those under construction, 3,699 were subven- tioned, 384 miles were non-subventioned, and 880 miles were worked by States. Most of the railways have been constructed with the guarantee of the interest (mostly 6 and 7 per cent.) on the capital by the Government. The total cost of the Union lines up to end of 1894 has been 257,674,937 milreis, and the deficit paid from National Treasury, 11,118,481 milreis. A law was published authorising the leasing of the Government railwaj^s.

The telegraph system of the country is under control of the Government. In 1895 there were 10,143 miles of line, and 21,936 miles of wire. There were 289 telegraph offices. The number of messages was 1,283,695. Receipts for 1897 estimated at 3,600,000 milreis ; expenditure, 9,844,722 milreis.

The Post Office carried of letters and post cards, 33,441,000 ; of samples and printed packets 37,674,000, in the year 1893. There were 2, 826 post- offices. Receipts in 1895 (as far as published) 3,632,957 milreis.

Money and Credit.

There is little metallic money in circulation in Brazil. At the end of 1896 the ])aper cunenoy amounted to 712,355,394 milreis. At the end of 1895 it was 683,702,000 milreis. The Congress has taken steps to reduce