Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/878

 522 FRANCE

The total debt would thus amount to about 32Z. 6s., and the interest and -annuities to about XL Qs. per head of the population.

II. Local Finance.

For 1896 the revenue of the departments of France amounted to -281,119,536 francs, and the expenditure to 280,499,908 francs. The departmental debt stood at 423,716,228 francs. For 1897 the ordinary revenue of the communes amounted to 751,770,240 francs, and expenditure to 718,381,279 francs, while the debt on March 31, 1896, amounted to 3,511,984,252 francs. For the year 1898 the estimated ordinary revenue of the City of Paris amounted to 298,854,415 francs, and the extraordinary receipts to 54,874,705 francs i total receipts, 353,729,120. The expenditure, ordinary and extraordinary, was estimated at the same amount. The debt of Paris in 1896 amounted to 1,769,000,000 francs.

The total national and local revenues derived from taxation in France were stated in the budget of 1892 to be as follows : —

_ i

Total.

Per Head of Pop.

Fiscal Revenues of the State

,, ,, Departments „ ,, Communes.

Millions of Francs. 2,780 164 531

Francs.

72-50

4-30

13-85

Total

3,475

90-65

The capitalised value of private property has been the subject of many calculations, which, however, differ too greatly to be considered as reliable. The best estimates, by M. de Foville, put down the aggregate private fortunes at: land, 3,000,000,000Z. ; buildings, 2,000,000,000^. ; specie, 200,000,000^. ; convertible securities, 2,800,000,000Z. ; agricultural implements and live stock, 400,000,000Z. ; other personal property, 680,000,000Z. ; total private wealth, 8,080,000,000. M. Leroy Beaulieu estimates that the total yearly income of the nation reaches about 1,000,000,000/., of which three-fifths is the product of personal labour.

Defence. I. Land Defences.

France has a coast line of 1,760 miles, 1,304 on the Atlantic and 456 on the Mediterranean. Its land frontier extends over 1,575 miles, of which 1,156 miles are along the Belgian, German, Swiss, and Italian frontiers, and 419 along the Spanish frontier.

The whole of France (exclusive of Algeria) is divided into 18 military regions, each under a general of division, and subdivided into districts, of the same area as the departments, under a general of brigade ; Paris and Lyon have each a separate military govern- ment. The fortified places are specially administered by a * service des fortifications.' Paris, which is considered as the centre of defence, is surrounded by a wall which has 97 bastions, 17 old forts, and 38 new advance forts or batteries, the whole forming two entrenched camps at St. Denis and Versailles.