Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/896

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FRANCE

1896 amounted to 229,072,774 francs, and expenditure to 180,324,215 francs. The number of letters, &c., carried in France and Algeria in 1896 was : —

—

Internal

International and Transit

(1,000's)

150,833

2,376

6,741

142,479

Total

Letters .... Registered letters, &c. Post-cards .... Printed matter, samples, &c.

Total ....

(1,000's)

761,605

41,373

49,887

1,052,975

(1,000's)

912,438

43,749

56,628

1,195,454

1,905,840

302,429

2,208,269

The total length of the telegraphic lines on January 1, 1897, was 64,422 miles, with 208,828 miles of wire. There were 11,769 telegraph offices, and in 1896 there were despatched 45,708,298 telegrams, of which 36,968,805 were internal, 5,944,217 international, 1,410,297 in transit, and 1,384,979 were official. There are 237 miles of pneumatic tubes in Paris.

Money and Credit.

The total value of the coin minted in France from the commencement of the existing mints has been : Gold (1803-1897), 9,334,161,500 francs ; silver, 5-franc pieces (1795-1878), 5,060,606,240 francs ; fractional silver (1803-1897), 486,112,885 francs ; bronze (1852-1897), 68,278,522 francs. Total, 14,949,159,147 francs. No 5-franc pieces have been coined since 1878.

The nominal value of the money coined in France during five years has been : —

Year

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Total

1893 1894 1895 1896 1897

Francs

50,943,360

9,831,060

108,006,930

112,538,240

221,379,540

Francs

4,000,000 8,000,000

44,000

Francs 200,000 200,000 110,000 829,494 1,400,000

Francs

51,143,360

14,031,060

116,116,930

113,367,734

222,823,540

502,699,130

12,044,000

2,739,494

517,482,624

From the results of an inquiry carried out on Sei)teniber 15, 1897, it is estimated that the existing stock of money in France amounted to 6,375,000,000 francs, made up as follows : —

Coin

1 French 1 Foreign

Total

Gold coin .... 5-franc silver pieces Fractional silver coin.

Total

3,675

1,380

205

lillions of Francs

525 4,200 555 1,935 > 35 240 1

5,260

1,115 1 6,375