Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/922

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FRANCE : — TUNIS

In the city of Tunis there are 14 schools and colleges, French and Jewish, 4 of them being for girls, while in the interior there are under French direction 89 public and 24 private primary schools, with 15,146 pupils (of whom 5,056 are girls). In the Great Mosque at Tunis there is a Moham- medan university. In the city are 113 and in the interior about 500 Mohammedan primary schools, some of them assisted by Government funds. Many private schools have recently sprung up at Tunis and Sfax. The Italian Government and certain Italian societies still maintain Italian schools at Tunis and other large towns,

A department dealing with the arts and antiquities of Tunisia has been formed under French and Tunisian officials, and a national museum has been established near Tunis.

Finance.

The total revenue for 1898 was estimated at 24,061,100 francs, and the expenditure at 24,060,525 francs. The estimates for 1898 were : —

1 Revenue

Expenditure

Francs Direct taxes. . . 7,860,100


 * Customs, &c . . 8,269,500

Monopolies. . . 5,886,800

Various,. . 772,300
 * State domain . . 1,271,400

Francs Civil list, pensions. 1,841,900 Finance, debt. . 10,315,500 Administration, Posts. 4,700,500 \ Public works, Agriculture 5,247,000 ' Various. . . 1,955,625

1 Total ordinary .24,061,100

1

Total ordinary. 24,060,525

In 1884 the Tunisian debt was consolidated into a total of 5,702,000/. The loan was emitted as a perpetual 3 per cent, rente of 6,307,520 francs, or 252,300Z., divided into 315,376 obligations of a nominal capital of 500 francs. In 1888, the loan was converted into a 3^ per cent. loan.

Industry.

The chief industry is agriculture, and the chief products are cereals. In 1895, wheat occupied 435,337 hectares, and barley, 433,978 hectares or one-sixth of the cultivated land ; vine3^ards 8,069 hectares, yielding 190,000 hectolitres, mostly for local consumption. There are about 12,000,000 olive trees in Tunisia, producing annually about 20,000,000 kilogrammes of oil, valued at about 15,000,000 francs. In the south of Tunis there are about 1,350,000 date palms ; the annual export of dates is valued at 1,000,000 francs. The average value of the wine exports is about 2,000,000 francs; the vineyard area scarcely exceeds 1,600 hectares. Other products are almonds, oranges, lemons, shaddocks, pistachios, alfa grass, henna, and cork.

The minerals found are zinc, iron, lead, but these are little worked. Rich deposits of phos})hates in the south are actively exploited ; the output at Gafsa is brought to the coast by a new railway 200 miles in length. In the mountain ranges are veins of fine marble.

On December 31, 1896, the farm animals were : — horses, 61,121; asses and mules, 128,908; cattle, 252,220; sheei), 907,642 ; goats, 612,621 ; camels, 112,265 ; swine, 13,403.

The fisheries are mostly in the hands of Italians. They produced in 1895 : sardines, 208,430 kilogrammes, value 2, 045Z. ; anchovies, 19,800 kilogrammes, value 560/.; sponges and sepia, 180,000 kilogrammes, value 53,720/,