Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/1272

 1220 RUMANIA

Treaty of Versailles, only representatives of Great Britain, France, Italy and Rumania constitute the Commission at present. It has its seat at Galatz. Since November 24, 1904, it has existed, or will exist, for successive periods of 3 years unless denounced by one of the contracting powers a year before the conclusion of any such period. By the operations of the Commission the Danube below Braila and along the Sulina branch has been deepened and corrected, so that at Sulina the depth has been increased from 9 ft. to 24 ft., and of the Sulina branch the minimum depth has been increased from 8 ft. to ISA ft., while by canalisation and other works the navigation has been shortened from 45J to~33$ nautical miles. The income of the Commission is derived entirely from taxes levied on shipping leaving the river.

In 1920 Rumania had 7,240 miles of railway. The State has the working of all the lines, and has, besides s under the general railway direction, a commercial navigation service on the Danube and Black Sea. Several additional lines are projected or in course of construction.

Within Rumania there were 27,635 miles of metalled roads in 1915.

In 1915-16 there were 4,700 post-offices, through which there passed 21,965,098 letters, 31,969,461 post-cards, and 76,606,141 newspapers, samples, &c. In 1915-16 there were 8,612 miles of telegraph lines, and 18,801 miles of wire, on which 3,864,825 messages were forwarded. The number of offices was 3,143. In 1913-14 there were 7 urban telephone systems with 1,004 miles of line and 24,605 miles of wire, and 7,966 inter-urban systems with 24,168 miles of line and 45,378 miles of wire. On the urban systems during the year there were 24,360,479 conversations, and on the inter-urban 1,689,596.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The National Bank of Rumania, with capital and reserves of 39,402,565 lei, had, on April 16, 1921, deposits amounting to 3,761,722,000 lei, and its notes in circulation were of the value of 10,979,085,000 lei. Other public credit institutions are Savings Bank, a Deposit and Consignment Bank, an Agricultural Loan Bank, 1,849 Popular Banks, a Rural Cridit Fonder, 2 Urban Cridit Fanciers (at Bucharest and Jassi), an Agricultural Bank, and a Cassa Rurala, an institution whose purpose is to buy properties and sell them in lots to peasants. There are also three private banking institutions.

Until August 1, 1920, there were four kinds of paper currency circulating in Rumania, viz., notes of the Rumanian National Bank (4,523,868,506 lei), notes issued during the German occupation by the Banque Ge'nerale (2,104,725,000 lei), Austro-Hungarian banknotes (in the territories formerly part of the Dual Monarchy) (3,972,000,000 kronen), and Russian roubles (in Bessarabia) (1,000,000,000 roubles). A unified paper currency came into use on August 1, 1920.

The decimal system was introduced into Rumania in 1876, the unit of t h« monetary system being the leu (of 100 bani), equivalent to the franc. The gold leu is the monetary unit. Silver is legal tender up to 50 lei only. Gold coins are 20-, 10-, and 5-lei pieces. Nickel is coined in5-, 10-, and 20- centime (bani) pieces. The metric system has bedn introduced, but Turkish weights and measures are, to some extent, in use by the people.

Diplomatic and Consular Representatives.

1. Of Rumania in Gheat Britain.

Charge 1 d' Affaires. — Michel B. Boeresco.

Secretaries. — Radu T. Djuvara, Frederic C. Nano, Alexandre Cretziano.

Military Attachi. — Lt. -Col. Douglas Capitaueano.