Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/728

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ARGENTINE REPUBLIC

Shipping and Navigation.

On January 1, 1918, the registered shipping consisted of 183 steamers over 100 tons, of 155,132 tons,

The aggregate movement of vessels at all Argentine ports was as follows :

Entered

Cleared

Yeais

Number of 1 T vessels

Number of vessels

Tons

1916 1917 1918

44,642 44,345 45,072 J

20,742,786 16,428,586 17,483,482

44,175 44.0S8 44,845

20.570,817 16,446,837 17,834,850

Internal Communications.

Railways open, January 1, 1921, 22,590 miles, of which 3,816 miles (18 per cent.) belong to the State. The capital invested in Argentine railways amounts to 1,254,795,500 gold dollars. In 1919 Argentine railways traii.s- poited 68,547,200 passengers, and carried 38,973,050 tons of cargo. Gross receipts were : 183,426,002 gold dollars ; working expenses, 141,296,478 gold dollars.

The Post Offices, which numbered 3,576 at the end of 1918, dealt with 903,241,474 pieces of mail matter. The revenue of the Postal Department was 17,925,333 paper pesos for 1918. National telegraph lines, 25,167 miles in 1919, provincial railway and private lines bringing the total up to 52,070 miles with 152,644 miles of wire. Number of telegrams despatched, 1917, 16,816,815. Number of telephones in Argentina on January 1, 1917, 92,785.

There are 12 stations for wireless telegraphy. All ships with a crew of over 50 and touching at Argentine ports are compelled by law to be equipped with wireless telegraph.

In 1912 a bill was passed for the canalization of the Upper Uruguay ; the work was to be carried out by Argentina in conjunction with Brazil and Uruguay. A ferry-boat service has also been established between Paraguay and Argentine at Posadas and Encarnacion.

Money and Credit.

The 'Banco de la Nacion Argentina,' which was established in 1891 with a capital of 4,400,000/., and which now has a capital of 11,000,000/., has a limited authority to lend money to the National Government, the loans to which must not exceed 20 per cent, of its capital. According to the latest census (1915) there are 143 banks within the Republic, 118 Argentine and 25 foreign. The deposits of the chief commercial banks on June 30, 1920, totalled 9,272,646 gold pesos and 3,465,459,275 pesos currency.

In 1899 a conversion law was approved by Congress fixing the value of the paper dollar at 44 cents gold. On June 30, 1920, the Conversion Office, the Bank of the Argentine Nation, and the Argentine Legations abroad had a stock of 584,612,456 dollars gold. At the same date there were in circulation notes to the value of 1,362,559,524 paper pesos.

On April 5, 1915, a national postal savings bank (Caja Nacional dc Ahorrc Postal) was incorporated. On October 31, 1919, it had 312,383 depositors with total deposits amounting to 18,563,727 paper dollars.