Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/774

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BRAZIL

Total trade between United Kingdom and Brazil (according to Board of Trade returns) for 5 years : —

Imports from Brazil into U.K. Exports to Brazil from U.K..

1916

£ £

,036,742 9,985,235 ,718,187 j 7,185,841

£

8,849,431 8,845,911

£ 10,821,100 10,741,686

£

12,160,391 24,328,902

Shipping and Navigation.

In 1919 there entered the ports of Brazil 23,126 steam and sailing vessels of 17,954,320 tons, and cleared 23,170 steam and sailing vessels of 17,946,010 tons.

The merchant navy in 1919 consisted of 588 steamers of 433,000 tons net, and 55 sailing vessels of 17,920 tons net. All coasting and river vessels must be Brazilian. The coast has a length of 4,106 miles. The Brazilian Lloyd, for coasting trade, maintains a monthly service between Rio de Janeiro and New York, and lias also inaugurated a service between Liverpool, Portugal and Brazil.

Inland waterways, mostlyrivers, are open to navigation over some 40,300 miles. By means of its waterways Brazil is connected with the neighbouring States.

Internal Communications.

Brazil possessed on March 31, 1919, railways of a total length of 18,708 miles open for traffic. Of this total 9,455 miles of railway were the property of the Union (3,980 miles are administered directly and the rest are farmed out) ; 6,231 miles were privately owned ; and 1,527 miles belonged to the States. The individual States which possess the greatest railway mileage are Sao Paulo, with 4,157 miles; Minas Geraes with 4,046 miles ; Rio de Janeiro and Federal District with 2,057 miles ; Rio Grande do Sul with 1,708 miles ; and Pernambuco with 1,300 miles. The Central Brazil Railway (1,563 miles) is the principal railway in Brazil, and is owned by the State. The entire system joins up the railways of Brazil with those of Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.

The telegraph system of the country is under control of the Government. In 1919 there were 54,536 miles of line, including 26,100 miles of Govern- ment property, 17,159 miles of railway property and 11,267 miles of sub- marine cables. There were 850 telegraph offices. The number of messages was 5,350,606. Receipts in 1917, 864,917*. ; expenditure, 963,3632.

The Post Office carried (1917) a total of 31,577,090 letters, and 77,344,613 pieces of printed matter. Altogether the post office in 1917 despatched 4,586,187 sacks of mail, received 3,825,710, and handled in transit 2,754,987. There were 3,696 post-offices in 1920. Receipts in 1917, 12,800 contos ; ex- penditure, 21,132 contos.

There were 56,760 telephones in the country in 1917 ; total length of wires, 252,318 miles in 1918. A wireless system is now in process of completion. Fifteen new stations were erected along the Amazon and Paraguay rivers, and 5 on the coast.

A decree was issued in 1918 adopting the standard time and longitude of Greenwich (instead of that of Rio de Janeiro) as from January 1, 1914.