450 



ITALY. 



ants that are not capitals of district or provinces, 

 are by the new communal law deprived of the 

 right of electing their mayors. The education 

 bill takes from the same communes the liberty 

 to appoint and dismiss teachers, and transfers it 

 to the provincial school boards. The privilege 

 may be restored on certain conditions at the dis- 

 cretion of the educational authorities, who may 

 also take it away from larger places when abuses 

 or conflicts arise. Under the old law a teacher 

 could be dismissed by the communal authorities 

 at the end of two years; if not, he was re- 

 appointed for six years ; and at the end of this 

 period, if the school board gave him a good 

 character, he was confirmed for life. This system 

 was satisfactory neither to the teachers nor to 

 the communes, least of all to the teachers, for to 

 escape being saddled with a teacher beyond their 

 control the people commonly sent them adrift 

 after the two years of probation ; and if they 

 were retained for eight years, most unworthy 

 methods were used to prevent their obtaining 

 the testimonial that would secure a life appoint- 

 ment. Signor Boselli's bill elevates the teachers 

 into the position of state officials. Every appli- 

 cant above the age of eighteen, or of seventeen 

 in the case of females, who possesses the edu- 

 cational qualifications and is irreproachable in 

 his conduct, has the right to be inscribed in the 

 list of candidates in three provinces. From 

 these lists the teachers must be selected, for the 

 larger communes by the local authorities, and for 

 the smaller places by the provincial council of 

 education, which unites the elements of auton- 

 omy and centralism, part of the members being 

 appointed by the Government and part of them 

 elected by the people of the province. To enjoy 

 the right of selecting its teacher a commune must 

 provide him with a suitable free dwelling and in- 

 crease his salary by 10 or his pension by 20 per 

 cent. The provincial school board may transfer 

 teachers by request of the communes or on its 

 own motion, but without lowering their grade or 

 their pay, except for punishment. Every six years 

 the teacher can claim a rise in his salary. Ad- 

 vancement, dismissal, and promotion from assist- 

 ant to regular teachers are confided to the discre- 

 tion of the provincial boards. Teachers must 

 receive their pay every month or every two 

 months. This is a desirable provision, since it 

 has often happened that teachers have been re- 

 duced to extreme misery by not obtaining their 

 pay, which has been withheld by the arbitrary 

 orders of the local authorities or because the 

 communal treasury was empty. Only in com- 

 munes of lessthan 4,000 inhabitants andfractional 

 districts of larger communes, and by special per- 

 mission of the board is a teacher allowed to add 

 to his earnings by any ancillary occupation. 



The Italian Government supports, wholly or 

 in part, 91 schools in foreign countries where 

 Italian-speaking colonies exist. In European 

 Turkey there are 18 such schools, in Asiatic Tur- 

 key 19, in Tunis 13, in Egypt 16, in Tripoli 7, in 

 Greece 11, in Roumania 7. The total number of 

 pupils is 20,820, of whom 12,109 are taught in 

 schools entirely, and the rest in subsidized private 

 schools. Even in New York and New Orleans 

 there are schools receiving aid from the Italian 

 Government. . In the Government schools in 

 foreign countries 5,314 of the pupils are Italians. 



Finances. The closed accounts for 1887-'88 

 show a total revenue of 1,936,724,649 lire or 

 francs and disbursements amounting to 1,993,- 

 875,769 lire, leaving a deficit of 57,151,120 lire. 

 In 1888-'89 the actual receipts were 1,886.670,- 

 029 lire and the expenditures 2,097,131,115 lire, 

 the year closing with the enormous deficit of 

 230,461,086 lire. The budget estimates for 1888- 

 '89 make the total receipts 1,801,397,772 lire 

 and the expenditures 1,857,906,850 lire, or 56,- 

 509,078 lire in excess of receipts. For 1890-'91 

 the total revenue is estimated at 1,850,248,142 

 lire and the total expenditures 1,872,135,271 lire. 

 Of the revenue 1,652,352,633 lire are obtained 

 from ordinary and 197,893,509 lire from ex- 

 traordinary resources, and of the expenditures 

 1,579,911.314 lire are classed as ordinary and 

 292,221,957 lire as extraordinary. The' more 

 important sources of revenue are customs duties, 

 producing 276,000,000 lire ; tax on incomes from 

 personal property, 234,654,121 lire; land tax, 

 106,341,360 lire; tobacco monopoly, 190,000.000 

 lire; salt monopoly, 64,000,000 lire; building 

 tax, 72,000,000 lire : registration duties, 69,700,- 

 000 lire ; stamps, 75,000,000 lire ; succession du- 

 ties, 37,300,000 lire; excise, 81,877,245 lire; li- 

 censes for manufacturing spirits, beer, aerated 

 water, powder, sugar, etc., 34,000,000 lire ; lot- 

 tery, 76,300,000 lire ; post-office, 47,500,000 lire ; 

 rent of state domains, 12,803,701 lire ; telegraphs, 

 15,400,000 lire. Of the total receipts, ordinary 

 and extraordinary, 1,603,009,477 lire are classed 

 as effective, 32.160,589 lire are connected with 

 operations, and of the expenditures 1,613,972, 

 795 lire are set down as effective and 43,082,400' 

 lire come in the category of movement of capi- 

 tal. The remainder of the budgets of receipts 

 and expenditures is made up of the account for 

 the construction of railroads, for which 145,745,- 

 958 lire are set down, and the merely nominal 

 parties d'ordre due to duplication of entries, rep- 

 resented by 69,332,118 lire on each side of the ac- 

 count. Some of the chief items of expenditure 

 are : Interest on the consolidated debt, 438,045,- 

 105 lire; interest on terminable loans, 83,054,- 

 256 lire ; railroad annuity, 27,982,435 lire ; float- 

 ing debt, 109,742,733 lire ; fixed annuities, 27,- 

 554,137 lire: civil list and appanages, 15,050 ; 000 

 lire; pensions, 39,312,569 lire: amortization of 

 debts, 24,324,624 lire; costs of collection, 174,- 

 800,935 lire. The total amount of interest on 

 the public debt for the year ending June 30, 

 1890, was 578,984,932 lire. 



To meet the deficits, which are mainly due to 

 extraordinary military preparations required of 

 Italy as a member of the triple alliance, and to 

 redeem the paper currency still in circulation, 

 the Government, in order to avoid making a new 

 loan, diverted the bonds that had been assigned 

 for the payment of pensions to a public de- 

 partment specially created, called the Bank of 

 Pensions. There were handed over to the bank 

 for this purpose in 1882, when the pension list 

 amounted to 60,000,000 lire a year, 5-per-cent. 

 consols to the amount of 500,000.000 lire. When 

 this fund was abolished and the pensions re- 

 sumed as a charge on the revenue there were 

 312,694.000 lire left, reckoning the bonds at cur- 

 rent rates. Of this sum, 72,694.000 lire were ap- 

 propriated to the redemption of the outstanding 

 notes of the state, 55,011,392 lire were assigned 



