COLOMBIA. 



127 



and France: "I inform you tliat you may 

 make it known to whom it may concern, that 

 during the six months ending on the 31st of 

 July last, there have been paid to the agent of 

 the foreign creditors, in Bogota, three hundred 

 and six thousand seven hundred and eighty 

 dollars (306,780), as follows : 



Sir monthly installments, Jflnnary to Julv, in- 

 clusive, paid on the date fixed by agreement 

 of January 1, 1873 $225,000 



Difference of exchange between dollar* and 



pounds sterling on tnc above 4,900 



Back interest, according to I he Paris agreement, r ,6.UOO 



Exchange on the above sum 1 ,875 



Total $306,780 



"Nothing, therefore, is now dne to the for- 

 eign creditors, and you can assure the committee 

 that the coming installments shall be paid with 

 the same punctuality and in the same form." 



The following tahle serves to exhibit the na- 

 tional income for the year ending July 31, 1872, 

 with the sources from which it was derived: 



GrosB cni-toms receipts $2.039,450 



Salt monoply 788,100 



Panama hallway 253,150 



PoM-Offlce Department 61,975 



Tc I'-.-raphs 4,181 



Public lands 81.500 



Total $3,178,416 



The income for 1870-"ri was $3,673,570, 

 and that for 1869-'70 $2,883,768. 



The receipts and expenditures of the differ- 

 ent States in 1870 were as follows: 



The national income for the year ending 

 July 31, 1873, was estimated at $3,400,000. 



A system was adopted by Congress of guar- 

 anteeing seven per cent, interest per annum on 

 capital employed for the construction of rail- 

 ways in the republic, and it has given very 

 satisfactory results. 



According to the report of the Director of 

 Public Instruction in Boyaca, there are in that 

 State 169 schools, viz., 124 public (97 for males 

 and 27 for females) and 89 private ; the total 

 number of children in all of them being 6,688. 



By virtue of a law passed by the Legislative 

 Assembly of Boyaoa, in December, 1872, every 

 district in that State with an annual income 

 exceeding $800 is to send, at its own expense, 

 a pupil to the normal school established in the 

 capital, Tnnja. Non-compliance with this law 

 will be followed by a fine of $120. 



In Cundinamarea both Liberals and Conser- 

 vatives arc in favor of compulsory educntion. 



In Tunja, conferences were held in April to 

 inquire into the protrress made in that school. 

 The Archbishop of Bogota visited the estab- 



lishment, and was much pleased; but, before 

 leaving, he enjoined upon the professor, who 

 is a German, to abstain from meddling with the 

 religion of the pupils, and rquested the latter 

 to inform against him if he should interfere. 



A Bogota journal published in July an offi- 

 cial letter, stating that the parish priest at 

 Palmira had been praaching from the pulpit 

 against the public schools, insisting that the 

 teaching given in them was calculated to make 

 the pupils disbelieve in the Catholic religion, 

 and to otherwise corrupt their morals. The di- 

 rector of a school invited the public to witness 

 an examination, and showed the priest to be 

 falsely informed, as well as that the moral and 

 religious training was particularly attended to. 



The commerce of Colombia, though fast in- 

 creasing, is still far below the capacity of the 

 country, the principal cause being the lack of 

 adequate means of transport in the interior, 

 and from the interior to the coasts. As will 

 be seen in the proper place, there are but two 

 railways in the republic: the Panama Rail- 

 way, and a short line from Barranquilla to 

 Sabanilla, 18 miles in length. How much may 

 be accomplished for the extension of commerce 

 by the introduction of railways, is already 

 evident from the rapid strides trade has taken 

 since the establishment of the Barranquilla 

 line : shipping at that port has become more 

 extensive, and an entirely new line of steamers 

 has been put on for the traffic with New York 

 alone. The navigation of the Magdalena River 

 is becoming every year more difficult for tlio 

 steamers, and but little progress can he made 

 by merely multiplying the bongos, or large 

 barges, hitherto commonly employed in carry- 

 ing freight. Commerce will not be renlly 

 prosperous before the Magdalena Valley Rail- 

 way is completed. 



The exports consist mainly of cotton, cin- 

 chona, coffee, India-rubber, raw-hides, tobacco, 

 silver-ore, cochineal, indigo, other dye-stntfV, 

 and emeralds; and the imports, of cotton, linen, 

 woolen, and silk fabrics; clocks and watches, 

 hardware, machinery, fire-arms, gunpowder, 

 fermented liquors, etc. The value of the exports 

 for the year ending August 31, 1872, were 



Countries. Value. 



Oreat Britain $2.762,147 



Germany 1.875.981 



United States 1.S68.2S5 



France 1,077,208 



Venezuela 868.023 



Other countries 1,617,210 



Total $9,863,804 



The chief articles exported, with the value 

 of the quantities sent out of the country, in 

 the same year, are ns follows : 



Artlrlei. Vnln. 



Tobacco $1,616.088 



CoftVe 1,264. 1?2 



Cinchona 1,21)7. 7Mi 



Gold 1,27!) SS2 



Silver 414,!!32 



Panama hals 96.875 



Cotton 2F3.W8 



IniliKO 4C2,r:02 



India-rubber 695,842 



Total 57,210,622 



