COSTA EICA. 



247 



Tomas Guardia, reflected May 8, 1872, for the 

 term of four years. The first Letignado (first 

 Vice-President) is Salvador Gonzales ; and the 

 second Dmignado, Rafael Barroeta. 



The items of the national revenue, for the 

 year ending May 31, 1873, are exhibited in the 

 following table : 



Proceeds of the National Bank $141,593 



Stale lands 13.179 



Import duties 755.371 



Export duties 166,385 



Spirits monopoly 645,299 



The annexed table shows the exports through 

 Puntarenas during the year 1872 : 



Tobacco monopoly. 

 Gunpowder monopoly 



Sale of salt , 



Mint 



Licensee 



Stamp-duties 



Court of justice fees 

 Slaughter-Donee tax... 

 Po^t-Omce 



:*.- 

 8,824 

 11.323 



25,787 



16,445 



23,200 



Telegraphs 4,784 



Proceeds of loans 139,492 



Deposits 



Sundries. 



t3,l*7 



Total $8,500,436 



The expenditure for the same year amounted 

 to $1,988,527. According to official returns, 

 the national income for the month of April, 

 1873, reached $337,707.13, while the total ex- 

 penditure was but $237,839.44, which consti- 

 tuted a surplus of nearly $100,000. 



Another official document gives the esti- 

 mated income of the country for 1873-'74 at 

 $2,850,000, and the expenditure at $2,850,000, 

 which would leave a surplus of $500,000. It 

 should be remarked that this estimate of the 

 income exceeds that for last year by $648,000, 

 and that for the year 1871-'72 by $1,034,000. 



The public debt amounted in 1867 to $104,- 

 600, of which $4,500 are understood to have 

 been paid; but since that year large loans 

 have been contracted for railway and other 

 purposes of a kindred nature, as follows: a 

 loan of 1,000,000 in London in 1871, at 6 per 

 cent. ; and another in 1872 of 2,400,000, also 

 in London, at 7 per cent, interest, and 82 per 

 cent, exchange. There is, besides, a home debt 

 estimated at $6,000,000; so that the whole na- 

 tional indebtedness may be recapitulated thus: 

 Debt to Pern, $ 100,000 ; England, $1 7,000,000 ; 

 home debt, $6,000,000 total, $23,100,000. 



The great staple of exportation is coffee, 

 most of which is taken by Great Britain ; be- 

 sides that article, there is annually exported 

 a small quantity of woods of different species, 

 hides, India-rubber, sarsaparilla, etc. 



The total value of the exports for the yenr 

 emling May 31, 1873, nnd the value of each 

 article shipped, were as follows : 



By the Pacific Port of Punta renat. 



Coffee (33,874,374 pounds) $5,600.000 



Jli'lcs 137,0(10 



India -ruhber 21 000 



Woods (cedar, mahogany, etc.) 68.000 



Mineral* 80,000 



Dye-stuffs, sarsaparllln, etc., etc Si9,000 



Total $6,095,000 



Tii/ the Atlantic Port of Limon. 

 Dye-stuffs, India-rubber, sareaparllla, etc., etc. 45,000 

 Total $0,190,000 



The crop of coffee, the cultivation of which 

 constitutes the principal industry of the in- 

 habitants, was comparatively small in 1872; 

 but the unusually high price obtained in Lon- 

 don amply compensated for the decrease in 

 quantity. The crop of the previous year was 

 27,560,000 Ibs.* 



The export duty of 50 cents per quintal (100 

 Ibs.) on coffee, which came into force in 1872, 

 produced iu the first ten months of that year 

 no less than $95,000. 



The importation of tobacco and spirits, in 

 hoth of which articles a large trade was for- 

 merly done, is now monopolized by the Gov- 

 ernment. 



The total imports for the year ending May 

 31, 1873, amounted to $4,500,000, according 

 to the Almanack de Ootha, from which source 

 we took also the above table of exports for the 

 same year. It is most probable, however, that 

 both these returns include the trade for two 

 years, it heing scarcely presumable that 33,- 

 887,874 Ibs. of coffee could be produced in a 

 single year. In effect, the second table of ex- 

 ports (for 1872) is from the Central Statistical 

 Office of San Jos6, and it shows only 17,199,026 

 Ibs.; and the quantity shipped in 1871, a re- 

 markably favorable year, was hut 187,135 

 sacks, or 24,327,550 Ibs. 



Some notion of the great increase in the 

 production of coffee, within the past fourteen 

 years, may be obtained from the following 

 figures: the crop of 1858 yielded but 11,500,- 

 000 pounds ; that of 1859 only 6,500,000, or a 

 little less than one-sixth of the crop of 1871. 



The total exports for 1858 did not reach 

 $1,500,000, while the value of the imports 

 was very nearly the same as at the present 

 time. 



At the port of Limon the number of vessels 

 entered during the year 1872 was 79, with an 

 aggregate of 16,000 -tons; the number cleared 

 was 80. with 10,243 tons. 



The Government, convinced that the loco- 

 motive was necessary to the prosperity of the 

 country, entered, June, 1872, into a contract 

 with the American engineer, Henry Meiggs, 



In the ANNUAL CYer.opjEniA for 1872 (page 224, top 

 of second column), 2. 75(1. OCO Ibs. was, by mistake Drint- 

 ed, Instead of 27,676,000 Ibs. 



