042 



PEBU. 



of the measures proposed, received the latter 

 very favorably, and immediately authorized 

 the President to carry them into execution. 



:tlivr budget nor estimate of budget has 

 been published since that for l71-'72." The 

 revenue, mainly derived from tlie sale of 

 guano, amounts usually to about $60,000,000 ; 

 while the ordinary expenditure is a little below 

 that figure. 



Alter long deliberation, the President came 

 to an understanding with Messrs. Dreyfus & 

 Co. concerning the issue of the loan of 1872, 

 now fully authorized by Congress. Peru will, 

 with this addition to her financial capabilities, 

 consolidate all her foreign debts into one, and, 

 following the example of the I'uited States, so 

 regulate her bonds that, by redeeming some, 

 the interest on the whole may be assimilated ; 

 and, that end once accomplished, the remaining 

 funds proceeding from the loan will, according 

 to law, lie appropriated for the completion of 

 the various public railways already projected 

 or in process of construction, and the irrigation 

 of land held by persons unable to defray the 

 expense thereof. 



It should bo added that, for the payment of 

 the public debt, which bears interest at 5 per 

 per annum, and a 2 per cent, sinking 

 fund, the guano belonging to the Government 

 i- pledged; and, it was hoped that the sales 

 would reach the sum of $35,000,000 in 1873. 

 .es the guano sales, there is another source 

 of revenue rapidly growing in importance, 

 namely, the receipts of the custom-house. 

 These amounted in 1872 to 7,315,000 soles, or 

 almost 25 per cent, more than in the preceding 

 year; and it is even reported that the receipts 

 at the Callao custom-house alone in 1878 were 

 considerably in advance of that sum. 



The receipts for the month of May at the 

 port of Pisagua were $22,058.68, of which 

 $14,160.97 represent import duties, and the 

 remainder export duties. 



Public education is undergoing a complete 

 ii ; primary schools are fast multiplying 

 in even the remotest corners of this republic ; 

 and a bill authorizing the Executive to procure 

 suitable professors from Europe, and appro- 

 priating the sum of 400,000 soles per annum 

 for the expenses incurred thereby, was sanc- 

 1 l.y tb- Chamber in the month of April. 



I 'urine the year 1872 there arrived at the 

 port of Callao thirty-two ships solely UK 

 m the owlr trade, bringing a total of 18,880 

 Chinese laborers for the railways and other 

 public work*. The number imported the year 

 preceding was 11,812; making an aggregate 

 of 85,102 for t! r-. mid "r.-pr. 



ing a capital of $11,714.2*0, if the worth of 

 ech immigrant be calculated at $465, which 

 is the minimum value. 1 ' 



In 1H7-1 the cooly trade was marked by a 

 considerable falling off; Imt 4,226 Chin;mi. n 

 "had arrived during the first oeven months, 

 which in a circumstance indicative of the 



w AmnrtL CTCMNDIA for 1811 



stringent measures taken by the Peking Govern- 

 meiit to suppress the traffic. Penman econo- 

 mists are of opinion that, " under the existing 

 order of things, the introduction o) 

 labor is indispensable to the prosperity of the 

 republic." Sugar and cotton planters would 

 be the first to suiter, inasmuch as, notwith- 

 standing the effort!, of the Government and the 

 cooperation of the leading farmers .. induce 

 European emigrants to the Peruvian F!I 

 no relief is obtained; hence the absence of the 

 cooly would result in the ruin of many for- 

 tunes. 



A large coal-mine is reported to have lei n 

 discovered on the railway-lino from Mollendo 

 to Arequipa. The deposit is stated to be 8,- 

 000,000 square yards in extent, and the princi- 

 pal vein four yards in diameter. A company 

 of Arequipa merchants was formed for work- 

 ing the mine; and the coal, now exclusively 

 used in the locomotives of the line mentioned, 

 is pronounced by the engineers to be of supe- 

 rior quality. This is but one of the innumer- 

 able sources of national wealth, which we look 

 forward to as the result of the public works in 

 active prosecution. 



An important protocol was signed in Febru- 

 ary by the Minister 'of Foreign affairs, Sefior 

 Jos6 de la Riva Apuero, and the Colombian 

 minister plenipotentiary to Peru, concerning 

 the part which the republic desires to take in 

 the work of opening an interuceanic canal 

 across the Isthmus of Panama. At the close 

 of a discussion respecting the feasibility of the 

 project, the President signed the following de- 

 cree: 



Tlie. protocol signed by the Peruvian Minister of 

 Foreign Affaire anu the pUmj'OU-miiirv from Colom- 

 bia is hereby approved, ami it is understood tliat 

 the participation of Peru in rrtuMisl.i-il in tlie iiiter- 

 oceanio canal proposed by tin- <...M nnm nt of Bogo- 

 ta. TliiTri'i'iv thu national Congress must be in- 

 1 of the i'i.: >col, so tlmt ac- 



(luaintcil with this niort important matter, and when 

 the preliminary r< the practicability 



and cost of thin (treat undertaking may be made 

 known, tin ,< authorization 



as to the sums of money Lich it may contribute . 

 and the mode of paying the same, together with 

 the power to stipulate the conccs/iona and prh 

 which Peru shall be entitled to by virtue of hi r intir- 

 vi'ntion. 



(Sign-manual of tlu- 1'r.M,!, 1,1 , IIIVA Ac.l'CKO. 



The official dispatch of Secret nry Fish to 

 the Madrid Government, relative to the state 

 of affairs in the Spanish colonies in America, 

 elicited much attention and a general exi 

 sion of approval in Pom. Mass meetings 

 were held in favor of the Cubans striifrplintr 

 for independence, and a universal sentiment 

 of sympathy with the Cuban cause reigned 

 throughout the country. 



Tlie news of the acquisition of Samana Bay 

 wns bitterly commented npon by the 1'cruvinn 

 pron, which defined that measure as the fir-t 

 of a series of efforts mi tin- purl of the "Co- 

 lumns of the North " gradually to cncrn/icli 

 upon the territory of her neighbors in the 

 New World. 



