ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



Mow. Utl> IB M1U.. 



Buenos Ayros Western, to Chlvilcoy 101 



''>* 4* 



* Northern, to Tlgrc 80 



i;r.'iii Suuluern, to Dolores 180 



!* 75 



tin.-, llosarto to C6rdoba 246 



' u.irto 8-1 



Buenos Ay res to Knsennda 87 



K*st Argentine, Coucordla to Federacion 86 



Total. 



709 



Tho linos expressed below are in process of 

 construction : 



Llnw. length In Mll. 



Baenos Ayres to Rofarlo 185 



Branch to Hojas, Pergamino, etc 240 



Uueuoa Ay res to Fort Campana 40 



Central Northern, C6rdoba to Tucuinan 83(5 



Andinc, Klo Cuarto. to Kio Quinto 76 



East Argentine, Federacion to Caseros 55 



Western, Chivllcoy to Bragado 80 



Total 1,262 



Most of these are to bo finished by 1876, and 

 all of them in 1877. 



Of the projected or conceded lines, the fol- 

 lowing are the principal : 



Llnci. Length la MIli. 



Transand'me, Baenos Ayres to Mendoza, San Juan, 



and Valparaiso (about) 900 



Bravado and I'lanchon to Chili 650 



Rloja to Copiap6 (Chili) 300 



Totoralejo* to Rloja (branch of Great Northern). . . 200 



Parana to Concepcion 155 



Santa Fti to Swiss Colonies 17 



Great Southern, Las Florcs to Azul and Taudil. ... 130 



Corrientes to Mercedes 133 



Caseros to Mercedes 91 



Bahia Blanca to TandiL .- 140 



Lobon line, Las Ileras to 25 de Mayo 75 



Total 2,796 



By far the most important line in the whole 

 republic, and one .of the most so in the South 

 American Continent, will be the International 

 Railway, 935 miles long (or 840 exclusive of 

 the branch from Mendoza to San Juan), as it 

 will open up much-needed means of communi- 

 cation between the chief producing centres of 

 the interior and the ports of Valparaiso and 

 Buenos Ayres, passing Santa Rosa on the Chi- 

 lian side of the Andes, and bringing Buenos 

 Ayres and Valparaiso within from forty to sixty 

 hours' transit of each other. The gauge is to 

 be 39|- inches, as on the Tucuman line; the 

 concession has already been obtained by Clark 

 & Co. (who so successfully established the 

 Transandine Telegraph) ; and their estimate of 

 the cost is $29,325,000, being at the rate of 

 $25,000 per mile from Buenos Ayres to San 

 Juan, and $50,000 per mile across the Andes. 

 This estimate would appear extremely moder- 

 ate if compared with the $27,000,000 expended 

 on the railway from Vera Cruz to Mexico, but 

 263* miles in length, though presenting perhaps 

 greater difficulties for the engineers to surmount 

 than the Argentine and Chilian route. The 

 steepest grade, says Mr. Clark, by the Uspa- 

 llata Pass would be 1 in 25 for a short dis- 

 tance, and a tunnel nearly two miles long 

 would have to bo opened through hard rock ; 

 by the Patos route, two tunnels and a viaduct 

 would be necessary ; so the contractors prefer 



the first route. The fare from Baenos Ayres 

 to Valparaiso would be $50, or one-fourth the 

 passage by steamer ; and the contractors' esti- 

 mate of the annual passenger traffic on the 

 line is : 



Through-passenger* (10,000) ............. $500,000 



Way-passengers (40,000) ................. SOO.OoO 



Total receipts ...................... $700,000 



The Argentine share in the cost of the line 

 would bo somewhere about four times that of 

 the Chilian share. The guarantee on the total 

 cost of construction is 7 per cent. 



There are now 4,146 miles of telegraph- 

 wires in the republic, 2,618 of which are gov- 

 ernment property ; and extra wires from the 

 capital to C6rdoba and Santa F6 were con- 

 tracted for at $75,000, the work to be com- 

 pleted by the end of 1874. The messages 

 transmitted in 1872 reached the number of 

 181,773, the receipts being $78,528; and in 

 1873 they numbered only 170,823, but the re- 

 ceipts were larger by $3,300. The returns for 

 the first quarter of 1874 were nearly doublo 

 those of the year preceding. The uniform 

 rate is 26 cents per message of 20 words, on 

 the government lines. The line from Monte- 

 video to the Brazilian frontier being completed, 

 and the submarine cable between Lisbon and 

 Pernambuco successfully laid, the Argentine 

 Republic is now connected by telegraph with 

 the old continent. 



The returns for the Post-Office Department 

 were as follows for the two years expressed: 



The new general post-office, at a cost of 

 $90,000, is to be completed in March, 1875. 



A postal treaty with Brazil was ratified on 

 December 26, 1873. 



The insurrection in Entre-Rios np to Decem- 

 ber, 1873, had undergone no sensible modifica- 

 tion, nor was it deemed probable that the 

 spirit of rebellion could be permanently crushed 

 until the Government should resolve to dis- 

 patch an adequate force to the disturbed prov- 

 ince. This decisive step was ultimately taken, 

 and Colonel Gainza, at the head of a powerful 

 army, completely overthrew Jordan's troops, 

 then mustering about 6,000 horse and foot, 

 with eight pieces of cannon. The rebel chief 

 narrowly escaped capture, all his artillery fell 

 into the hands of the Government troops, and 

 the number of the killed was estimated at 1,000. 

 Thus ended a petty struggle which, had prompt 

 measures been adopted, might have been 

 terminated immediately after it began, but 

 which indecision permitted to be prolonged 

 until a series of futile attempts to bring it to a 

 close had cost the country no less a sum than 

 $16,000,000. Industry, in the mean time, was 

 not interrupted within the province ; and the 



