I'KKU. 



PORTUGAL. 



185 



proveraent in the class of men employed in that aer- 

 vioo, and the cooperation of the inhubiuntit, who 

 have taken part iu the new police nguUtloaa, will 

 render tlie advantages already derived from tlie now 

 system more and more manifest every duy. But 

 before a complete reform baa boon made in the ad- 

 ministration of justice in criminal affairs, little real 

 good can be expected from police reforms. 



The corps of civil-engineers has also boon recon- 

 structed upon a now basis ; the ministry have called 

 . rvico the minority of the Peruvian engineers, 

 and a i i >roigners beside*, all lamiliur with 



milling operutionA, and their assistants are youths 

 cliosun, utter a rigorous examination, from among 

 the students in the College of Sciences. Tlie eatab- 

 . nt of a new School of Mines has, with our 

 extended railway system, become an obvious ne- 

 cessity, and stops have already been taken toward 

 its accomplishment. 



The national printing-office has been completely 

 refitted, preparatory to the putting into press Senor 

 Kaimondi's illustrated work on Peru, to be published 

 with an atlas, by order of the Government. 



A contract has been made for the placing Payta in 

 telegraphic communication with Panama; and it is 

 hoped that, spite of some obstacles raised by the 

 Government ot Colombia, this project of linking Peru 

 to the great telegraphic net-work of the world will 

 in due tune be consummated. The laying of another 

 cable southward of Chili and the Argentine Republic 

 is likewise contemplated, and this line, when com- 

 pleted, cannot fail to promote the mutual interests 

 of the three states joined together. 



A Board of Immigration has been organized, mainly 

 composed of distinguished foreign residents in our 

 country, interested at once in its welfare and that 

 of the strangers who disembark upon our shores. 

 The association, although with very limited means 

 at its command, has already given proofs of its 

 efficacy, in earnest of the good results fairly to be 

 expected from its efforts. The Government, well 

 it ware of the many social and political advantages to 

 be derived from an extended immigration, will shortly 

 sue for your sanction for the introduction of 50,000 

 immigrants ; but the accomplishment of the project 

 on so extended a scale must of necessity depend 

 upon the liberality of your appropriations for the pur- 

 pose. 



Primary instruction requires two elements for its 

 reform: liberal and regular appropriations, and a 

 larger and more competent corps of teachers. It is 

 the opinion of the Government that the municipal 

 councils should bo permitted to make the school-tax 

 obligatory. Rules for primary instruction have been 

 fixed by decree ; education has been rendered com- 

 pulsory in so far as the branches obtainable in all 

 the schools throughout the republic are concerned, 

 and the establishment of higher schools in each de- 

 partment has been authorized. The requirements 

 of grammar-school instruction have likewise been 

 attended to, in order to abolish preparatory courses 

 in the universities, and admission to these has been 

 confined to such as are quite prepared to enter upon 

 university studies. A number of competent teachers 

 have been engaged in Europe, and the services of 

 many more still will be engaged ; and arrangements 

 are likewise on foot for the establishment of suit- 

 able normal schools. The departmental councils 

 are authorized to institute correctional agricultural 

 schools for uneducated children, to be supported out 

 of certain branches of the ordinary contributions, a 

 portion of those outstanding in Puno and Arequipa 

 having been granted for the purpose. 



In finances we have had to overcome many ob- 

 stacles, a great monetary crisis having weighed upon 

 the country for the last two years. The Huffurin ,'.< 

 resulting therefrom are commonly attributed rather 

 to the remedies adopted for the mitigation of the 

 evil than to the excesses which gave rise to it. The 

 most absorbing subject of attention for me has been 



the depression in the bonds of the national debt, 

 mainly owing to the fact that tho financial agent* 

 woro obliged to sell at the end of that year, ana the 

 OODtioul and exaggerated reports of political disor- 

 ders in tho interior, and above all to tne doubt* aug- 

 gested aa to the sufficiency of the guano deposit* to 

 meet the interest and sinking-fund of our homo 

 debt, both of which have, however, been attended 

 to with that punctuality ever characteristic of Peru. 



Again, a special survey in the southern deponiu 

 has proved the existence of guano in sufficient quan- 

 tities to meet all our obligations, after the exhauntion 

 of the northern beds. The most convenient mode 

 of shipment for this guano is at present under con- 

 sideration, and the examination of still other de- 

 posits steadily carried forward. 



During the year 1878 no less than 7-42,906 sole* * 

 were paid out of tho proceeds of the guano-beds, on 

 account of our European debt of 1872; 1,469,237.74 

 wore applied on account of the home debt in tho 

 same year, out of the national revenue ; and on July 

 1st of the present vear (1874) the Peruvian-Chilian 

 debt to the United States waa liquidated out of tho 

 proceeds of the guano sold in that country. 



The expenditures for the Lwt yci.r amounted to 

 17,889,100.62 soles, of which 1,505,114.32 soles rep- 

 resent the floating debt for the same period. The 

 budget for that year amounted to 23,611,407.95 soles. 



Despite the financial troubles, public works have 

 not been interrupted. Within the two yean last 

 pant, 370 miles of railway have been constructed ; 

 rails have been laid over a distance of 523 miles; 

 and forty -three tunnels, of a total length of 3 miles, 

 have been opened, t Barely 25 miles remain to be 

 completed on the Oroya line. 



Steam navigation has been regularly established 

 on Lake Titicaca, almost on the crest of the Andes ; 

 and, after seven years of unremitting labor, tho 

 thorough exploration of our eastern rivers has been 

 terminated. 



The army, though small, is undergoing a slow but 

 efficient process of reorganization, and the future 

 soldiers of the republic will find education within 

 their reach in the Military College and schools al- 

 ready in satisfactory operation. The National Guard 

 has done excellent service whenever the preserva- 

 tion of order has called them into requisition. A 

 measure as indispensable for the army as for the 

 public is that of a reform in the regulations conoem- 

 in retired officers and their widows, for the un- 

 settled condition in which the present law leaves 

 such a large number of officers always awaiting ap- 

 pointment renders their existence precarious, and 

 not unfrequcntly gives rise to disturbance. The re- 

 verse is the case with our naval officers, whose 

 attainments cause them to be so eagerly sought after 

 by private companies, that special regulations are 

 necessary to secure their services to the state. New 

 naval schools have been opened in the course of the 

 past year. 



Such are briefly the subjects which more especial- 

 ly engaged the attention of the Government for the 

 last t\vo years, though the requirements of the coun- 

 try and mv own wishes might have extended much 

 further. Whatever has been done has mainly tended 

 to eradicate the obstacles of the past, and sow the 

 seed of future prosperity. It is not always given 

 the laborer to reap the fruit of his toil ; but, although 

 the vanity of the commander may not be satisfied, 

 the conscience of the statesman is at rest ; and what 

 is the vanity of one individual as compared to the 

 welfare of a nation I 



PORTUGAL, a kingdom in Southwestern 

 Europe. King, Louis I., born October 81, 1888 ; 

 succeeded bis brother, King Pedro V., Novem- 



* Equal to about 90 cent*. 



t For the details of railways In Peru, tt the 



On I."l'.:i>l.\ !,ir 1018. 



