ARGENTINE EEPUBLIO. 



33 



246 kilogrammes ; and sheep-skins, 24,502,558 

 kilogrammes. Of animal fat (tallow and oil) 

 15,248,648 kilogrammes were shipped, of the 

 value of $2,089,561. 



Of jerked beef, the quantity exported was 

 25,504,897 kilogrammes, the value of which 

 amounted to $1,013,745. 



The value of the jerked beef exported in 

 1873 was $1,383,000, that is to say, more than 

 a quarter of a million greater than that of the 

 quantity exported of the same article in the 

 year following. 



Other articles, with their quantities and 

 value, were as follows : 



The shipping movements at the various ports 

 of the republic, in 1873 and 1874, were as fol- 

 lows: 



There are at present 899 miles of railway 

 open to public traffic, the last 55 miles of the 

 East Argentine, from Federation to Oaseros, 

 having been completed in the course of the 

 year, and 75 miles of the Rio Quinto line. 



The railways in process of construction form 

 an aggregate of 1,132 miles; and those pro- 

 jected or conceded, some 2,796 miles, including 

 that to connect the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, 

 by the ports of Buenos Ayres on one side and 

 of Valparaiso and Oaldera on the other. 



A proposal was made by Messrs. Telfener & 

 Co. to purchase the Tucuman Railway, and 

 construct branches to Salta, Jujuy, Rioja, 

 Catamarca, and Santiago, the terms of which 

 purchase, as recommended by a committee 

 of deputies, and reported as likely to be re- 

 ceived favorably by the Senate, were as fol- 

 lows: 



ARTICLE I. The Government is authorized to sell 

 the railway from Cordoba to Tucuman (continuation 

 of the Central Argentine, 90 miles) to Messrs. Telfe- 

 ner & Co., on the following terms : 



1. The price shall be the same as the line has cost 

 the nation. 



2. The Government gives a 7 per cent, guarantee 

 for twenty-five years on the amount. 



3. The line will be handed over in sections, the 

 purchaser paying for each section at the time. 



4. The working expenses shall be fixed at 55 per 

 cent, of the gross receipts. 



5. The guarantee shall be liquidated and paid 

 half-yearly. 



6. When the earnings exceed 7 per cent, the sur- 

 plus shall go to reimburse the sums paid on account 

 of guarantee by the Government. 



7. The tariffs shall be regulated in accord with the 

 Government. 



8. The guarantee shall run on each section as paid 

 for. 



9. The buyer or buyers must carry the mails and 

 mail agent gratis ; also Government employe's, sol- 

 diers, and merchandise for half price, as well as im- 

 migrants and materials for branch railways. 



10. The legal head-office of the company must be 

 in this republic. 



11. The railway and branches to be free of taxes 

 for twenty- five years. 



_ 12. The company may import materials for the 

 line, duty free, during twenty-five years. 



ART. II. The proceeds of the sale of the Tucuman 

 line shall be devoted to extending it to Salta and 

 Jujuy, and making the necessary branches. 

 VOL. xv. 3 A 



ART. III. The Government shall proceed to have 

 surveys made for the branches to Santiago, Cata- 

 maroa, and Rioja. 



ART. IV. If Messrs. Telfener & Co. do not accept 

 these terms, the Government may sell the line to any 

 other company on the same terms. 



The chief modifications proposed by Mr. Tel- 

 fener were in regard to the branches, which 

 he offered to build himself on a 7 per cent, 

 guarantee, whereas Congress preferred to de- 

 vote to that purpose the $8,000,000 fixed upon 

 as the amount to be paid by the purchasers. 

 This latter disposal of the proceeds of the sale 

 would, of course, be all the more agreeable to 

 British capitalists, as it would show them that 

 the money obtained in 1871 for the building 

 of railways continues to be appropriated to 

 the same object. 



"It is not hazardous to predict," writes a 

 London editor, "that the Tucuman Railway 

 and branches will increase by one-fourth the 

 products and revenue of the country ; and Mr. 

 Telfener's interest in London will be consider- 

 ably favored by a statement recently published, 

 to the effect that the traffic on the Great South- 

 ern Railway for the first six months of 1875 

 was 50 per cent, in advance of that of the cor- 

 responding period of 1874, and that the net 

 profits averaged nearly 12 per cent, on the 

 company's capital. (The Great Southern line 

 unites Buenos Ayres and Dolores, the length 

 being 130 miles.) The Central Argentine re- 

 turned a like increase of 50 per cent, for the 

 year ending May, 1875." Moreover, money 

 was then at 2 per cent, in London, which low 

 rate had only been reached five times in the 

 course of a century. 



The department of engineers having been 

 abolished, the surveys for the projected line 

 from Concordia to Gualeguaychti (160 miles) 

 were approved by the new Committee of Pub- 

 lic Works. 



The Provincial Legislature of Buenos Ayres 

 has decided to prolong the Western Railway to 

 Bragado, thirty-two miles from Chivilcoy, at a 

 cost of 250,000, to be defrayed out of one- 

 fourth of the profits of the line from January, 

 1876. The annual profits average about 80,- 



