3 6 SPAIN 



been very poor. The vintage was the best since 1908, and an increase in the acreage under 

 vineyards took place for the first time for many years. Parasitic growths attacked the orange, 

 almond and spice crops, but the orange trade escaped serious injury; with other branches of 

 the fruit export trade it was adversely affected by the British coal strike in 1912. 



Commerce. Spanish banking, electrical and railway enterprises have continued to attract 

 foreign capital, the most important new venture being the Barcelona Traction, Light and 

 Power Company, a Canadian company with a capital of 8,000,000. The great develop- 

 ment scheme, intended to devote a loan of 60,000,000 to harbour improvements, railways, 

 irrigation, afforestation and similar public works, never came to fruition, but good progress 

 was made with the building of new roads, especially motor highways, and the first of 

 the new light railways a line 18 m. long in Palencia was opened in 1912. 



On January I, 1912, the new tariff came into operation. It involves reductions in the. 

 duties on most cotton and some woollen and silk goods, on sewing machines, tools, iron and 

 steel wire ropes, iron and steel plates, paper and cardboard. There are increases in the duties 

 on hemp and linen yarns, washed wool and untanned hides and skins. 



The mining industry was impeded not only by the industrial agitation but by the new 

 mining law (Dec. 29, 1910). This law makes the head rent payable in a lump sum 

 instead of quarterly, the ownership lapsing in default of such payment when due. As the 

 mine owners were not given adequate notice, many mines lapsed, i.e. were confiscated. The 

 export trades, shipping, railway and gas industries all felt the effects of the British coal strike 

 in the early months of 1912, while the great floods at the same time caused much loss of life 

 and property in southern and south-eastern Spain, especially in the Guadalquivir valley. 

 Near Seville, 15 villages with an aggregate population of 34,000 were totally submerged, and 

 the destruction of crops and live-stock was widespread. Nevertheless the two years 1911 

 and 1912 have been a period of moderate prosperity and expanding trade. The exports for 

 the first three months of 1912 showed an increase over those of 1911, rising from 9,468,000 

 to 10,585,000, while the imports only decreased from 10,296,000 to 10,279,000. 



Finance. The Octroi was abolished on June 3, 1911, and a tax on house rents substituted 

 for it. The Canalejas government also endeavoured to lighten the burdens of the poorer 

 classes by reducing the sugar duties to about 253. per cwt. and increasing the death duties. 

 These changes were accompanied by numerous much-needed increases in official salaries, and 

 by additional grants for educational purposes. 



The national debt on January I, IOII, amounted to 39 1,491,000 (91,787,281,388 pesetas). 

 In the following December, Senor Canalejas persuaded the king to re-enact for 1912 the 

 budget of 1911; the Spanish Constitution permitted the budget for one year to be once thus 

 re-enacted. The estimates showed an expenditure of 45,240,000 (1,131,000,000 p.) and 

 a revenue of 45,280,000 (1,132,000,000 p.); but the war expenditure destroyed this apparent 

 equilibrium. The budget for 1913, introduced in May 1912, showed a heavy deficit on this 

 account. Senor Navarro Reverter, the Finance Minister, seeing that a foreign loan was im- 

 possible and an internal one would be unpopular, arranged to raise the current credit of the 

 Treasury with the Bank of Spain from 75 to 100 million pesetas (3,400,000 to 4,000,000). 

 At the same time the Treasury was empowered to borrow 100 million pesetas from the bank 

 at I per cent; and to reduce the interest on the existing debt of the same amount (owing on 

 account of the American War) from 2 per cent to I per cent also. In return the bank was 

 apparently authorized to issue notes up to the value of 200 million pesetas without covering 

 the extra issue with 50 per cent of gold in reserve, as previously required for all notes issued 

 in excess of a total of 1,500 million pesetas. The amount of notes in circulation on May 4, 

 1912, was 1, 806 million pesetas. 



Defence. The first ship of the new Spanish navy, a gunboat of 800 tons, was launched at 

 Cartagena on January 26, 1911; and on February 8, 1912, the battleship "Espana" was 

 launched at Ferrol. This is a vessel of the Dreadnought type, displacing 15,450 tons, and 

 with a contract speed of 19.5 knots. On April 24, 1911, the king inaugurated the first 

 powerful station for wireless telegraphy, at the military camp of Carabanchel, near Madrid. 



The Industrial Agitation. An epidemic of strikes, often accompanied by rioting 

 and the destruction of property, swept over the industrial districts of Spain between 

 October 1910 and July 1911. In August 1911 it culminated in an economic and political 

 crisis of the gravest character. Members of the French General Confederation of 

 Labour had been invited to address a series of meetings in Madrid and Barcelona. They 

 were expelled, by order of the government, owing to the inflammatory nature of their 

 speeches. Disturbances followed in Catalonia, but the repressive measures taken by 

 General Weyler, the Captain General, restored the semblance of order for a few days. 

 The transport workers in Bilbao then struck work, to be followed by the miners and 

 factory hands; and the employers declared a lock-out. Work ceased throughout the 

 district, and the crisis developed rapidly. King Alfonso, who had been visiting England 

 with the Queen (Aug. i4th-26th), returned hurriedly to Madrid on August 3Oth. The 



