CHILI. 



105 



duced that year only $176,000. The revenue 

 from customs, which had been estimated at 

 $7,800,000, will show a decrease of $100,000. 

 In the other branches of revenue a propor- 

 tionate reduction will also have to be made. 

 Still. Mich reduction will not exceed $400,000. 

 To this must be added that expenditures have 

 ooiiMiliTably decreased. Ordinary expenses up 

 to October 81st scarcely reach $12,220,226, 

 while receipts up to the same time amount to 

 $18,204,290. Hence there was a balance in 

 favor of the treasury ; but it was apprehended 

 that the balance would disappear in November 

 and December, the revenue being at its lowest 

 ebb in those months. Nevertheless, it was 

 hoped that the ordinary revenue of the year 

 would pay ordinary expenses, and that, if there 

 should be a deficit, it would be very small. 

 Extraordinary expenses, amounting to $5,- 

 686,000, would be covered by the proceeds of 

 the loan ; and then Peru still owes Chili 

 $100,000 which the Minister of Finance hoped 

 would soon be paid. Passing to the financial 

 estimates for 1876, the only item to be reduced 

 was that of the Mejillones guano-beds, the pro- 

 ceeds of which for that year will prove $100,000 

 less than estimated by the minister. The total 

 receipts from railways do not seem to have 

 been over-estimated. Nevertheless, "on the 

 Santiago & Curic6 Railway it is very probable 

 that there will be some decrease, but it is also 

 very probable that the Chilian & Talcahuano 

 Railway will be unusually productive. It is 

 hoped that, after the termination of the great 

 public works undertaken, the situation of the 

 public finances will be such as to warrant the 

 appropriation of funds for the great necessities 

 of the day a rural police force, and charitable 

 donations." 



The finance committee of Congress assembled 

 in October, 1876, to examine the budget esti- 

 mates for the year 1876-'77. Numerous modi- 

 fications for economy were introduced into the 

 estimates of expenditure in the Departments of 

 the Interior and of Finance, the most consider- 

 able being the reduction from 25 to 16 per cent, 

 in the gratuity at present enjoyed by public 

 employes, which implies a saving of $260,000 

 per annum. Two of the committee voted for 

 its entire suppression, and another proposed a 

 sliding scale of from 5 to 25 per cent., to be 

 granted in inverse proportion to the amount 

 of the recipient's salary . The estimates of the 

 War and Navy Departments were revised, and 

 numerous modifications made, the staff being 

 reduced to the lowest legal footing, and the 

 crews of war-vessels limited to the force ab- 

 solutely necessary to preserve the ships and 

 anmtnent in proper condition : the retrench- 

 ments amount to $240,000. The estimates of 

 the Department of Justice, Worship, and In- 

 struction, were revised in a similar manner, 

 and cut down by $100,000. 



At a meeting of the Council of State, it was 

 resolved to summon Congress to an extraor- 

 dinary session on October 17th, for the pur- 



pose of deliberating upon the new budget 

 estimates, and other topics of no less im- 

 portance. 



About the same time the Minister of Finance 

 sent a note to the National Society of Agri- 

 culture, requesting the opinion of the directory 

 on the following points, with a view to the re- 

 forming of the agricultural tax: 1. If it would 

 be preferable to take as the basis of the tax the 

 value of the land, instead of the estimated rent 

 thereof, the former being more easily deter- 

 mined ; 2. If it would be advisable to exempt 

 small holdings from the tax ; 8. If a permanent 

 commission should be established to hear and 

 decide complaints; 4. If it would not be just 

 to concede the right of complaint to persons 

 who consider themselves aggrieved by an in- 

 adequate assessment upon their neighbors, or 

 if it would be more advisable to leave this 

 matter to the authorities. 



Late in 1876 the following decree was issued 

 from the Ministry of Finance : 



1. It will not be permitted to erase or alter the 

 original marks of goods to be refmbarked, nor add 

 others to them. 2. Merchandise destined to differ- 

 ent ports cannot be comprised in the same policy of 

 refmbarkation. 8. On every package refmbarked, 

 the custom-house will fix, by means of a special 

 brand, the name of the port at which the refmbar- 

 kation is effected, and or that to which the package 

 is directed, or the words " al estranjero " (for abroad). 

 The custom-houses will detain all packages disem- 

 barked bearing the latter inscription, until it be as- 

 certained whence they come. 4. Article 208 of the 

 custom-house regulations is hereby abolished. 



The bulletin of the National Agricultural 

 Society published the report of a commission 

 appointed to take into consideration the advis- 

 ability of relieving raw materials from inward 

 duty. To balance the loss to the revenue that 

 such a measure would entail, it was proposed 

 to increase from 25 to 35 per cent, the duties 

 on some classes of manufactured goods im- 

 ported from abroad. Wool, in whatever con- 

 dition, unspun, is free of duty, both inward 

 and outward. 



Public taxation in Chili amounts annually 

 to about $3.70 for each inhabitant. In 1833 it 

 was but $1.40i each; in 1868 it had reached 

 $2.38 each. 



The statutes of the Banco Consolidado de 

 Chili association have been approved. The 

 capital is $1,500,000; the reserve fund, $600,- 

 000, formed by a deduction of not less than 

 five per cent, from each half-yenr's net profits. 

 This bank is the section of the Banco Nacional 

 de Bolivia domiciled in Chili. 



The total national debt, in April, 1875, etood 

 as follows : 



Homedebt |ia,W,00 



Foreign debt 40,66,000 



Total $ai,8,00 



The railway branch of the debt amounted 

 in June, 1876, to $35,000,000. 



The total value and the destination of the 

 exports were as follows in 1876 : 



