COLOMBIA. 



117 



The following table exhibits the amount per 

 ion inhabitant* which i-arh of the nine States 

 appropriated to public instruction in 1874-'75: 



I'uiiiliimiiiarca $87 48 



Bantaiulur 29 14 



Aatloquia 18 04 



MaKdttlrna 1ft 68 



Tollnia 12 64 



Cauca $12 00 



Boyaca 889 



Bolivar 827 



Puuama 6 99 



Tho number of normal schools in the re- 

 public in 1875, with the attendance thereat, 

 etc., is set forth in the subjoined table: 



The only railways in the republic are the 

 Panama, 47| miles in length ; that from Saba- 

 nilla to Barranquilla, 15 miles; and the new 

 line from Puerto Barrio to Medellin, only a 

 part of which was opened to traffic in 1876. 

 It will be eight or nine years before it is com- 

 pleted. There were, in 1875, 1,227 miles of 

 telegraph, the number of dispatches trans- 

 mitted in the same year being 98,375. 



,In May, 1875, the Colombian Congress passed 

 a law authorizing the Executive to negotiate 

 for the opening a communication by canal be- 

 tween the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Nego- 

 tiations were shortly afterward commenced, 

 and a contract was drawn up, the terms of 

 which we here transcribe : 



The undersigned, Manuel Ancizar, Secretary of 

 State for the Departments of Interior and Foreign 

 Relations, of the Colombian Government, duly au- 

 thorized by the President of the Union, and Antonio 

 de Gogorza, for himself and for General Stephen 

 Turr, according to sufficient power exhibited, have 

 agreed to the following : 



ARTICLE I. Antonio de Gogorza, in his own behalf 

 and that of his client, General Stephen Turr, accepts 

 in all its parts, and as part of the present agree- 

 ment, the Colombian law, No. 88, of May 26, 1875, 

 44 authorizing the Executive power to negotiate for 

 the opening up communication by canal between 

 tin- Atlantic and Pacific Oceans," and submits to 

 the provisions and conditions therein made. And 

 reciprocally the Colombian Government hereby con- 

 cedes to, and puts them in possession of, the fran- 

 chises granted in section 1 of Article II. of the 

 above-cited law, counting the ninety-nine years of 

 privilege from the date hereof. 



ART. II. The Colombian Government authorizes 

 General Turr and Senor Gogorza to associate them- 

 selves with two persons, approved of by the minister 

 of the republic in France or Great Britain, and by 

 them deemed competent, and proceed to form an 

 international commission of engineers to survey the 

 isthmus nt Darien, and at the expense of the gran- 

 tees to make the exploration mentioned in condition 

 three. Article II. of the law above cited, and within 

 the time therein allowed ; within twelve months 

 thereafter to make report to the Colombian Govern- 

 ment of the result of said exploration in the manner 



provided in the above-cited condition three of the 

 law : Provided, That should unforeseen accident, 

 Mich as earthquake, inundation, or armed remittance 

 of the natives, cause delay, a reasonable extension 

 of time be grantt <!. 



ART. III. The tracing and fixing of the line of the 

 canal in all its length, as aUo that of any auxiliary 

 railway that may be projected from ocean to ocean, 

 must be wholly beyond and to the east of a straight 

 line connecting the cape of Tiburon with the Lead- 

 land of Garachine, whose exact situation will be de- 

 termined by the exploring engineers. 



ART. IV. Should the river Atrato be selected by 

 the engineers as one of the entries to the canal, its 

 mouth, through which such entrance is proposed, 

 must be channeled and adapted to the ingress and 

 egress of vessels of six hundred tons, and be con- 

 sidered part of the line of the canal. But the navi- 

 gation of the Atrato. in so far as its channel may not 

 constitute part of the canal, shall remain free and 

 unincumbered. 



ART. V. Should the preliminary survey referred 

 to (in Article III.) show the practicability of a canal 

 without locks or tunnels, the grantees, General Turr 

 and A. de Gogorza, and their associates, will, under 

 the immediate patronage of the Colombian Govern- 

 ment, be authorized to form, within the eighteen 

 months specified by the law, a company for the exe- 

 cution of the work. 



ART. VI. The deposit mentioned in Article III. of 

 the law cited shall be made in such bank as the na- 

 tional Executive may designate, the receipt of the 

 bank being evidence of the fulfillment of said obli- 

 gation. Said deposit may be in bonds of the Colom- 

 bian foreign debt, at the market price at the time 

 of the deposit. It is understood that, in case the 

 grantees should forfeit this deposit under provision 

 of section 2 of Article XXIII. of the cited law, the 

 same, with the accumulated interest, will pass, with- 

 out any reduction, to the Colombian Government. 



ABT. VII. The wild lands ceded by Article IV. of 

 the cited law shall be adjudged to the grantees as 

 soon as the deposit shall have been made. Those 

 situated on the banks of the canal, rivers, or mari- 

 time coasts, shall be divided into lots alternating with 

 those of equal size reserved to the Government, and 

 fronting those reserved to the Government on the 

 opposite sides of the canal, rivers, or coasts. None 

 of said lots shall measure less than three nor more 

 than four thousand metres of front on said canal, 

 rivers, or coasts, thus forming an area of, say, one 

 thousand hectares, more or less. With a belt of six 

 and a half miles (one thousand miriametros) on either 

 side of the canal, the Government can concede no 

 lands (to other parties) until the expiration of the 

 ten years from the time of the commencement of the 

 work, or until after the present grantees shall have 

 received the entire quantity ceded them by Article 

 IV. of the law above cited. 



ART. VIII. The number of fiscal agents which, 

 under provisions of Article IV., may be placed at the 

 termini of the canal, shall not exceed twice the num- 

 ber in the custom-house at Barranquilla ; and their 

 salaries, so far as the same may become chargeable 

 to the company, shall not exceed those allotted to 

 employe's or the same class in said custom-house. 



ART. IX. Until the contingency mentioned in Ar- 

 ticle XIX. (Article XVII.?) of the law above cited, 

 the tonnage of vessels shall be stated in their char- 

 ters or registers, and that of their cargo shall be set 

 forth in their manifests and bills of lading. 



ART. X. The grantees obligate themselves to con- 

 stitute an agent in Bogota, duly authorized to repre- 

 sent them in the adjustment of debts and disputes 

 that may arise from adverse construction of con- 

 tract ; and, for a like purpose, the Government shall 

 nnme an agent to reside near the domicile of the com- 

 pany. In every case where irreconcilable differences 

 may arise, they shall be submitted to the decision of 

 the Federal Supreme Court. 



