I'KUSSIA. 



I. NATIONAL DKRT MARINO INTBBBST: 

 ,s,,lldiiti>d d.,|it of May i, 

 ( SUitUM-huldBchelna). . . 149,188,000 

 _'. I '.-l>t of provinces aniirxod 



In 1-wUJ 97,5M>,7M 



8. Non-consolidated loans of 

 1850, 1852, isM, 1862, and 

 I-ns 112,647,600 



4. War debt uf the Kunuark 



ml Noumark 2,8*9,949 



5. I'n-IVivnce loan of 1855 87,180.000 



6. Consolidated loan of 1870... 4M08JM 

 T. State railroad debt 48,066,451 



Total national debt bearing Interest 888,809,585 



II. NATIONAL DEBT NOT BEABINO INTEREST: 



Floating debt (Schatzanwetsungen) 80,000,000 



Total national debt 918,809,685 



The following table exhibits the rapid re- 

 duction of the public debt of Prussia since 

 1872: 



YEARS. Total Public Debt. 



1876 919,409,505 



1875 947,118,086 



1874 1,014.227,807 



1878 1,081,882.307 



1872 1,317,888,584 



The session of the Prussian Diet was opened 

 on January 16th, more than eighty members 

 being present. Herr Camphausen, Minister of 

 Finance, and Vice-President of the Prussian 

 Ministry, read the speech from the throne. 

 The speech commenced by referring to the 

 pressure weighing upon trade and industry, 

 but expressed confidence that the Prussian 

 people would succeed 

 through their energy in 

 overcoming the difficul- 

 ties of the situation. 

 The revenue was not 

 so large as set down in 

 the estimates for 1876, 

 but sufficient to carry 

 on the administration 

 in the same manner 

 as formerly, to allow 

 larger grants in various 

 departments, and to 

 give further develop- 

 ment to the great pub- 

 lic works of construc- 

 tion which had been un- 

 dertaken. The speech 

 announced that the 

 budget would be im- 

 mediately submitted to 

 the Diet, as also bills 

 for settling the juris- 

 diction of the newly- 

 created public author- 

 ities, altering the regulations for the adminis- 

 tration of towns, forming a communal union 

 for the city of Berlin, regulating the question 

 of settlement and legal position of agricultural 

 and forest laborers, completing the laws for 

 the protection of forests, granting a legal sanc- 

 tion to the rules of the General Synod, and 

 regulating the state's rights of supervision 

 over the Evangelical Churches. The speech 

 remarked that the preliminary labors con- 

 nected with the drafting of a law upon the 



state right of supervision and administration 

 of the property of Catholic dioceses were ap- 

 proaching their conclusion. The debates on 

 the budget were prolonged by the frequent 

 and violent attacks made by the members of 

 the Centre upon the policy of the Government 

 in regard to the Catholic Church ; but on 

 March 24th the llerrenhaus adopted it in the 

 form it came up from the Abgeordnetenhaus. 

 A considerable excitement was produced by 

 the introduction of a Government bill tor the 

 sale of the Prussian railways to the empire. 

 The bill has only two paragraphs. The first, 

 which has five clauses, commences thus: "The 

 Government is empowered to conclude treaties 

 with the German Empire by which shall be 

 transferred to the German Empire, by pur- 

 chase for a proper consideration, all state rail- 

 ways, including those railways still to be con- 

 structed, as well as those already in existence, 

 with all premises and all existing rights and 

 obligations." The second clause provides that 

 all state rights having reference to the admin- 

 istration or management of the railways not 

 belonging to the state shall be transferred to 

 the German Empire. The third clause states 

 that there shall be ceded to the German Em- 

 pire to the same extent all other rights or 

 shares incumbent on the state in connection 

 with the railways. The fourth clause recites 



ROYAL PALACK, POTSDAM. 



that the German Government takes upon itself 

 other state obligations connected with rail- 

 ways which are not its own. By the fifth 

 clause the right of controlling the railways of 

 the country is passed over to the Government. 

 In the second paragraph the approval of both 

 Houses of the Prussian Diet is reserved. With 

 regard to the clauses 8 and 4 of the first para- 

 graph, the explanations given in the bill occupj 

 sixteen narrowly-printed pages. Stress is laid 

 upon the long-needed reform of railway affairs 



