ITALY. 



457 



to Parliament the question relating to the re- 

 cent abolition of the Ministry of Trade and 

 Agriculture. 



The Chambers adjourned on April 15th for 

 the Easter holidays, and reassembled on May 

 1st. On that day Signor Cairoli contradicted 

 the reports respecting the mediation of Italy 

 in the Eastern question. Count Corti, the 

 Foreign Minister, said that the course followed 

 by the Government would be in conformity 

 with the wishes of the people ; that is, it would 

 keep aloof as far as possible from all foreign 

 complications. Signor Conforti, Minister of 

 Justice, replying to questions put to him in 

 the Chamber of Deputies, stated on May 8th 

 that he intended shortly to lay before the 

 House the penal and commercial codes ; that 

 he personally was in favor of the abolition of 

 capital punishment; and that with regard to the 

 questions of marriages celebrated in churches 

 only and the redistribution of ecclesiastical 

 property, it would be necessary to await the 

 result of the inquiry that had now commenced 

 into these matters before presenting any bills 

 on the subject. The Minister of Finance, in 

 concert with the Minister of War, presented a 

 bill on May 15th asking for a supplementary 

 vote of ten millions for war estimates. This 

 additional outlay was described as urgently re- 

 quired, and as having been circumscribed with- 

 in the narrowest limits ; 1,500,000 was for the 

 forage of 3,000 horses above the regulation 

 number; 4,000,000 on account of the larger 

 sum to be asked for works of fortification, it 

 being indispensable that the Government should 

 in the mean time have this amount at its dis- 

 posal ; 1,200,000 for additional cannon of sev- 

 en centimetres; 1,800,000 for ammunition; 

 1,000,000 for military buildings; 500,000 for 

 cavalry pistols, and other minor things. 



On May 18th Signor Baccarini, the Minister 

 of Public Works, brought in a bill for the con- 

 struction of new railways to the extent of 

 about 4,000 kilometres, at a total cost of about 

 830,000,000 lire. The expenditure for national 

 lines is wholly to be borne by the state, while 

 to the local, provincial, district, and interpro- 

 vincial lines, the Government will contribute 

 in various proportions. 



On June 3d Signor Seismit-Doda, the Minis- 

 ter of Finance, presented the financial state- 

 ment to the House. The treasury account of 

 1877 as compared with 1876, he said, showed 

 an improvement of 13,000,000 lire. He ex- 

 pressed the conviction that the treasury deficit 

 would be reduced ten or twelve million lire 

 within the year. The happy prospects of an 

 abundant harvest, as demonstrated by reports 

 from all the sixty-nine prefects of provinces, 

 and the beneficial results which might be ex- 

 pected from the deliberations of the Congress, 

 were additional reasons for calculating upon the 

 financial progress he anticipated. As regards 

 the provisional budget for 1879, he demon- 

 strated that from the year 1873 to 1877 there 

 had been a steady increase of income by 30,- 



000,000 lire per annum ; but he would calcu- 

 late on 11,000,000 lire for 1879. To this he 

 would add 4,000,000 lire increase on the build- 

 ing tax, 6,000,000 through the new treaties of 

 commerce or the application of general tariffs, 

 and 10,000,000 from tobacco duties. He cal- 

 culated also on 3,000,000 lire from savings. 

 He demonstrated, finally, that as in 1879 there 

 would be a diminution in the extraordinary 

 expenditure of 15,000,000 lire, and an increased 

 income of 59,700,000 lire, from which it would 

 be necessary to deduct 14,200,000 lire for in- 

 creased outlay in 1879, a surplus of 45,500,000 

 lire might be expected. Of this he would set 

 off 10,000,000 against eventualities, 12,000,000 

 he would devote to lessening the treasury de- 

 ficit, and 23,000,000 he assigned to the dimi- 

 nution of taxes. This, he said, was the first 

 time Italy had been able to look forward to so 

 large a surplus. Perhaps the whole ought to 

 be devoted to diminishing the treasury debt, 

 which amounted to 1,163,366,016 lire; but 

 against this considerable debt the state was 

 not unprovided with disposable property. Enu- 

 merating it, he gave the total as 674,000,000 

 lire. Of this 23,000,000 would be consumed 

 in 1879. The burdens to be passed on to fu- 

 ture years consisted of the railway obligations, 

 but against these was the progressive diminu- 

 tion of the redeemable debt. The year 1882 

 would give a diminution of 31,000,000 lire, 

 and each following year a larger amount, until 

 in 1892 the diminution would be 91,000,000 

 lire in twelve months. The Minister then 

 went on to speak of the diminution and aboli- 

 tion of taxes proposed to take effect from Jan- 

 uary, 1879. They were a quarter of the grist 

 tax, which would amount to 20,734,000 lire, 

 the abolition of some export duties on agricul- 

 tural products, 1,400,000 lire, with the aboli- 

 tion of all navigation duties, and river, lake, 

 and canal tolls, 1,400,000 lire. He- hoped 

 eventually to be able entirely to abolish the 

 grist tax. The Minister spoke also in a confi- 

 dent tone of being able shortly to commence 

 the extinction of the forced currency. 



On October 22d Signor Cairoli presented to 

 the King the resignations of Count Corti, Minis- 

 ter of Foreign Affairs, General Bruzzo, Minis- 

 ter of War, and Admiral di Brochetti, Minis- 

 ter of the Navy. At the same time he stated 

 that the whole Cabinet wished to resign. The 

 King protested warmly, and declared that even 

 if the whole Cabinet retired from office, he 

 would again charge Signor Cairoli with the 

 formation of a new ministry. A solution was 

 finally reached by which Signor Depretis as- 

 sumed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gen- 

 eral Bonelli that of War, the former Minister 

 of War that of the Navy, and Professor Pes- 

 sina, an eminent writer on political economy, 

 that of Agriculture and Commerce. Profes- 

 sor Pessina accepted the appointment on con- 

 dition that he was not to enter upon his office 

 for several weeks. 



The Chambers assembled on November 26th. 



