SWITZERLAND. 



777 



Norway, see "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1876.) 

 The movement of population in 1877 was as 

 follows : marriages, 14,095 ; births, 58 610 

 deaths, 31,449. 



The receipts for 1877 amounted to 47,589,- 

 100 crowns (1 crown = 26'8 cts.), the expendi- 

 tures to 49,342,400 crowns. The public debt 

 on December 31, 1877, amounted to 70,712,000 

 crowns. The imports in 1876 were valued at 

 167,398,000 crowns, and the exports at 118,- 

 137,000 crowns. The war navy in July, 1878, 

 consisted of 29 steamers, of 2,554 horse-power 

 and 142 guns, and 92 sailing vessels with 149 

 guns. The commercial navy in 1876 consisted 

 of 7,909 vessels, of 1,436,278 tons. The rail- 

 roads in operation in 1877 amounted to 822 

 kilometres. The number of government tele- 

 graph stations on December 31, 1877, was 128 ; 

 length of lines 7,619 ; and of wires, 13,719 kilo- 

 metres. The number of inland dispatches 

 sent was 515,403 ; of foreign dispatches sent, 

 128,836; and of foreign dispatches received, 

 142,905 ; making a total of 787,144. The rail- 

 road telegraphs are not included in these fig- 

 ures. The number of post-offices in 1877 was 

 870 ; the number of inland letters sent, 8,549,- 

 779; of foreign letters sent and received, 3,- 

 570,365. The number of newspapers sent and 

 received was 9,547,498. 



The Riksdag of Sweden assembled on Jan- 

 uary 17th. A bill was introduced in the first 

 days of the session by the Peasant party, hav- 

 ing for its object the reconstruction of the ar- 

 my and reform of the system of taxation. In 

 this bill the army was set down at 100,000 men. 

 Every man between the ages of twenty-two and 

 forty-five is to be liable to military service. This 

 bill was referred to a committee. On March 16th 

 the Government bill providing for the cession 

 of the island of St. Bartholomew^to France was 

 submitted to the Riksdag. The French Gov- 

 ernment agreed to pension the officers on the 

 island for life, and to provide for those officers 

 who wished to return to Sweden a free pas- 

 sage, and to pay to the Swedish Government 

 80,000 francs, which sum was to be employed 

 for the benefit of the islanders. The treaty 

 was concluded on August 10, 1877. Only one 

 member voted against the bill, and the island 

 was handed over to France on March 16th. 

 The army organization bill which was brought 

 forward by the Peasant party was passed by 

 the Lower Chamber on May 6th, but rejected 

 by the First Chamber. The Riksdag was closed 

 on May 25th. 



The Norwegian Parliament, the Storthing, 

 met on February 1st. In March it gave per- 

 mission to the Government to issue one or 

 more loans, not to exceed 31,000,000 crowns, 

 for the building of railways. A law was also 

 passed applying in future only to ministers and 

 judges the constitutional provision prohibiting 

 any but Lutherans from holding real estate. 

 The Storthing adjourned on June 22d. 



SWITZERLAND, a republic of central Eu- 

 rope, consisting of twenty-two cantons, three 



of which are divided into two independent half 

 cantons each. The President of the Federal 

 Council for 1878 was Dr. 0. Schenk, of Berne, 

 and the Vice-President H. Hammer, of Soletire. 

 The area of Switzerland is 15,981 square miles ; 

 the population, according to an official estimate, 

 was 2,776,035 on July 1, 1877. The area and 

 population of the different cantons were as 

 follows : 



The movement of population in 1877 was : 

 21,871 marriages, 92,861 births, 68,970 deaths, 

 and 3,617 still-births. 



The total revenue of the Confederation for 

 1877 amounted to 40,789,243 francs, and the 

 expenditures to 42,625,873 francs. The bud- 

 get for 1878 estimated the receipts at 40,442,- 

 000 francs, and the expenditures ot 42,808,000 

 francs. The liabilities of the republic amounted 

 at the close of 1877 to 36,125,378 francs, as a 

 set-off against which there was Federal prop- 

 erty amounting to 46,966,389 francs. 



The Federal army consists of the Bundesaus- 

 zug, comprising all male persons between the 

 ages of twenty and thirty-two, and Landwehr, 

 comprising all between thirty -three and forty- 

 four. In 1878 it comprised 542 officers and 119,- 

 440 men in the Bundesauszug, and 133 officers 

 and 91,595 men in the Landwehr. 



In 1877 there were 799 post-offices; num- 

 ber of internal letters sent, 46,531,718, and of 

 foreign letters, 18,842,928; parcels of foreign 

 and domestic printed matter, etc., 19,627,544. 

 The length of the Government telegraph lines 

 in 1877 was 6,507 kilometres, and of Govern- 

 ment wire 15,926 kilometres; number of sta- 

 tions, 1,080; of dispatches sent, 2,722,408. 



The Federal Assembly met on February 4th. 

 The principal business before the body was to 

 bring about an equality of the receipts and ex- 

 penditures, and for that purpose a resolution 

 was passed by both Houses of the Assembly, 

 that the Federal Council consider the question 

 " whether it would be advisable, in view of the 



