PORTUGAL. 



750 



EXPENDITURE. 



1. Public debt 13.089:011 



2. Ministry of Finance 5,781) : 583 



3. of the Interior 2,291:451 



4. of Worship and Justice (J27 : 872 



5. ofWar 4,374 : bS8 



(5. of Marine and Colonies 1,607 : 411 



7. of Foreign Affairs 267 : 941 



8. of Public Works. 2,f>88 : 6o 



'J. Expenditures extraordinary 8,81)8 : 000 



Total 84,478: 143 



The national debt, on June 30, 1879, stood 

 at 387,659 : 575 milreis, against 374.122 : 000 in 

 1878. 



a According to a report of the Minister of 

 Finance, laid before the Cortes in the session 

 of 1879," says a British statistician, "the total 

 funded debt of Portugal amounted to 374,122 

 contos of reis, or 83.137,702, on the 30th of 

 June, 1878. Of this total, the home debt was 

 represented by 220,264 contos of reis, or 48,- 

 947,248, and the foreign debt by 153,858 con- 

 tos of reis, or 34,190,452. The funded debt 

 of Portugal, per head of population, is, by this 

 statement, nearly as large as that of the United 

 Kingdom, the quota of debt for each inhab- 

 itant amounting to 22 10s., and the annual 

 share of interest, at 3 per cent, to 13s. Gd. 

 Besides the funded debt there is a large float- 

 ing debt, estimated variously at from 2,500,- 

 000 to 4,000,000 sterling. The largest por- 

 tion of the foreign debt of Portugal consists 

 of three loans raised in 1877, in 1878, and in 

 1880. The first of these, a foreign loan of 

 6,500,000 nominal at 3 per cent, was issued 

 at 50. Only 3,000,000 of this loan was sub- 

 scribed at the time. This was followed by the 

 issue of another foreign loan of 2,500,000 on 

 the same terms, in July, 1878, and finally by a 

 foreign loan of 4,000,000, issued in Decem- 

 ber, 1880. The floating debt of Portugal has 

 been increasing in recent years, although its 

 gradual extinction was decreed in 1873, when 

 the Government raised a loan for this special 

 object. This loan, issued in September, 1873, 

 was in bonds for the nominal amount of 8,- 

 500,000, at 3 per cent, the issue-price being 

 43 \ per cent. The interest on the public debt 

 has remained frequently unpaid. Portions of 

 the national debt have also been repudiated at 

 various periods ; among others the loan con- 

 tracted by Dom Miguel in 18.32. At times, as 

 in the year 1837, the interest on the home debt 

 has been paid, but not that on the foreign debt. 

 By a royal decree of December 18, 1852, the 

 interest on the whole funded debt, internal and 

 foreign, was reduced to 3 per cent. Many of 

 the creditors protested against this act, but 

 without effect. On the 19th of June, 1867, 

 the Chamber of Deputies approved a bill pre- 

 sented by the Government for mining 87,- 

 000,000 milreia to fund the floating <lel>t, 

 and to negotiate 3 per cent external bonds 

 at such a price that the interest shall not 

 exceed f per cent above the rate of the actual 

 stock." 



The trade of Portugal in 1879 was as follows 

 (in contos) : 



The transit trade and tho re-exports in 1879 

 amounted to 5,661 contos. The chief imports 

 and exports in 1879 were as follows: Artick-s 

 of food, imported, 17,408 contos; exported, 

 13,390 contos: raw materials and manufact- 

 ured goods, imported, 16,638 contos; exported, 

 7,112 contos. 



As more than one half the total foreign trade 

 of the country is with Great Britain, it may be 

 safely assumed that the greater portion of the 

 foreign cottons imported are British. The im- 

 ports of raw cotton into Portugal are so insig- 

 nificant as to lead at once to the conclusion 

 that the cotton-manufacturing industry of the 

 country is of very little moment, if there is 

 any such industry. The exports of cotton man- 

 ufactures from Great Britain to Portugal, dur- 

 ing the year 1880, were as follows: 



The exports of cotton goods from France to 

 Portugal amount to about $200,000, of which 

 only about one half represents French manu- 

 factures, the remainder being goods in transit 

 through France. There is an export of Ameri- 

 can cottons, valued at $1.200, noted in oar 

 customs returns for the year 1880, which 

 shows that our merchants are at least endeav- 

 oring to introduce their goods into that market. 

 Our exports to Portugal of nil product* :m>l 

 manufactures amounted, in 1880, to $4,58*' 

 and our cotton maiml'M.-tiiiv- should be iibh- to 

 establish a trade in that country, whose im- 

 port* of foreign cottons are nearly double the 

 imports of Spain. The average price of Hrit- 

 ish cottons exported to Portugal, as above, 

 would lead to the opinion that the grade, es- 

 pecially in plain (roods, is very low, viz., plain 

 piece- < >o<], r>-:i7 CCMN p.-r varl : print. <1 

 goods, 7'60 ci-nts |n-r >anl. These remark* on 

 the cotton-goods trade were published by tho 

 Department of State nt Wn-hinirfon in 1*81. 



The shipping movements for 1H7'. were as fol- 

 lows: Sailing- vessels, entered, 7,105; cleared, 



