NICARAGUA. 



617 



FINANCE. The national revenue for the bi- 

 ennial period 1881-'82 amounted to $3,351,- 

 766.60, against $2,436,093.39 for 1879-'80, as 

 stated in the Cuenta General del Tesoro pub- 

 lished by the Minister of Finance in January, 

 1883. Of the revenue for 1881-'82, $1,275,506 

 were derived from the custom-house; $779,- 

 811 from the spirit-tax ; $447,029 from the to- 

 bacco-tax, and $193,703 from slaughter-houses. 



The following table shows the amount and 

 branches of the expenditure for the biennial 

 fiscal period 1881-'82 : 



Executive, Legislative, etc., Departments $112,548 42 



Ministry of the Interior, etc 518,068 99 



War and Marine 889,406 89 



Foreign Affairs 762,45782 



Finance 1,353,61187 



Sundries 109,787 37 



Total $3,240,940 36 



Hence there resulted a surplus of $110,826.24. 



Eeferring to the remarks given in the vol- 

 ume for 1881, on the subject of the national 

 debt, it may not be uninteresting here to tran- 

 scribe the observation of the Minister of Fi- 

 nance contained in his report presented to the 

 Congress at the end of the year : " The only 

 foreign debt, as you know, that weighed upon 

 the republic, constituted our share of the Fed- 

 eral debt of 1824. The Memorias successively 

 laid before you relating to the biennial fiscal 

 periods 1875-76 to 1879-'80 apprised you that 

 on March 27, 1874, that indebtedness was set- 

 tled, with the legal representative of the hold- 

 ers of the old Central American bonds, at 

 31,510, and that the state faithfully kept the 

 agreement then made. As I had the honor of 

 informing you in my Memoria for 1879-'80, 

 the debt at the end of 1880 was reduced to 

 4,170 15s. 6d., which remained unpaid because 

 the bondholders did not present their titles, 

 notwithstanding due publication of the agree- 

 ment, and that the latter had been promptly 

 complied with by the state. It was supposed 

 that the whole of the bonds would, in the 

 course of so long a time after their emission, 

 have been redeemed, but during the biennial 

 period 1881-'82, 1,100 were paid through 

 Messrs. Jimenez & Sons, of London. Thus 

 this debt is brought down to the insignificant 

 sum of 4,011 15*. 6d., which the Government 

 is ready to discharge on presentation of the 

 bonds. Hence the national revenue is not en- 

 cumbered by any foreign debt." 



The home debt, which at the end of 1880 

 stood at $920,257.70, has since been reduced 

 to $426,352.55, as appears from the official re- 

 port above referred to. 



COMMERCE. The exports for the biennial 

 period 1881-'82 were of the total value of 

 $4,022,317.51, against $3,708,331.95 for 1879- 

 '80. Chief among the staples sent out of the 

 country were coffee and India-rubber, which 

 together represented 50f per cent of the entire 

 exports. 



The following tables exhibit the quantities 

 and values of these articles exported in the 

 periods therein expressed : 



INDIA-RUBBER. 



In view of the progressive depression in the 

 price of coffee in all markets, and the continued 

 decrease in the production of India-rubber, it 

 is apprehended in Nicaragua that the balance 

 of trade, now so largely in favor, will at no 

 distant day be turned against the republic. In 

 the mean time, with increased facilities of trans- 

 port by rail, the general foreign commerce 

 will be considerably developed, and dye-woods 

 will come to compensate in a measure decay in 

 the coffee and rubber exports. 



The imports for the period 1881-'82 were 

 of the total value of $3,362,544.44, against 

 $2,936,483.96 for the period immediately pre- 

 ceding. By far the largest portion of the for- 

 eign trade is with Great Britain (the exports 

 to which in 1881-'82 were of the value of 

 $1,263,439.10, and the imports from which 

 $1,378,674.66), the United States (exports to, 

 $1,655,960.88 imports from, $812,906.07), and 

 France (exports to, $366,374.32 imports from, 

 $641,307.28). Next in order follow Germany, 

 and the other states of Central America. The 

 trade in the biennial period last past was di- 

 vided as follows between the several ports of 

 the republic : 



San, deport, ...... 



. , (Exports ........... 44,92517 



Chinendega ............. j Imports ........... 13,86683 



Of these ports, the second is on the Atlantic, 

 the other three on the Pacific coast. 



KAIL WATS, TELEGKAPHS, ETC. The railway t 

 now in course of construction was completed 

 and open to traffic as far as Chinendega in 

 1882; and it is confidently expected that by 

 November, 1884, there will be uninterrupted 

 communication by rail from the Pacific ter- 

 minus of the line to Managua and Granada, 

 when transit by rail and water from ocean to 

 ocean will at last be an accomplished fact. 



Telegraphic communication with Honduras, 

 via Pafaiso, was established during the year, 

 and with the remainder of the world by the 

 Central and South American submarine ca- 

 ble ; and the tariff for dispatches to all points 

 of Central America was reduced to uniformity 

 with that for messages within the republic. 



* Of one hundred pounds. 



t See " Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1881, p. 662. 



