COSTA RICA. 



267 



nardo Soto succeeded Don Pr6spero Fernandez, 

 whose death had taken place on that date, 

 Sefior Soto being at the time Vice-President 

 and Minister of the Interior. The Cabinet was 

 formed of the following ministers: Foreign 

 Affairs and Justice, Ascension Esquivel ; Pub- 

 lic Works, Carlos Duran ; Finance, Commerce, 

 and Public Instruction, Mauro Fernandez. The 

 next presidential election is to come off on May 

 1, 1886. The United States Minister to the 

 five Central American republics, resident at 

 Guatemala, is Mr. H. 0. Hall; the American 

 Consul at San Jose, Mr. A. Morrell. The Min- 

 ister Resident of Costa Rica in the United 

 States is Sefior Peralta, and the Costa Rican 

 Consul-General at New York is Sefior Jose 

 Maria Mufioz. 



Finance* The report of the Minister of Fi- 

 nance of Jul y 14, 1885, shows that on that date 

 the national indebtedness stood as follows : 



Foreign debt , $15,963.250 



Home debt 2,560,181 



Total $18,523,381 



During the fiscal year ended March 31, 1885, 

 the income was $2,198,098, and the outlay 

 $2,642,450, leaving a deficit of $444,352. Dur- 

 ing the last month of the fiscal year, $161,349 

 was spent in equipping the military expedi- 

 tion to Salvador. The budget estimate for 

 ISSS-'SS fixes the expenditure at $2,936,756, 

 of which the War Department is expected to 

 spend $724,683. The custom-house at Punta- 

 renas is expected to yield $250,000, that of 

 Limon $450,000; the domestic liquor -tax, 

 $750,000 ; the foreign liquor-tax, $26,000 ; the 

 tobacco monopoly, $420,000 ; the Government 

 railroad, $125,000; slaughter- tax, $60,000; 

 stamp-tax, $35,000; Post-Office Department, 

 $19,000; patent-tax, $13,000; tax on mort- 

 gages, $15,000; telegraphs, $10,000; the At- 

 lantic Government Railroad, $45,000. 



A revision of the customs tariff took place 

 in March, at the time of the war, and all the 

 specific import duties were slightly raised, but 

 not uniformly. 



In October the Government accepted Mr. 

 Keith's proposition for the conversion of the 

 old 6 and 7 per cent, bonds, issued in 1871 and 

 1872, into new 5 per cent, bonds. The Gov- 

 ernment undertakes to pledge the customs 

 revenue for the payment of the interest on the 

 new bonds, beginning Jan. 1, 1888. As a 

 guarantee for the Government and the bond- 

 holders, the old bonds of 6 and 7 per cent, will 

 be deposited in the hands of a treasurer to be 

 named by the agent of the Government and 

 the bondholders. The deposited bonds will be 

 canceled when the railroad is completed, and 

 will be returned to the Government. In case 

 Mr. Keith's company are not able to raise 

 the required capital ($6,000,000 Costa Rican 

 money) this contract will be annulled, leaving 

 the old bonds in the same state as they have 

 been, and the new bonds that may have been 

 issued will be collected. For the payment of in- 



terest on the new bonds the pound sterling will 

 be computed at $5.02$ Costa Rican money. 



Post-Office. The income of the Government 

 from this source in 1884-'85 was $16,182, and 

 the outlay for the service was $19,806. 



Army. Since 1884 the Government, in time 

 of war, has been empowered by act of Con- 

 gress to call out the militia, which embraces all 

 able-bodied men up to the age of 55, and con- 

 stitutes a force of about 27,000, while the 

 standing army is restricted to 1,000. During 

 the late invasion of Salvador by the Guatema- 

 lan army, Costa Rica sent an auxiliary force of 

 800 men to oppose it ; but they did not arrive 

 in time to take a share in the engagement on 

 the frontier. 



Railroads. The following lines of railway are 

 in operation: Limon to Rio Sucio, 113 kilo- 

 metres ; Puntarenas to Baranca, 14 ; Alajuela- 

 Cartago via Heredia and San Jose, 43; to- 

 gether, 170 kilometres. During the summer 

 of 1885 the Government granted the exclu- 

 sive privilege to Minor Keith and associates of 

 building and operating the projected Costa Ri- 

 ca-Nicaragua Railroad. This line is to extend 

 from the present Costa Rica Railroad, at a 

 point west of Jimenez river, to the Nicaraguan 

 frontier, whence it is intended to extend the 

 line to Lake Nicaragua. 



Canalization. Another contract was made by 

 the Government with Ricardo Schutt, of Stolz, 

 for the canalization of the lagoons on the At- 

 lantic coast of the republic, between the Boca 

 del Martina and the Rio Colorado. 



Telegraphs. The number of kilometres in 

 operation is 586, and the number of messages 

 forwarded from March 1, 1884, to Feb. 28, 

 1885, was 9,779 government telegrams and 30,- 

 604 private dispatches in the interior. The 

 income was $9,441, and the outlay $27,426. 



Telephones. Don E. Cardoso, agent of Messrs. 

 Wendell & Phillips, of Boston, owners of the 

 Bell telephones in Central America, visited Cos- 

 ta Rica during the summer, and will soon in- 

 troduce the system throughout the country. 



Commerce. The following is a tabular state- 

 ment of the foreign trade in 1884 : 



IMPORTATION. 



From England $2.024.750 



France 859,064 



Germany 104.92$ 



The United States 948,764 



Other countries 89,418 



Total $8,521,919 



EXPORTATION. 



To England $1,9T.605 



France 641,807 



Germany 441. .S<>1 



The United States 1,810,297 



Other countries 229,045 



Total $4,219,615 



The export of Costa Rican products from 

 Puntarenas and Limon, from Jan. 1 to May 31, 

 1885, was: 



From Puntarenas. ... . . $1,51 8,983 



Limon 1,124,815 



Total 



$2,648,248 



