GREECE. 



461 



82,194 ; of marriages, 11,186. Athens, the cap- 

 ital, had 84,903 inhabitants in 1884. 



Commerce. The total value of the imports in 

 1883 was $27,267,000; of the exports, $18,- 

 672,000. The principal imports were cereals, 

 of the value of $5,200,000 ; and textiles, of the 

 value of $6,200,000. The chief article of ex- 

 port is currants, valued in 1883 at $9,644,000, 

 after which come olive-oil, lead, and wine. 



The merchant navy in the beginning of 1885 

 contained 74 steamers, of 33,318 tons; and 

 3,164 sailing-vessels, of 239,361 tons ; besides 

 6,000 coasting- vessels. The tonnage that en- 

 tered the Piraeus in 1883 was 1,558,430 tons, of 

 which 532,359 tons were Greek, 338,780 Aus- 

 trian, and 126,566 British. 



The exports to the United States amounted 

 to $920,492 in 1884. They consisted almost ex- 

 clusively of currants, of which 13,114 tons were 

 shipped to the United States in 1884. The di- 

 rect imports from the United States were con- 

 fined to the petroleum imports now made on 

 government account. 



The land is held principally by a few great 

 proprietors. The wheat product in the older 

 portions of the kingdom is about 34,000,000 

 bushels; the Indian-corn product, 21,700,000 

 bushels. A large part of the surface is planted 

 to the Zante currant. The rich district of 

 Thessaly, annexed in 1881, produces 21,700,- 

 000 bushels of wheat and large crops of oats 

 and barley. 



Railroads. The length of railroads open to 

 traffic in 1884 was 107 miles. In 1882 a scheme 

 was adopted for the construction of 435 miles 

 of railroads. Lines in Thessaly, and parts of 

 lines from Athens to Corinth, and from Corinth 

 to Patras, and to Nauplia, have been built. 

 The line from Athens to Laurium, where the 

 lead-mines are situated, 37 miles in length, was 

 completed in June, 1885. 



Posts and Telegraphs. The post-office for- 

 warded 3,275,662 inland and 1,738,298 foreign 

 letters in 1882. The telegraph lines, including 

 cables, had a length of 3,720 miles at the end 

 of 1884. The Eastern Telegraph Company has 

 laid submarine lines between the most impor- 

 tant islands and the mainland, and between 

 Patras and Corinth. 



The Isthmus of Corinth Canal. Not much work 

 was done on the canal, begun in 1882, until 

 the beginning of 1885, when large dredging- 

 machines were set in operation. The length 

 of the cutting is four miles, the estimated cost 

 $5,000,000. 



Army and Navy. By the laws of 1879 and 

 1882 universal liability to military service was 

 established. Active service for one year in 

 the infantry and two in the special corps is 

 required. The budget of 1884 provided for 

 a total force of 30,692 officers and men, with 

 3,474 animals and 64 guns. The war strength 

 is 72,257 men of all ranks. The four battalions 

 of field-artillery are provided with Krupp 

 guns; the infantry is armed with the Gras 

 rifle, and the cavalry with the Gras carbine. 



The navy consisted in 1885 of a small iron- 

 clad corvette and an armored gunboat, two 

 unarmored corvettes, two gunboats armed with 

 26-ton guns, and nine smaller ones, nineteen 

 torpedo-boats, a torpedo depot-ship, besides 

 torpedo-launches, transports, gunboats in sec- 

 tions, and other vessels. There were building 

 four coast-guards and six cruisers. The con- 

 struction of four ironclads of 5,000 tons' dis- 

 placement was authorized. For additions to 

 the fleet, 40,000,000 francs of the loan of 1883 

 were set aside. The navy was manned in 1885 

 by 2,610 officers and men. 



Finances. The estimated revenue for 1884 

 was 86,122,950 drachmas or francs, of which 

 9,315,000 were derived from direct taxes, 

 23,500,000 from indirect taxes, and the rest 

 from royalties, national property, and other 

 sources. The estimated expenditures amounted 

 to 85,814,598 francs, of which 23,009,043 francs 

 were required for interest on the internal debt, 

 and 20,216,109 francs were devoted to mili- 

 tary purposes. There has been a deficit nearly 

 every year since the establishment of the king- 

 dom. During the ministry of Trikoupis the 

 deficit for three years was 37,000,000 francs. 

 The foreign debt consists of old loans amount- 

 ing to 40,007,432 francs. The internal debt 

 amounted in 1884 to 487,268,429 francs, not 

 including a loan of 20,000,000 francs author- 

 ized for roads in 1882, one of 12,000,000 francs 

 for railroads in Thessaly, the Hellenic portion 

 of the Ottoman debt, and other liabilities that 

 swelled the total to about 700,000,000 francs. 

 The latest loan was issued in 1883 and 1884, 

 for the amount of 170,000,000 francs. To cover 

 the expenses of mobilization in the Balkan 

 crisis of 1885 a loan of 100,000,000 francs was 

 authorized in December. 



The operation of resuming specie payments 

 was successfully effected in 1885. To meet 

 the augmented expenses of the Govenment, 

 taxation was greatly increased, and a new cus- 

 toms tariff went into force Dec. 1, 1884, which 

 increased largely the duties, particularly on 

 luxuries ; though on machinery, manufactured 

 metals, and other articles of utility, the rates 

 were lowered. The Government, on Feb. 13, 

 1885, assumed a monopoly of petroleum, in 

 order to put a stop to smuggling. Cigarette- 

 paper, playing-cards, and matches were also 

 made Government monopolies. In order to 

 insure the collection of tobacco duties, the cut- 

 ting of tobacco was intrusted to official cutters, 

 and a charge of three francs per oke collected, 

 besides forty centimes for stamps. The new 

 taxes produced much less than was estimated, 

 and the financial year 1884-'85 closed with a 

 large deficit, the receipts amounting to 71,300,- 

 000 drachmas, and the expenditures to 90,306,- 

 792 drachmas. 



Change of Government. On Feb. 17 the Op- 

 position took advantage of the absence of a 

 number of ministerial delegates to pass a vote 

 of censure. The Trikoupis ministry there- 

 upon offered their resignations, and Delyannis 



