GUATEMALA. 



413 



In every case provision was made for a sinking- 

 fund, derived from customs and other reve- 

 nues, so as to extinguish similar engagements. 



The Chamber of Deputies simultaneously 

 passed the Government bill (to become opera- 

 tive from July 1, 1886) regulating the home 

 debt, the liquidation to terminate on Decem- 

 ber 3 of the same year ; the Government to 

 issue due-bills for the claims, after they shall 

 have been established and admitted by a com- 

 mittee of five appointed by the Chamber ; such 

 claims to be divided into three classes: 1, to 

 bear twelve per cent, interest per annum ; 

 2, nine per cent., and 3, six per cent; such 

 due-bills to be canceled by a sinking-fund 

 toward which (dating from Jan. 1, 1887) fifty 

 per cent, of the import duties shall be assigned 

 until the total extinction of the debt. The 

 financial distress in Guatemala caused Gen. 

 Barillas to suspend payment of the English 

 debt for one year from Aug. 1, 1885. 



The National Assembly authorized the Gov- 

 ernment to accept the proposal of Don Crisanto 

 Medina and associates to found in the city of 

 Guatemala a " Banco Hipotecario," with a cap- 

 ital of $1,000,000, the bank to begin operations 

 so soon as 500 of its $1,000 shares shall have 

 been subscribed. The charter of the bank to 

 past fifty years, and its business to be the ad- 

 vancing of money on first mortgage of real 

 estate, either in cash or bank-notes of its own 

 issue, in conformity with the statutes of incor- 

 poration. 



Commerce. The imports and exports for five 

 years have been as follow, in thousands of 

 dollars : 



The duties collected on imports were : 



1881 ... $2,118,000 



1882 1,679,000 



1883 , 1.469.000 



18S4 2,668,000 



1885 1,952,000 



The imports from leading commercial coun- 

 tries have been : 



The exportation of the two principal prod- 

 ucts has been as follows : 



The country produced in 1885, 13,789 tons 

 of sugar, 4,793 hogsheads of molasses, and 26,- 

 455 bags of coffee. 



The American trade with Guatemala during 

 the fiscal year ended June 30, 1886, was: ex- 

 ports to the United States, $1,957,632; im- 

 ports thence, $523,640. 



In August, 1886, a committee was appointed 

 to report on the advisability of creating in the 

 capital a Chamber of Commerce and Commer- 

 cial Council, and, after thoroughly ventilating 

 the matter, they recommended that the plan 

 be carried out. 



There entered the ports of the republic in 



1885, 303 steamers and 73 sailing-vessels, of 

 an aggregate tonnage of 346,653 ; and there 

 left 303 steamers and 72 sailing-vessels, of an 

 aggregate tonnage of 345,423. Among the 

 vessels arrived, 282 carried the American flag, 

 59 the British, and 25 the German. 



Tariff. Article XIII of the decree of May 29, 



1886, ordering the conversion of the internal 

 debt, abolishes the enhancement of the import 

 duties, which had been decreed on Oct. 23, 1885, 

 when they were raised, without distinction, 20 

 per cent. ; and Article XIV provides that one 

 third of the duties is to be paid cash, one 

 third in pagares, payable at the expiration of 

 two months, and for the last third a credit of 

 six months is extended to importers. Simul- 

 taneously the export duty on domestic wines 

 was abolished, as well as all taxes to which 

 domestic viticulturists and manufacturers of 

 wines were subject, this measure to remain in 

 force for twenty years. Another clause not 

 only abolishes for ten years the octroi internal 

 dues and export duty on coffee, but grants to 

 coffee-exporters a bounty of 50 cents a quintal 

 of 101 pounds (American), payable three 

 months from date of shipment. On the other 

 hand, a decree dated July 30, 1886, re-estab- 

 lished an extra import duty of 15 per cent, on 

 all goods in public warehouses on Oct. 1, 1886, 

 and thenceforth on all imports. 



Extradition Treaty. The Legislative Assembly 

 ratified, in May, 1886, the treaty of extradition 

 signed in Guatemala on July 4, 1885, by the 

 representatives of the republic and Great Brit- 

 ain, and on September 6 ratifications were ex- 

 changed. 



Education. In 1885 there were in Guatemala 

 878 primary schools, attended by 39,398 pu- 

 pils, and 60 private schools, with an attend- 

 ance of 2,095. The state expended for public 

 instruction during the year $239,449. The 

 National Library contains over 20,000 volumes. 

 It is to be reorganized, and its scope is to be 

 extended. There is a plan on foot, meeting 

 with approval in both countries, to found in 

 Guatemala an Academy of the Castilian Lan- 

 guage, which is to correspond with the Royal 

 Academy of the Castilian Language at Madrid. 



Immigration. While there arrived in 1885, 

 through the ports and across the frontier, 

 5,637 individuals, 5,793 left. Among those 

 arrived, 3,925 were Central Americans, 456 



