ITALY. 



397 



town of Massowah, not including the garrison, 

 was in 1885 about 5,000 ; of Emberemi, 1,000 ; 

 of the Dahlak Archipelago, 2,000 ; Assab con- 

 tained in 1881 a population of 1,193 persons. 

 A railroad, 20 kilometres in length, has been 

 built from Massowah to Arkiko. 



Finances. The total receipts of the treasury 

 for the year ending June 80, 1886, were 1,745,- 

 515,911 lire, and the expenditures 1,730,598,- 

 335 lire. The budget accounts for 1886-'87 

 make the ordinary receipts 1,525,412,598, in- 

 cluding 92,759,678 lire of recettes cPordre which 

 are entered on both sides of the account. The 

 extraordinary receipts are set down as 193,614,- 

 541 lire, comprising 10,062,644 lire of effective 

 receipts, 41,101,917 lire from sales of property 

 and new debts, and 142,450,000 lire for con- 

 struction of railroads. The total receipts are 

 1,719,027,541 lire and the total expenditures 

 1,700,229,160 lire. The interest on the con- 

 solidated debt was 441,679,465 lire, and the 

 total expenses on account of the debt and 

 other fixed charges 639,483,933 lire; the ex- 

 penses of financial administration, 182,699,112 

 lire ; the ordinary expenditures of the Min- 

 istry of Justice and Public Worship, 33,665,- 

 052 lire ; of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 

 7,807,242 lire ; of the Ministry of Education, 

 34,736,882 lire ; of the Ministry of the Inte- 

 rior, 60,737,184 lire ; of the Ministry of Public 

 Works, 78,529,878 lire ; of the Ministry of War, 

 220,106,618 lire; of the Ministry of Marine, 

 71,315,660 lire; of the Ministry of Agriculture, 

 13,304,512 lire; total ordinary expenditure, 

 1,423,916,040 lire. The extraordinary expend- 

 iture amounted to 276,313,120 lire, of which 

 2,207,476 lire were for public instruction, 2,- 

 979,347 lire for the Interior Department, 185,- 

 983,274 lire for public works, 37,185,000 lire 

 for the army, 14,016,000 lire for the navy, 

 1,132,474 for the Department of Agriculture, 

 and 917,413 for other departments. The budg- 

 et for 1887-'88 makes the total ordinary rev- 

 enue 1,452,746,252 lire, exclusive of 91,043,720 

 lire of recettes cFordre. The ordinary revenue 

 from public property is estimated at 81,492,- 

 142 lire; from direct taxes, 387,126,338 lire; 

 from stamps, registration, etc., 197,270,000 

 lire ; from customs, excise, and tobacco and 

 salt monopolies, 602,077,245 lire; from the 

 lottery, 78,302,000 lire ; from posts, telegraphs, 

 and other public services, 74,835,000 lire ; from 

 refunds, 25,375,827 lire; from other sources, 

 6,267,700 lire. The extraordinary revenue is 

 215,028,272 lire, of which sum 11,134,771 are 

 effective receipts ; 37,443,501 lire the proceeds 

 of the sale of domanial and ecclesiastic prop- 

 erty, recovery of debts, and new loans of the 

 amount of 19,040,000 lire ; and 166,450,000 are 

 special receipts to be invested in railroad con- 

 struction. The ordinary expenditure is esti- 

 mated at 1,486,062,121 lire, which .is 57,727,- 

 851 lire less than the ordinary receipts, but 

 extraordinary expenditures to the amount of 

 315,695,059 lire bring the total up to 1,801,- 

 757,180 lire, leaving a deficit of 42,938,936 lire. 



Of the extraordinary expenditures 59,820,850 

 lire are for amortization and other operations 

 of the treasury, 186,460,300 lire for public 

 works, 47,750,000 lire for the army, and 14,- 

 816,000 lire for the navy. Of the ordinary re- 

 ceipts, 81,492,142 lire were derived from repro- 

 ductive property, of which 63,657,400 lire were 

 railroad receipts ; 387,126,338 lire from direct 

 taxation, of which 106,316,356 lire are from 

 land-taxes, 67,500,000 lire from the house-tax, 

 and 213,309,082 lire from personal-property 

 taxes ; 197,270,000 lire from imposts on afl'airs, 

 of which 33,000,000 lire are derived from suc- 

 cession duties, 63,500,000 lire from registra- 

 tion dues, 58,000,000 lire from stamps, and 

 17,000,000 lire from a tax on railroad receipts ; 

 602,077,245 lire from duties on consumption, 

 of which 229,000,000 lire are received from cus- 

 toms, 81,577,245 lire from octrois, 196,000,000 

 lire from the tobacco monopoly, 36,000,000 lire 

 from beer, spirit, sugar, and powder licenses, 

 and 59,500,000 lire from the salt monopoly; 78,- 

 302,000 lire from the state lottery ; 74,835,000 

 lire from public services, the post-office re- 

 ceipts being 44,000,000 lire and the telegraph re- 

 ceipts 13,815,000 lire; 25,375,829 from repay- 

 ments ; and 6,267,700 lire from other sources. 



A law for the conversion of the redeemable 

 debt provides that, in order to convert the vari- 

 ous issues into a consolidated debt, the 5 per 

 cent, rente shall be replaced by a new rente 

 bearing 4 per cent, interest. The debt state- 

 ment for the year 1886-'87 gives the rente of 

 the consolidated debt as 448,748,730 lire ; in- 

 terest due to the Holy See, 3,225,000 lire; 

 debts separately inscribed, 22,815,955 lire, be- 

 sides 1,091,260 lire for sinking-funds; various 

 debts, 50,623,311 lire, besides 386,851 lire for 

 sinking-funds ; interest on the floating debt, 

 9,840,000 lire; total rentes and interest, 535,- 

 252,996 lire; total sinking-funds, 1,478,111 

 lire. 



Ministerial Crisis. The disaster at Massowah 

 subjected the ministry to a series of violent at- 

 tacks in the Chamber. Count Robilant, who 

 minimized the defeat, was made the special ob- 

 ject of the assaults. The credit of 5,000,000 

 lire demanded for the purpose of sending re- 

 enforcements was referred to a special commit- 

 tee with Signer Depretis at its head, and was 

 granted, but on a motion which was accepted 

 by the ministers as a vote of confidence, the 

 vote was so close that Count Robilant handed 

 in his resignation. After trying to induce him 

 to withdraw it without success, the ministry 

 on February 7 decided to resign in a body. 

 Signer Depretis desired to retire from public 

 life, but the King was unwilling to lose the 

 services of a minister who had proved himself 

 indispensable, and accordingly he made an at- 

 tempt to reconstitute his ministry, admitting 

 an element from the hostile groups, but leav- 

 ing out all the chiefs of the Opposition. When 

 this proved impracticable, he persuaded the 

 King to send for Signor Biancheri, the Presi- 

 dent of the Chamber, and afterward for Signor 



