AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



49 



post office in Austria during IN'H) wa- lll.i::!.- 



!' samples iillcl printed incloMire>, fiOJ'.ls.- 

 fjliO;of new-papers C.S.'.lS.'i.O'JO. The receipts 

 99.680,836, and the expenses 'jr., 187,83(5 flor- 

 in-. In limitary the number of letters and 

 po>i cards sent in 1889 was 108,801,000, and the 

 number <>f printed packets ;m<l sample.- was 14,- 

 TUVI.OOO. The receipt- were 12,',i08,onO florins, 

 and expenses !.'J!)7.00() florins. The telegraph 

 line- of Austria had a total length in 1890 of 

 ur.'ill miles, with 7 1 .:>?(> miles of wire. Inllun- 

 gar\ there were 12,340 miles of line, with 4r>..Ysi 

 mill's of wire. The lines of Bosnia and Herze- 

 govina had a length of 1,732 miles, with 3,457 

 miles of wire. The number of messages sent in 

 Austria in 1890 was 8,776,048; in Hungary, 4,211,- 

 i:!l : in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 22,277. 



Austria. The Empire of Austria, the Cislei- 

 than monarchy, is u federal stale in which the 

 Provincial Diets or Landtage are competent to 

 legislate on all matters not reserved to the 

 lieiehsrath or Central Legislature or to the 

 Crown. The Reichsrath must give its consent 

 to all measures relating to the army or to mili- 

 tary duty, and its co-operation is necessary for 

 legislation dealing with customs, commerce. 

 banking, the postal service, telegraphs, and 

 railroads. The Reichsrath has also to examine 

 the accounts of revenue and expenditure, and 

 all projects of law having to do with taxation, 

 operations of public credit, and the national 

 debt. There are two chambers, both of which 

 have the right of initiating legislation. The 

 Herrenhaus or House of Lords in 1892 was com- 

 posed of 19 princes of the blood royal. 68 he- 

 reditary lords, 10 archbishops, 7 prince bishops, 

 and 125 life members nominated by the Em- 

 peror. The Abgeordnetenhaus or House of 

 Deputies had 353 members, of whom 85 repre- 

 sented the land-owning class, 21 represented 

 Itoards of trade and commerce, 118 were elected 

 by the people of the towns, and 129 were elected 

 by the rural population. The peasant constitu- 

 encies choose their members indirectly. Among 

 them and in the towns the franchise is restricted 

 to men twenty- four years of age who pay live 

 florins in direct taxes. In the class of landed 

 proprietors women who own estates have the 

 right to vote. 



The Austrian Cabinet ministers in 1892 were 

 as follow: President of the Council and Min- 

 ister of the Interior, Graf Eduard Taaffe, ap- 

 pointed Aug. 19, 1879 ; Minister of Finance, 

 Dr. E. Steinliaeh; Mininter of Public Instruc- 

 tion and Ecclesiastical Affairs, Dr. Paul Gautsch, 

 Baron von Krankenthurn ; Minister of Agri- 

 culture, Graf Julius Falkenhayn; Minister of 

 Commerce and National Economy. Marquis von 

 Bacquehem ; Minister of National vertheidigung 

 or National Defense, Field-Marshal Graf Zeno 

 von Welsersheimb ; Minister of Justice, Graf 

 Friedrich von Schonborn : without portfolios, 

 Uaroii von Prazak, Hitter von Zaleski, and dial' 

 (iandolf von Khiinberg. 



Finance. The financial estimates as ap- 

 proved by the Reichsrath for 1892 make t la- 

 total revenue .">s.V.r>4,126 florins, of which 741.- 

 800 florins arc the receipts of the Council of 

 State, 1,026,168 florins of the Ministry of the In- 

 terior, 312,497 florins of the Ministry oi Defense, 

 5,947,659 florins of the Minister of Instruction 

 VOL. xxxii. 4 A 



and Worship, and ::.2<;.s.MM florins of the Min- 

 i-try of Finance; 10.">.s;M.ooo florins come from 

 direct taxes \\y... :;<;.O.V_>,()<)0 florins from the 

 land tax, :;,!, o.Ml.ooo florins from the hou.-c tax, 

 1 I.'JM.OOO from the tax on industries. 26,442,000 

 florins from the income tax; 283,448,846 florins 

 are raised by indirect taxation viz., 100,9o."i.!iMi 

 florins from excise, 20,909,700 florins from salt, 

 84,151,300 florins from tobacco, 19,350,000 florins 

 from stamps, 85,800,000 fiorinfl from judicial fees, 

 19,401,000 florins from the state lottery, and 

 3.400,000 florins from other sourc-.- : :;7.:')43,800 

 florins represent the receipts of the custom 

 house, 2,753,892 florins the profits from state 

 property, 32,674.000 florins the income from the 

 post office and telegraphs, 76.325,450 florins that 

 from railroads. 2,770,670 florins that from other 

 enterprises, 4,370,020 florins from the yield of 

 the forests and domains, 8,181,975 florins that 

 from mines. 602,592 florins that from other real 

 estate. 1,009.448 florins the receipts of the Min- 

 istry of Justice, and 657,142 receipts from va- 

 rious sources. These are the receipts from or- 

 dinary sources, making in all 567,874,153 florins, 

 to which must be added 18,079,973 florins of ex- 

 traordinary revenue. 



The total expenditure for the year is esti- 

 mated at 583,947,553 florins, including 40,295,- 

 738 florins of extraordinary expenditure. Of 

 the ordinary expenditure, amounting to 543,- 

 651,815 florins, 4.050,000 florins are appropriated 

 for the imperial household. 73,097 florins for the 

 Cabinet Chancery, 726,054 florins for the Reichs- 

 rath, 23,000 florins for the Supreme Court, 1,064,- 

 318 florins for the Council of Ministers, 17,183.- 

 855 florins for the Ministry of the Interior, 15,- 

 054,756 florins for the Ministry of Defense, 

 1,625,735 florins for the support of the Ministry 

 of Instruction, 6,999,500 florins for Public Wor- 

 ship, 13,168,990 florins for Education, 13.305.227 

 florins for the Ministry of Agriculture, 83,823,- 

 553 florins for administration of the Ministry of 

 Finance and collection of revenues, 20,664,000 

 florins for the Ministry of Justice, 93,939,400 

 florins for the Ministry of Commerce, 171,300 

 florins for the Board of Control, 144,257,500 

 florins for the interest and sinking fund of the 

 public debt, 902,790 florins for management of 

 the debt, 17,877,240 florins for pensions and 

 grants, 6,581,400 florins for subventions, and 

 101,500,540 florins for the common expenditure 

 of the whole monarchy, being the Cisleithan 

 quota. 



Reform of tlie Currency. Active steps 

 were taken ii> the beginning of the year tore- 

 form and regulate the entangled currency of 

 the dual monarchy. Committees of experts 

 were called upon by the Ministers of Finance. 

 Dr. Steinbach and Dr. Wekerle, for Austria and 

 Hungary respectively, to give opinions regard- 

 ing the proposed reform. The ministers finally 

 agreed upon a measure based on the replies ob- 

 tained from the experts. The measure was 

 brought before the Austrian Reichsrath iwid the 

 Hungarian Parliament, and passed in the for- 

 mer by a good majority and in the latter unani- 

 mously. The full amount of gold to be rai>ed 

 for the redemption of the Government paper 

 currency was 312,000,000 florins, of which Aus- 

 tria had to procure 218,000.000 florins and Hun- 

 gary 93,000,000 florins, according to the rela- 



