BRAZIL. 



BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



87 



ie " Riachuelo " and ' 24 de Maio," third-class 

 battle ships ; 6 monitors and coast-defense vessels ; 

 the first-class cruiser " Nichtheroy," since sold to the 

 United States ; 3 second-class and 2 third-class 

 cruisers and 10 small cruisers and gunboats; and 8 

 first-class and 6 third-class torpedo boats. A first- 

 class cruiser, 2 port-defense armor clads, 6 cruisers, 

 S destroyers, 6 first-class torpedo boats, and 2 Goubet 

 submarine boats were being built for the navy. 



Commerce and Production. The staple com- 

 mercial product of Brazil is coffee, of which about 

 8,000,000 bags of 60 kilogrammes each are produced 

 yearly. In 1898 the Rio crop was 8,000,000 and the 

 Santos crop 4,000,000 bags. In Rio Grande do Sul 

 t here were 320,000 cattle slaughtered in 1897. Fruit 

 preserving, tanning, and brewing are also carried on 

 in this State, which is largely peopled by German, 

 Italian, and other immigrants. Pernambuco pro- 

 duces 185,000,000 kilogram mes of sugar a year. Rum 

 and alcohol are distilled in increasing quantities. 

 Cotton is grown in several States, and there are many 

 cotton and woolen mills. Gold mines are worked 

 'n MinasGeraes, and in Bahia this metal and silver- 

 lead ore, copper, zinc, manganese, and mercury are 

 found. Diamonds are also mined. Iron exists in 

 many places in vast quantities, but there are no coal 

 mines except in Rio Grande do Sul. The forests of 

 Brazil are of enormous extent and full of valuable 

 products which are not yet accessible, except rub- 

 ber, of which the Amazon region has been much 

 depleted. 



The total value of the imports in 1896 was 481,- 

 000,000 milreis ; of the exports, 480,000,000 milreis. 

 There were 2,763,720 bags of coffee shipped from 

 Rio de Janeiro in 1895, 4,157,971 from Santos in 

 1896, and 540.000 from Victoria, Bahia, and Ceara ; 

 7,770 tons of cacao from Bahia ; 164.925 tons of 

 sugar from Pernambuco ; 12,239 tons of cotton from 

 Pernambuco ; and 15,230 tons of rubber from Para 

 and 6,599 tons from Manaos. From Rio Grande do 

 Sul 9,433,325 kilogrammes of dried beef and 1,141,- 

 362 of tallow and 336,773 hides were exported. 

 Other exports are yerba mate, tobacco, timber, and 

 nuts. The principal imports are cotton and woolen 

 cloths, iron and machinery, coal, flour, cattle, beef, 

 rice, codfish, pork, lard, butter, corn, olive oil, maca- 

 roni, tea, candles, salt, kerosene, timber, wines, and 

 spirits. 



Navigation. The arrivals at Rio de Janeiro in 

 189G were 1,535 vessels engaged in the foreign trade, 

 of 2,469,628 tons: at Pernambuco, 947 vessels, of 

 1,181,247 tons ; at Ceara, 308 vessels, of 236,091 tons ; 

 at Maranhao, 174 vessels, of 223,647 tons ; at Rio 

 Grande do Xorte, 207 vessels, of 51,890 tons. 



The merchant marine in 1895 comprised 285 sail- 

 ing vessels, of 65,575 tons, and 189 steamers, of 75,- 

 283 tons. 



Communications. There were 8,086 miles of 

 railroad- in operation in 1896, and 5,403 miles were 

 building, 4,670 miles in addition were laid out, and 

 8,440 miles more were projected. The Federal Gov- 

 ernment owned 1,832 miles and paid subventions to 

 2,259 miles, while 3,000 miles were owned or subsi- 

 dized by States and 995 miles received no subventions. 

 Of the lines under construction the Federal Govern- 

 ment was building 667 miles and assisting 3,390 

 miles, the States were building 961 miles, and 385 

 miles were being built without subventions. The 

 subventioned lines usually have 6 or 7 per cent, 

 interest on their capital guaranteed by the Govern- 

 ment. The total cost of the Government railroads 

 up to 1895 was 257,674,937 milreis. The deficit 

 made up by the Government in 1894 was 11,118,481 

 milreis. A law was passed in December, 1896, which 

 authorizes the leasing of the Government lines. 



The telegraph lines in 1895 had a total of 10,143 

 liles, with 21,936 miles of wire, all belonging to the 



Government. The number of dispatches was 1,283,- 

 695. The receipts for 1897 were estimated at 3,600,- 

 000 milreis and expenses at 9,844,722 milreis. 



The post office in 1893 carried 33,441,000 letters 

 and postal cards and 37,674,000 packets and samples. 



Political Affairs. At the beginning of 1898 

 financial depression affected the people and the 

 Government and the country was still under martial 

 law, which was extended till Feb. 23, the unrest that 

 followed upon the conspiracy against the Govern- 

 ment still continuing. The man who attempted to 

 assassinate President Moraes and mortally wounded 

 the Minister of War, killed himself in prison, hid- 

 ing the secrets that he might have revealed. Dr. 

 Manoel Pereira, the Vice-President, denying any 

 complicity in the attempted murder of the President, 

 nevertheless refused to appear before the High 

 Court, invoking his parliamentary immunities. 

 The presidential election was held on March 1. Dr. 

 de Campos Sailer, of Sao Paulo, was elected Presi- 

 dent of the republic and Rosa Silva, of Pernam- 

 buco, Vice-President for the term beginning on Nov. 

 15, 1898. Their majority was very large. In Rio 

 de Janeiro the Opposition abstained from voting. 

 Congressmen who were imprisoned in the penal 

 establishment on the island of Noronha, charged 

 with being implicated in the plot against the Presi- 

 dent's life, were on April 17 released by order of the 

 Supreme Court, their detention there having been 

 unconstitutional. The Brazilian Congress was 

 opened on May 3. The President hoped to settle 

 the dispute with France regarding the Guiana 

 boundary without resorting to arbitration. The 

 reciprocity treaty with the United States he refused 

 to renew, on account of the great loss caused thereby 

 to the revenue. The President declared the foreign 

 payments of the Government had been kept up with 

 scrupulous fidelity, but only at the cost of enormous 

 sacrifices because of the fall in exchange, the decline 

 in the price of coffee, and the political and inter- 

 national agitation. The deficit for 1897 amounted 

 to 41,526 contos of reis. An arrangement was made 

 with the Rothschilds and London banks for the ex- 

 trication of the Government from its immediate 

 financial peril by a compromise with the bond- 

 holders. The Minister of Finance proposed to 

 collect all import duties in gold at the exchange rate 

 of 20 milreis to the pound sterling. He also sug- 

 gested an income tax. In the budget for 1899 

 revenue and expenditure were made to balance at 

 346,000 contos. Of the revenue 222,000 contos are 

 from customs. Of the expenditures 68,768 are 

 assigned to the army and navy and 166,000 contos 

 to the Ministry of Finance, including 63,000 contos 

 for loss of exchange and 58,000 contos for the service 

 of loans. The ratifications of an arbitration treaty 

 with France relative to the boundary dispute were 

 exchanged on Aug. 6. 



BRITISH COLUMBIA, the westernmost prov- 

 ince of the Dominion of Canada. 



Politics and Government. The years 1897-'98 

 were most important ones in the history of this 

 province. Politics were unusually interesting, and 

 the excitement over general mining, railway, and 

 business development reached high-water mark. 

 The policy and methods of the Hon. J. H. Turner's 

 Government composed of D. M. Eberts, G. B. 

 Martin, James Baker, and himself as Premier 

 were objects of severe criticism. The fourth and 

 last session of the seventh Legislature of British Co- 

 lumbia was duly opened at Victoria on Feb. 10, 

 1898, by Lieut.-Gov. T. R. Mclnnes, who in 1897 

 was appointed to this post in succession to the 

 Hon. E. Dewdney. The speech from the throne, 

 outlining the policy of the Government for the en- 

 suing session, contained the following significant 

 passages : 



