GREECE. 



361 



emery for 300,675 drachma!, and leather for 288,- 

 642 drachma!. 



The values in gold drachma! of the special im- 

 ports from and exports of Greek produce to the 

 various countries in 1896 are given in the follow- 

 ing table: 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 length of railroads in operation in 1898 was 591 

 miles, and 300 miles were in process of construc- 

 tion, including the extension of the railroad run- 

 ning from Athens to Larissa, which, when com- 

 pleted to Salonica, will afford railroad communi- 

 cation with the other countries of the Continent. 



The post office in 1896 forwarded 4,337,000 do- 

 mestic and 5,107,000 foreign letters and postal 

 cards, and 5,666,000 domestic and 2,867,000 for- 

 eign newspapers and samples; receipts, 2,110,877 

 drachmai; expenses, 1,983,860 drachmai. 



The telegraph lines had on Jan. 1, 1897, a total 

 length of 5,087 miles, with 6,023 miles of wire. 

 The number of telegrams dispatched the previous 

 year was 981,989 in the internal service and 413,- 

 602 in the international service. The receipts 

 were 2,514,623 drachmai. 



Politics and Legislation. In the elections 

 that took place in February, 1899, the Zaimis 

 Government sustained a defeat, obtaining not 

 over 40 seats. The Delyannists obtained not so 

 many, and there were lesser groups; but a large 

 majority of the seats was won by the followers 

 of the late M. Tricoupis, who had not yet settled 

 on a new leader. Although most of them were 

 inclined to accept M. Theotokis, M. Dragoumis 

 had a considerable following. In the interval be- 

 tween the elections and the assembling of the 

 Chamber on March 16 the ministerial party en- 

 deavored to win over enough independent, unde- 

 cided, and antagonistic members to secure a ma- 

 jority in favor of the projected reforms in the 

 administration. M. Zaimis and his colleagues, 

 however patriotic their objects were, could not 

 render these objects popular. They had taken 

 office to carry out the ungrateful but necessary 

 measures connected with the introduction of the 

 foreign financial control, which was the condition 

 exacted by the powers when they intervened in 

 the war with Turkey. Now that the stress of 

 that period was relaxing and the country enjoy- 

 ing comparative prosperity, the old party divi- 

 sions began to assert themselves. The acceptance 

 by the powers and Turkey of Prince Georgios as 

 Governor General of Crete was a favorable cir- 

 cumstance for the ministry, but not favorable 

 enough to change the current of internal politics. 

 The chief feature of the ministerial programme 

 was a radical scheme of civil-service reform. It 

 was proposed to institute a supreme council of 

 supervision, which should control the adminis- 

 trative offices, regulating the appointment, pro- 

 motion, and removal of all public officials, even 

 including the magistrates and judges. Specialists 

 would be brought in from abroad for the purpose 

 of reorganizing some branches of the public serv- 



ice, especially the police. By creating a public 

 body of control and supervision the Government 

 hoped to do away entirely with the spoils system 

 of public appointments and secure a permanent 

 and efficient corps of administrative officials. 

 Another important reform aimed at the decen- 

 tralization of the administration. In furtherance 

 of this object the Government proposed to create 

 a ministry of agriculture, commerce, and indus- 

 try. The speech from the throne promised social 

 legislation for the benefit of the working classes. 

 Other measures proposed to deal with the re- 

 organization of the land and sea forces and the 

 extension of the system of public education. The 

 programme of legislation included a plan for the 

 perpetuation of the Olympian games as revived 

 in 1896. The completion of the railroad from the 

 Piraeus to Larissa was promised, also improved 

 waterworks for Athens. The amelioration of the 

 financial situation justified the expectation that 

 the Government would be able to balance the 

 budget in the future without recourse to fresh 

 taxation. The Cabinet of M. Zaimis remained in 

 office for some weeks after the opening of the 

 Boule, although his own election was declared 

 null by a committee containing a majority of 

 Tricoupists. The Premier offered to resign on 

 April 7 without waiting for a formal vote. By 

 the vote of the Chamber his election was pro- 

 nounced regular. The strength of the parties was 

 shown in the election for president of the Boule 

 on April 12, when M. Tsamados, the Tricoupist 

 candidate, received 128 votes against 37 for the 

 Detyannist and 28 for the Government candidate, 

 41 members not voting. M. Zaimis thereupon 

 tendered the resignation of the ministry to the 

 King, who sent for M. Theotokis. 



On April 14 the new ministry was formed as 

 follows: President of the Council and Minister 

 of the Interior, M. Theotokis; Minister of Fi- 

 nance, M. Simopoulos; Minister of Foreign Af- 

 fairs, M. Romanes; Minister of War, M. Kou- 

 mondouros; Minister of Marine, M. Boudouris; 

 Minister of Worship and Instruction, M. Eu- 

 taxias; Minister of Justice, M. Karapoulos. The 

 Boule adjourned for a month to enable the new 

 ministry to prepare its programme, and reassem- 

 bled on May 24. In consequence of the satisfac- 

 tory surplus anticipated by the Minister of Fi- 

 nance, the Government hoped to be able to carry 

 out improvements in the administration of jus- 

 tice and in the system of public instruction and 

 a reorganization of the police service, which will 

 do away with a serious defect in the military 

 service by relieving the army of the police duties 

 which two fifths of the soldiers have been called 

 upon to perform without achieving the best re- 

 sults in regard to the execution of the laws and 

 the preservation of order. The provisional budget 

 of the finance minister showed an income of 105,- 

 795,658 drachmai for 1900 and 99,347,624 drach- 

 mai of expenditure, leaving a surplus of 6,448,034 

 drachmai. The increase in revenue over 1898 was 

 18,069,053 drachmai, and the decrease in expendi- 

 ture was 1,797,210 drachmai. The army estimates 

 had been reduced 2,000,000 drachmai since 1896, 

 the expenses of the Ministry of the Interior 1,500,- 

 000 drachmai; but the cost of the navy had 

 grown, and a further ^increase was proposed in 

 order to add to the present personnel and to give 

 officers opportunities for instruction by sending 

 them abroad and the fleet more practice in cruis- 

 ing. The burden of the debt had grown to 29,- 

 000,000 drachmai, but the cost of government 

 had been reduced 3,359,000 drachmai since 1896, 

 the last year in which normal conditions pre- 

 vailed. The Government introduced a project of 



