ITALY. 



349 



tention first to reconstructing and rearming the 

 old vessels, and next to building a few new ones 

 that would give Italy a modern na/y, though 

 not of the ambitious kind that she had when 

 her ships and her guns were the biggest in the 

 world. In 1900 the Government began to re- 

 place the superannuated vessels. In 1902 the 

 annual allowance for ship-building was increased 

 to 29,000,000 lire for five years. The appropria- 

 tion for 1903 was applied to fitting out the Bene- 

 detto Brin and Regina Margherita and the cruiser 

 Francesco Ferrucio, completing the Vittorio 

 Emanuele and Regina Elena, and beginning 3 

 battle-ships of the same type. The Italian navy 

 has contained a variety of ingenious designs, but 

 uniformity of type is now considered desirable. 

 One of the earliest submarines was built in Italy, 

 and now after the other naval powers have adopt- 

 ed them the constructors of the navy are au- 

 thorized to try their ingenuity on a new one. 



Commerce and Production. The production 

 of wheat in 1900 was 45,030,000 hectoliters; of 

 corn, 30,400,000 hectoliters; of rice, 5,950,000 

 hectoliters. The yield of olive-oil was 1,493,000" 

 hectoliters; of wine, 29,900,000 hectoliters; of cit- 

 rus fruits, 3,852,000,000 in number. The wheat- 

 crop for 1901 was estimated at 52,000,000 hecto- 

 liters. The annual production of silk cocoons is 

 about 50,500,000 kilograms; of silk, 4,470,000 

 kilograms. The production of sugar in 1900 w r as 

 30,820 metric tons, and in 1901 it was estimated 

 at 55,000 tons. The mines in 1900 yielded 247,- 

 278 metric tons of iron ore, 6,014 tons of manga- 

 nese ore, 26,800 tons of ferro-manganese ore, 

 95,824 tons of zinc ore, 35,103 tons of lead ore, 

 584 tons of silver ore, 5,840 tons of gold ore, 7,607 

 tons of antimony ore, 33,930 tons of quicksilver 

 ore, 6 tons of arsenic ore, 4,005 tons of mixed 

 ores, 71,616 tons of iron and copper pyrites, 479,- 

 896 tons of mineral fuel, 3,628,613 tons of sulfur 

 ore, and minor quantities of salt, graphite, boric 

 acid, petroleum, asphaltum, etc., the total prod- 

 uct of 1,103 mines of all kinds, employing 67,748 

 persons, being valued at 85,060,000 lire. The 

 marble-quarries employ 7,500 men, and their 

 product is worth 32,831,000 lire per annum. The 

 number of fishing craft in 1900 was 23,668, of 

 69,259 tons, including 185, of 1,791 tons, employed 

 in coral fishing. The number of fishermen was 

 83,834, and of these the number engaged in deep- 

 sea and foreign fishing was 6,446. There were 

 1,348 boats, of 15,399 tons, employed in the deep- 

 sea fisheries in 1900, of which 160, of 2,352 tons, 

 fished for coral. The value of fish caught in 

 Italian waters in 1899 was estimated at 12,759,- 

 584 lire. The tunny-fish landed in Italy were val- 

 ued at 2,564,099 lire. The quantity of coral was 

 391,127 kilograms, value 1,800,595 lire. 



The special imports of merchandise in 1900 

 were valued at 1,700,235,665 lire; special exports, 

 1,338,246,253 lire. The imports of coal were 207,- 

 781,560 lire in value; raw cotton, 150,908,085 lire; 

 wheat, 143,117,620 lire; machinery, 89,318,073 lire; 

 raw. and twisted silk, 74,405,350 lire; lumber, 

 54,578,100 lire; raw hides, 43,208,970 lire; wool, 

 42,821,940 lire; fish, 30.522,230 lire; horses, 29,284,- 

 800 lire; leaf tobacco, 22,221,312 lire; iron and 

 steel bars, 21,429,992 lire; olive-oil, 17,994.333 lire; 

 coffee, 16,207.085 lire; kerosene, 16,079,514 lire; 

 raw sugar, 13,863,685 lire; linen and hemp yarn, 

 10,296,305 lire; cheese, 5,938,940 lire; cotton yarn, 

 5,126,605 lire; railroad materials. 4,699,120 lire; 

 silkworm eggs on cards, 2,513,500 lire; cotton 

 prints, 2,567,725 lire; dyed cotton cloth, 1,503.255 

 lire; bleached cotton cloth, 1,072,235 lire; indigo, 

 2,064,800 lire; unbleached cotton cloth, 546,145 

 lire; refined sugar, 327,744 lire; rice, 4,020 lire. 



The value of raw and thrown silk exported was 

 349,061,500 lire; silk waste, 31,632,150 lire; co- 

 coons, 1,431,950 lire; wine in casks, 57,378,248 

 lire; eggs, 50,035,440 lire; sulfur, 47,434,711 lire; 

 hemp and flax, 43,937,737 lire; olive-oil, 31,935,- 

 708 lire; coral manufactures, 22,411,420 lire; raw 

 skins, 21,583,935 lire; meat, fresh and salted, 

 17,600,185 lire; marble, 17,454,310 lire; cattle, 

 16,596,490 lire; rice, 16,467,445 lire; zinc ore, 12,- 

 305,700 lire; straw plait, 9,816,000 lire; cereals, 

 9,384,860 lire; dyes and tans, 7,794,871 lire; hogs, 

 3,978,610 lire; raw cotton, 2,610,400 lire; lead ore, 

 710,190 lire. The imports of precious metals in 

 1900 were 7,244,000 lire; exports, 16,553,500 lire. 

 The values in lire of imports of merchandise from 

 and exports to the principal foreign countries in 

 the special trade of 1900 are given in the follow- 

 ing table: 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered 

 at Italian ports during 1900 was 103,601, of 30,- 

 107,329 tons; cleared, 103,439, of 30,148,455 tons. 

 At Genoa 5,938, of 4,833,250 tons, were entered 

 and 5,926, of 4,816,550 tons, cleared; at Naples 

 6,093, of 3,356,435 tons, were entered and 6,073, 

 of 3,357,595 tons, cleared; at Leghorn 4,086, of 

 1,761,643 tons, were entered and 4,082, of 1,770,118 

 tons, cleared; at Messina 3,348, of 1,683,244 tons, 

 were entered and 3,346, of 1,681,573 tons, cleared; 

 at Palermo 3,372, of 1,658,848 tons, were entered 

 and 3,378, of 1,669,662 tons, cleared; at Venice 

 3,097, of 1,288,940 tons, were entered and 3,105, 

 of 1,302,776 tons, cleared; at Catane, 3,349, of 

 1,245,954 tons, were entered and 3,345, of 1,246,- 

 526 tons, cleared. 



The merchant navy on Jan. 1, 1900, consisted 

 of 5,665 sailing vessels of over 50 tons, having an 

 aggregate tonnage of 558,224 tons, and 409 steam- 

 ers of over 100 tons, having an aggregate tonnage 

 of 873,054 tons. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 length of railroads on Jan. 1, 1900, was 9.810 

 miles. The number of passengers carried in 1899 

 Avas 57,914,709; tons of freight, 1,482,016 tons by 

 express and 22,370,910 tons by slow trains. The 

 passenger receipts were 112,882,545 lire. The 

 total gross earnings were 305,764,483 lire, and 

 expenses 216,347,919 lire. Most of the railroads 

 belong to the Government, but since 1885 they 

 have been leased to private corporations for sixty 

 years, or for forty or twenty years if the Gov- 

 ernment exercises its option of terminating the 

 contracts earlier. 



The post-office in the year ending June 30, 1899, 

 carried 276.921,850 postpaid letters and postal 

 cards, 46,432,041 Government letters, 8.455,358 

 manuscripts and documents, 287,042,103 news- 

 papers and printed enclosures, and 11.844,531 

 money-orders of the total amount of 887,921,232 

 lire. 



The length of telegraph-lines belonging to the 

 Government on June 30, 1899, was 24,459 miles, 

 with 80,133 miles of wire; of railroad lines, 1,968 



