SANTO DOMINGO. 



713 



Finance. The budget for 1882 estimated the 

 income at $1,500,000, and the outlay at the 

 same figure. 



In 1869 the Government had contracted a 6 

 per cent, loan in London to the amount of 

 757,000, at 70 per cent., but it has been offi- 

 cially proved that it never received more than 

 82,000 ; hence in 1872 it repudiated the loan, 

 and has since stopped paying interest on it. 

 The home indebtedness is $2,000,000, and to 

 pay it off a sinking fund has been created by 

 means of 15 per cent, set aside annually from 

 import duties collected. 



The Government had decreed in 1883 the 

 levying of an import duty of 12 per cent, on 

 Mexican silver coin, and prohibited the intro- 

 duction of old and mutilated coin; but as this 

 law created a scarcity leading to great incon- 

 venience, it had to be abrogated. It is now 

 proposed to coin $4,000,000 silver, of the same 

 standard and weight as the legal silver circula- 

 tion in the United States. A National Bank 

 has been founded in the city of Santo Domin- 

 go, by authority of Congress, under the pat- 

 ronage of the Government. 



Commercial Facilities. Early in May, Congress 

 passed a bill creating San Lorenzo a free port. 

 This port is to be divided into two zones, the 

 one free, for " in transitu " goods, and the 

 other for importation. This measure has in 

 view the increase of trade that is expected to 

 result from the completion of the Panama 

 Canal, the bay of Samana being conceded to 

 be the finest in the West Indies, and very con- 

 venient as a port of call and repair on the 

 route to Panama from Europe. 



The Government has granted a subsidy of 

 $500,000 to a French company, which engages 

 to improve the navigation of Oyama river. 



A port rapidly rising in importance, where 

 great activity is being displayed in the way of 

 public and private improvements, is San Pedro 

 de Macoris, where the Clyde American steam- 

 ers call and take cargo, principally sugar. 

 Kailroads are to connect the sugar region with 

 San Pedro, and a concession to that effect has 

 been granted to Don Juan Serralles. 



The construction of the Saraana Railroad 

 was pushed with vigor in 1883. 



The Government made arrangements in 1883, 

 with Baron Aimed a and an English telegraph 

 company, not only to have a cable laid con- 

 necting with the one between the West Indies 

 and the rest of the world now in operation, 

 but land-lines all over the republic. 



Education. There were in 1883, in the city 

 of Santo Domingo, two colleges ; twenty-one 

 schools of various grades ; a professional insti- 

 tute where civil and commercial rights, politi- 

 cal economy, medicine, mathematics, etc., are 

 taught ; a school for teaching 'natural history, 

 chemistry, botany, etc., and a Municipal Insti- 

 tute, where the higher branches of education 

 can be obtained. 



Exhibitions. A National Exhibition is to open 

 in the city of Santo Domingo in August, 1884. 



The Government was informed in 1883 that 

 Baron Almeda and M. Collin de Parade had 

 carried out the project of permanently exhib- 

 iting in the French capital specimens of the 

 agricultural and mineral products. 



Sugar. Sugar belonging to estates that suf- 

 fered from the hurricane of September 6th will 

 for six months pay only half the export duty. 

 Sugar estates in the districts of San Cristo- 

 bal, Monte Grande, near San Pedro de Maco- 

 ris, and the city of Santo Domingo, were in a 

 most flourishing condition in 1883, and the 

 sugar industry was evidently on the eve of a 

 remarkable development. American capital 

 has also been extensively invested in this in- 

 dustry. The machinery is imported from the 

 United States. Portable railways for the con- 

 veyance of cane and sugar were being gener- 

 ally adopted by the estates. 



Coasting Steamers. Messrs. Mayans & Co., 

 bankers in the city of Santo Domingo, have 

 secured the privilege of establishing a line of 

 steamers for service between the ports of Bara- 

 hona, Tortuguero de Azua, San Pedro de Maco- 

 ris, Samana, Puerto Plata, and Monte-Cristi. 



Commerce. Importations into the ports of 

 Santo Domingo and Puerto Plata in 1879 

 amounted, jointly, to $1,179,349, and the ex- 

 ports to $978,066. Since then the commercial 

 movement has expanded very much, the in- 

 crease of traffic being notably through the 

 ports of Samana, Azua, and Monte-Cristi. The 

 principal export articles are sugar, tobacco, 

 coffee, honey, wax, mahogany, other cabinet, 

 and especially dye-woods. Guano exportation 

 had very nearly ceased altogether, but had also 

 revived. 



In 1881 the exports and imports were : 



The American trade with St. Domingo has 

 been as follows: 



The chief articles imported into the United 

 States in 1883 were sugar, 27,281,049 pounds; 

 and molasses, 448,587 gallons. 



The number of vessels that entered the port 

 of Santo Domingo in 1881 was'169 ; aggregate 

 tonnage, 79,114; while 159 left, measuring 

 -jointly 76,058 tons. The arrivals at Puerto 

 Plata in 1882 were 136, with 62,472 tons of 

 cargo, of which 40 were steamers, with 60,689 

 tons; 87 sailing-vessels, with 1,783 tons. 



