362 PAPER IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



was made in Belgium, erected in San Francisco de Limache, and was 

 run by steam. It proved a failure and was pulled down and taken 

 to Quillota to be run by water power. All Chilean paper is made by 

 machinery. 



The methods at Ocoa are modern. The other mills possess good, 

 but not new, machinery. The production will no doubt increase, 

 since the Government has levied heavy protective duties on imported 

 paper, with a view to assisting Chilean industries. 



BANKING AND MAIL FACILITIES. 



The best of banking facilities exist between Chile and Europe, 

 but few, if any, with the United States. Payments to American 

 merchants and manufacturers are made by means of sterling bills of 

 exchange on London at ninety days' sight. 



Mail facilities are: With Europe (via Andes), three times per 

 week in summer when the mountain passes are open, once a week in 

 winter; also four times per month via Straits of Magellan; with the 

 United States, four times per month via Panama. The average time 

 via Andes and Buenos Ayres to Europe is twenty-six days; via Ma- 

 gellan's Straits, thirty-seven days; via Panama to New York, thirty- 

 five to thirty-seven days. Two cable companies, one of them Amer- 

 ican and the other British, have connected Valparaiso with the rest 

 of the world. 



OUTLOOK FOR AMERICAN TRADE. 



At present, there is but a small opening for American papers and 

 none at all for pulp or articles manufactured from paper. On the lat- 

 ter, the duties are 60 per cent and may be considered prohibitive. 



The paper business with the United States is increasing slightly. 

 If an American manufacturer would establish a factory here for the 

 production of wall paper of several qualities and designs, using the 

 most modern labor-saving machinery and working on a small scale, 



there is a probability of success. 



JOHN F. CAPLES, 

 VALPARAISO, March 24, 1899. Consul. 



ANTOFAGASTA. 



POPULATION, BUSINESS, AND RAILWAYS. 



This is estimated at about 55,000; at least 50 per cent of adults 

 can read and write. 



The business of the entire district is mining and the treatment of 

 raw material in smelting and amalgamation establishments, mills, 

 and nitrate works. 



