COTTON TEXTILES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 53 



RIO GRAND'E DO SUL. 



REPORT BY CONSUL BENNINQTON. 

 EXPLANATORY INTRODUCTION. 



To prepare an accurate and complete report on the importation of 

 cotton textiles into this province would require much longer time than 

 under the circumstances I deem it necessary or expedient to employ, 

 as one of the custom-houses is on the western frontier, a distance of over 

 450 miles from my office, and with present mail facilities communica- 

 tions by post would be accompanied by great delay. 



I apprehend, however, that the requirements of the cotton manufact- 

 ures of the United States can be met within a reasonable degree of 

 accuracy by a comparison of the latest official published returns of the 

 annual revenue receipts for the three different custom houses in the 

 province located at Rio Grande, Porto Alere, and Uruguayana. 



Having obtained the importation statistics from the custom-house of 

 RioGraude for the fiscal year 1888, it will be quite sufficient upon which 

 to base a fair estimate of the entire cotton textile importation of the 

 province by comparison as before stated, thus giving the best obtain- 

 able information on the points indicated by the circular issued from the 

 Department. 



In some instances, however, the origin of goods is no longer kept up, 

 and many arrive here manifested as foreign goods in transit. This 

 failure to show origin occurs when goods are reshipped or manifested 

 as local cargo in Rio de Janeiro for this and other points in the prov- 

 ince. 



Some months ago there was an immense contraband business con- 

 ducted over the southwestern and western frontier, which still exists to 

 a certain extent notwithstanding the special tariff for the province, 

 which went into effect March 15, 1889, reducing the tariff on cotton 

 textiles to at least 50 per cent, of the rate collected in the custom houses 

 of the other provinces of the empire. 



By reason of the contraband business the exact amount of cottons 

 brought into the province can not be ascertained, but the average con- 

 sumption of a million of people, the estimated population of the prov- 

 ince, would indicate to a certain extent the probable annual importa- 

 tion of cotton goods, both by legitimate and illegitimate methods. 



By comparison, as before stated, of the annual re venae receipts, for 

 the three custom-houses, 1 estimate importation statistics for the cus- 

 tom-house of Rio Grande to show three-sev 7 euths of the entire legit- 

 imate importations of the province. 



