Delmar.] ^^O [Jan. 15, 



den of taxation would be exceedingly onerous — especially when the 

 industrial condition and efficiency of the country, as compai'ed with 

 other countries at the same period, is taken into consideration. 



" Tlie direct tax on real property, on agricultural produce and on cattle, 

 has, during the last twenty years, nearly doubled, throughout the whole 

 of Spain. 



1846 to 1848, it amounted to $12,500,000. 



1849 to 1855, " " 15,000,000. 



1856 to 1857, " " 17,500,000. 



1858 to 1863, " " 20,000,000. 



1864 to 1866, " " 21,500,000. 



The same tax levied by the local authorities throughout Spain, for 

 provincial and municipal purposes, has risen, during the same period, 

 from 11,750,000 to |4, 434,585." (Br. Con. Rep. 1866-5, p. 375.) 



Interest. 



In the year 1545, Charles the Fifth fixed the legal rate of interest in 

 Spain and the Low Countries at 12 per cent. (]Sf. Y. Social Science Review, 

 1865, pp. 362-3.) From that time until toward the close of the last cen- 

 tury, the market rate of interest in Spain continued to fall, not so much 

 from increased profits or security as from an increasing absence of oppor- 

 tunities for the investment of capital. This is proved by the fact that 

 while generally the market rate of interest fell, the rate on Government 

 securities rose. 



At the time of Arthur Young's travels the market rate on landed se- 

 curity in Catalonia was 8 to 10 per cent. 



Since that time the usui-y laws have been entirely abolished, and now 

 interest is left free to be determined by the contracting parties. (L. T., 24.) 



The prevailing rates on landed security about the year 1870 were from 

 4 to 5 per cent, per annum in Biscay and the Balearic Isles, the two 

 extremities of Spain (L. T., 31, 37, 40), to 10 or 12 per cent, in Murcia. 

 {Ibid, 28.) In the rest of the provinces, and Spain generally, it appears 

 to be from 6 to 10 per cent. {Ihid, 18, 20, 24, 44, 50, 53.) 



On the security of growing crops, or personal security the rates are 

 most frequently 30 to 40 per cent., though of course they vary with the 

 degree of risk in each case. {Ibid, 18, 24, 44.) 



According to the quotations of the Madrid Bourse, at the close of the 

 year 1874, Government securities were at prices that yielded interest at 

 the rate of from 12 to 20 per cent, per annum. 



Code op Law — Credit — Debt — Executions. 



' ' The habits, customs, laws, have accumulated from the earliest ages, 

 — Gothic, Christian, Jewish and Moorish, — forming an inextricable web 

 which no legislator has attempted to unravel. Codification has been often 

 talked of, and even attempted, and as yet produced nothing. The conse- 

 quence is that most Spanish proprietors are perpetually involved in law 



