268 



MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES. 



£5,200,000 borrowed in recent years ostensibly to construct interoceanic and 

 other lines, not more than £700,000 were actually expended on railway works. 

 Hence Honduras is naturally unable to meet her engagements, however reluctant 

 she may be to repudiate them. No doubt the revenue continues to increase, but 

 it is drawn chiefly from the customs and monopolies on gunpowder, spirits, and 

 tobacco, which do not admit of rapid expansion. The public debt with arrears of 

 interest amounted in 1890 to £7,645,000, representing over forty years of normal 



ris:. 115. — CoirpAEATivE Debts of VAraous States. 



t 



Liberia 



Hawaii 



S. African Rep. 



Nicara|;aa 



Switzerlimd 



Salvador 



Costa-Rica 



Haiti 



S. Domingo 



Bolivia 



Ecuador 



Guatemala 



Paraguay . 



Cliina 



Norway 



Denmax'k 



Servia 



Colombia 



Honduras 



Sweden 



Uruguay 



Chili 



Venezuela 



Greece 



Mexico 



Roumanin 



Peru 



Argentine 



Japan 



Germany 



Holland 



Belgium 



Turliey 



Portugal 



Brazil 



United States 



Spain 



Italy 



Russia 



Austria-H ungary 



UnitPfl Kiiisfl 



revenue and about £40 per head of the population. As no interest has been paid 

 since 1872, the state is virtually bankrupt. 



The interoceanic railway, which served as the pretext for this formidable debt, 

 is far from being finished. The only completed section, about 56 miles, or one- 

 fourth of the whole length, runs from Puerto Caballos across the Sula plain, where 

 no heavy engineering works had to be executed. To finish the whole line a new 

 company had to be formed, fresh surveys taken, and attempts made to raise 

 more money. But the £8,000,000 required to complete this and other lines 

 from Puerto Caballos to Truxillo, and thence to Jutigalpa, have not yet been sub- 

 scribed. 



Meanwhile carriage-roads are projected for the transport of heavy goods 



