the port-defence vessels, and including the ships actually in hand, the Austro-Hungarian fleet is thus constituted : The following table shows the armour-clad ships of the Austro-Hungarian navy in similar arrangement to that adopted for the British navy. The ships in italics are coast defence vessels. The numbers following the names of the others indicate the classes to which they have been assigned in the foregoing Abbreviations :-c. b. central battery; bar. barbette; Q.F. quick table. firing. 14.0 13.0 12.5 125 10 9-in., 6 34-in., 2 23-in.. 3 3,200 12.0 2 1887 6,870 12 9 3 1895 5,550 10.6 3 1895 5,550 10.6 Ditto 3 1896 5,550 10.6 Ditto 7,800 12.5 14.0 7,500 16.0 17.0 4 8,500 17:0 4 8,500 17.0 4 8,500 17.0 Körös Szamos ram. CRUISERS Maria Theresia Kaiser Karl VI. 1898 6,250 10'6 294-in., 6 6-in., 11 Q.F.. 49,800 19.0 4 12,300 20.0 The most important armourclad vessels completed are the Monarch, Wien, and Budapest, which displace 5,550 tons, and are about 305 ft. long, with Harvey steel armouring and protection for their guns. These are four 9'4 in. pieces, coupled in turrets fore and aft, besides a quick-firing armament. Two larger ironclads are in hand, as well as two torpedo-cruisers. The cruiser Karl VI. is of the Maria Theresia class improved. A torpedo-cruiser, the Zenta, has lately been launched. The sister second-class "ram" cruisers Kaiser Franz Josef and Kaiserin Elizabeth (about 4,050 tons) closely resemble the Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia. Commerce of the Common Customs Territory. The special commerce of the common customs territory, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, comprising imports and exports of merchandise, but not bullion, was as follows, in millions of florins, in the years indicated : The chief imports and exports (special trade) in two years were as follows (in thousands of florins) : For the common customs territory the values are fixed annually by a permanent commission, comprising official and representatives of agriculture, sylviculture, trade and industry. In general, net value are taken for imports and gross values for exports, and they must be determined at the crossing of the frontier. The commission has to fix them according to the countries of origin or of destination, and only employ averages excep. tionally. Quantities are declared, but the administration may, and in the case of imports always does, check the declarations. The weight declared is either net or gross, according to the tariff regulations. The recorded country of origin is that of production, and the country of destination is that where the goods are to be consumed. When the prime origin and ultimate destination are unknown, the most distant points of transit are recorded. In 1896 and 1897 the trade of Austria-Hungary was distributed as follows: The value of gold, silver, and bullion exported in 1896 was 42,534,439 florins; imports 68,806,845 florins; in 1897, exports 51,651,584 florins; imports 99,867,928 florins. From the Board of Trade returns the direct trade of Austria-Hungary with the United Kingdom is shown in the following table : The staple articles imported into the United Kingdom from Austria are wheat flour, the total value of which in the year 1897 amounted to 739,5147.; dye stuffs, &c., 77,5867.; and wood 73,2057. The principal exports of British produce to Austria are cotton manufactures (including yarn), 543,6287.; iron, 86,2757.; machinery, 195, 3517.; coals, 126,2917.; woollen goods, 74,6947.; copper, 28,8497.; leather, 23,3197.; hardware, 16,8837., in 1897. Money and Credit. From The only State bank is the Austro-Hungarian, formerly the National Bank (Nemzeti bank). To secure a free loan, originally of eighty million florins, to the State, the bank, during the continuance of its privilege, has the exclusive right to issue bank-notes. The charter of the bank, which expired at the end of 1897, has been renewed and extended to the year 1910. Of the sum total of bank-notes in circulation, at least two-fifths must be covered by the supply of metal, silver or gold, coined or in bullion. The State, under certain conditions, takes a portion of the clear profits of the bank. these profits, first 5 per cent. on the share capital is paid to the shareholders, of the remainder 8 per cent. is transferred to the reserve fund, and 2 per cent. to the pension fund, and the dividend to the shareholders may be made up to 7 per cent. Whatever still remains is divided into two portions, one of which goes to the shareholders and the other to the State, 70 per cent. to Austria and 30 per cent. to Hungary. These last sums, however, are only applied to the reduction of the debt of eighty millions mentioned above. The following are the statistics of the Austro-Hungarian Bank for five years, in thousands of florins : 1893 90,000 32,472 486,624 121,276 762,814 278,235 171,699 76,987 125,262 762,814 1894 90,000 32,521 507,808 128,611 791,559 307,005 180,254 76,858 131,505 791,559 1895 90,000 32,458 619,854 128,541 915,462 377,251 219,474 76,322 134,290 915,462 1896 90,000 32,499 659,726 133,483 964,862 448,277 217,592 76,093 136,798 964,862 1897 90,000 32,573 699,907 134,678 1,012,348 505,998 206,937 76,093 138,43 1,012,348 Money, Weights, and Measures. By law of August 2, 1892, the monetary system of Austria-Hungary was reformed on a gold basis, though the standard coin, the crown (krone, korona), is not coined in gold. The new coins with English equivalents are Gold: The twenty-crown piece (weighing 6.775067 grammes 900 fine, and thus containing 6 09756 grammes of fine gold) = 16s. 8d. The ten-crown piece = 88, 4d. The single ducat Silver : = 9 crowns 60 heller (fillér) = 8s. half-a-gulden (forint) of The single crown (weighing 5 grammes 835 fine, and thus containing 4 175 grammes of fine silver) =100 heller the old coinage = 10d. Silver gulden or florins continue to be legal tender to any amount. Silver crown-pieces are accepted to any amount at Government offices, but in general circulation they are legal tender only up to 50 crowns. The notes of the State Bank are legal tender. The metrical system of weights and measures is now legal and obligatory in Austria-Hungary. The old weights and measures are: The Centner (mázsa) =100 Pfund=56·06 kg. Eimer (akó) =56.50 litre Metzen (mèrö) =5,754 64 square metre =123 lbs. avoirdupois. AUSTRIA. Constitution and Government. I. CENTRAL GOVERNMENT. The political representation is twofold-(1) for all the Austrian provinces (Reichsrath); (2) for each separate province (Landtage). The Reichsrath, or Parliament of the western part of the Monarchy, consists of an Upper and a Lower House. The Upper House (Herrenhaus) is formed, 1st, of the princes of the Imperial family who are of age, 19 in number in 1898; 2nd, of a number of nobles-66 in the present Reichsrath -possessing large landed property, in whose families by nomination of the Emperor the dignity is hereditary; 3rd, archbishops, nine in number, and bishops, eight in number, who are of princely title inherent to their episcopal seat; and 4th, of any other life-members nominated by the Emperor, on account of being distinguished in art or science, or who have rendered signal services to Church or State-153 in 1898. The Lower House (Abgeordnetenhaus) up to 1896 consisted of 353 members, elected, partly directly and partly indirectly, by the vote of all citizens who are 24 years of age and possessed of a small property or particular individual qualification; of these, 85 representing the landed proprietors, 118 the towns, 21 the chambers of trade and commerce, 129 the rural districts. The constituencies were divided into four classes: first, the rural districts, where the peasantry and small landholders are the electors; they choose a voter for every 500 inhabitants, these voters electing the representatives; secondly, the towns; thirdly, the chambers of commerce in the cities and large towns; and fourthly, the large landed proprietors, payers of from 50 to 250 florins taxes, according to the provinces in which their estates are situated. In this last class females in possession of their own property are entitled to vote. Under a law passed in 1882, the franchise was extended to all male persons in towns and rural districts paying |