Finance. For the calendar years 1900-03 the revenue and expenditure, and for 1904 the budget estimates, were :— 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 Pesos Pesos Pesos Revenue Pesos 6,567,000 Pesos 5,589,604 5,574,275 6,261,246 8,748,029 5,335,059 5,236,218 7,723,032 11,922,341 6,600,012 Of the revenue in 1903 the principal sources were customs duties, 4,924,669 pesos; liquor and tobacco duties, 1,583,885 pesos; slaughter tax, 205,778 pesos; railways, steamers, posts, and telegraphs, 1,243,845 pesos smaller amounts being obtained from stamps, the gunpowder and other monopolies. Of the expenditure in 1903 the Ministry of War and Marine absorbed 1,605, 446 pesos; of Fomento, 1,865,132 pesos; of Finance, 2,605,046 pesos; of Instruction, 336,746 pesos; Police, 598,876 pesos; Government, 618,890 pesos; Justice, 282,610 pesos. The foreign debt consists of a railway loan raised in London in 1886 for 285,000l. in 6 per cent. bonds. Default was made in payment of interest on July 1, 1894, and in 1895 an arrangement was made for the settlement of the debt, reducing the interest to 4 per cent. and the arrear coupons to half their nominal value. The amount outstanding in July, 1904, amounted to 259,000/. The internal debt amounted to 17,320,707 pesos on December 31, 1903. The value of the urban property of Nicaragua is put at 8,590, 429 dollars; and of the rural at 33,972,690 dollars. Industry and Commerce. Comparatively little of the land is cultivated, but coffee cultivation and banana culture are extending. About one-third of the coffee estates are in the hands of Germans. The coffee crop in 1902 was estimated at about 22,400,000 lbs. ; in 1903, about 10,000,000 lbs. Banana culture flourishes in the Bluefields region, where the timber industry also is carried on, 24,583 logs of mahogany having been exported in 1902. The sugar industry tends to expand; the sugar output in 1902 was about 10,000,000 lbs.; there are some very large and hundreds of small sugar establishments. Besides the sugar output mentioned, almost as much was used in producing 369,845 gallons of spirit. The production of cocoa is insufficient for local supply, but is rapidly extending. Cotton is now successfully grown; in 1902, 6,000 cwt. was exported. There are several rubber plantations from which good returns are expected, but results are not obtained till long after planting, and at present the production of rubber is declining. Tobacco is cultivated in Masaya, in the island of Ometepe, and in Jalapa; the leaf is coarse and serves only for home consumption. Maize and rice are grown for local consumption. There are in the Republic 41 mines, worked by American and British companies. These are all gold mines, one having also silver. The annual gold output is about 78,000 oz., valued at 276,250l. Copper, coal, oil, and precious stones are also found. Local industries are the manufacture of furniture, boots and shoes, cigars and cigarettes, sugar, rum, beer, candles and soap; but these products are almost entirely for local use. The foreign trade of Nicaragua in the years named was approximately to the values stated below in gold pesos (5 gold pesos, or about 11 silver pesos, or about 34 currency pesos £1): The principal imports in 1902 were cottons, 509,500 gold pesos; woollens, 47,500; flour, 97,500; beverages, 75,250; iron work, hardware, &c., 93,200; drugs, 62,000. The chief exports were coffee, 1,440,000 gold pesos; rubber, 400,000; cattle, 100,000; hides, 100,000; sugar, 95,000; wood and dyes, 55,725; cotton, 60,000; gold, 484,350. Of the imports, 59 per cent. are from the United States; 20 per cent. from Great Britain; 7 per cent. from Germany; 8 per cent. from France. Of the exports 60 per cent. go to the United States; 9 per cent. to Great Britain; 14 per cent. to Germany; 8 per cent. to France. The trade of the United Kingdom with Nicaragua (according to the Board of Trade Returns) has been as follows: The chief imports from Nicaragua in 1903 were coffee, 59,7227.; woods, 15,6097.; and the chief exports to Nicaragua, cottons, 91,0297. The commerce of the United States with Nicaragua (according to United States statistics) in 5 years, ended June 30, was as follows: : In 1903 the chief imports from Nicaragua were rubber, 404,497 dollars; wood, 446,007 dollars; bananas, 382,062 dollars. The chief exports to Nicaragua were iron-work, 222, 859 dollars; bread-stuffs, 160,209 dollars; cottons, 215, 116 dollars. Shipping and Communications. At About two-thirds of the trade of Nicaragua passes through Corinto. this port in 1903 there entered, of ocean-going vessels, 140 vessels of altogether 264,838 tons. These were almost entirely the steamers of 4 shipping companies, American, British, Chilian and German, which regularly visit the port. A dock 500 ft. by 315 ft. has been constructed at Corinto. A line of steamers connects Bluefields with other eastern ports, and with New Orleans in the United States. A treaty of 1867 empowering the United States to construct a canal across Nicaragua was, on October 24, 1901, denounced by Nicaragua, but on December 10 a protocol was signed preparatory to a lease to the United States in perpetuity of a strip of land including the canal route. On November 18, 1901, a new treaty between Great Britain and the United States, modifying the Clayton-Bulwer treaty of 1850, and neutralising the proposed canal, was signed, and on December 16 it was accepted by the United States Senate. It seems improbable that the interoceanic canal will be constructed by this route (see under Panama). For There are few good roads in the country, but contracts have recently been made for roads and transport from Momotombo to Matagalpa, 79 miles, and for 3 roads leading respectively from Matagalpa, from New Segovia, and from the Pis Pis mines in the Cape Gracias district to the head of steamboat navigation on the Cuco Wanks river, about 160 miles from its mouth. the repairing and making of roads a tax varying from 1 peso (about 22d.) to 10 pesos is imposed on all male inhabitants over 18 years of age. There are about 175 miles of railway in connection with which steamers ply on the Lakes. In 1902 the railway of 35 miles connecting Managua with Leon and Corinto was completed. The line from Masaya to Jinotepe, connecting the coffee district with Corinto, is being continued to Diriamba. Various other railway schemes are projected. All the railways belong to Government, except the Silica Railway of 7 miles belonging to a steamboat company. In 1904 there were 133 post offices. There are 2,440 miles of telegraph wires, and 123 offices. Money, Weights, and Measures. The Bank of London and Central America has a subscribed capital of 260,000l., of which 130,3007. is paid up. The system of money is the same as in Honduras, though Mexican, Chilian, Peruvian, and other South and Central American dollars are issued. In The silver peso or dollar is of the value of about 20d. or 11 or 12 silver dollars to the £. The exportation of silver pesos is prohibited. fractional silver coin the peso is worth about 19 pence; the value of the paper peso fluctuates, but in 1903 was about 7 pence; business is transacted mostly with paper money. The Government note circulation December 31, 1901, amounted to 5,355,823 pesos. In 1899 a nickel coinage was issued. Since January 7, 1893, the metric system of weights and measures has been in use. Diplomatic and Consular Representatives. 1. OF NICARAGUA IN GREAT BRITAIN. Envoy and Minister (residing at Paris).-Crisanto Medina. There are Consular Representatives at Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Cardiff. 2. OF GREAT BRITAIN IN NICARAGUA. Minister and Consul-General.-H. W. B. Harrison, C. M. G. (ad interim). Consul at Granada.-Vacant. Consul at Greytown.-H. F. Bingham. Consul at Managua.-Charles E. Nicol. Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Nicaragua. 1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Foreign Office Reports. Annual Series. No. 2585. London, 1891. Nicaragua. No. 51 of the Bulletins of the Bureau of the American Republics. Washing. ton, 1892. United States Consular Reports, and the Bulletins of the International Bureau of the American Republics. Washington. 2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Belly (N.), Percement de l'isthme de Panama par le canal de Nicaragua. 8. Paris, 1885. Bell (C. N.), Tangweera: Life and Adventures among the Gentle Indians. (Mosquito Coast.) London, 1899. Belt (Thomas), The Naturalist in Nicaragua: a Narrative of a Residence at the Gold Mines of Chontales, &c. 8. London, 1873. Boyle (Frederick), A Ride across a Continent. 2 vols. 8. London, 1868. Corporation of Foreign Bondholders, Report of Committee. Appendix. London, 1904. Kalb (C. de), Nicaragua; Studies on the Mosquito Shore in 1892. American Geographi cal Society, 1893. Keasbey (L. M.) The Nicaragua Canal and the Monroe Doctrine. London, 1897. Pector (Desiré), Étude Economique sur la Republique de Nicaragua. Neuchatel, 1893. Scherzer (Kari, Ritter von), Wanderungen durch die mittelamerikanischen Freistaaten Nicaragua, Honduras und San Salvador. 8. Braunschweig, 1857. Squier (E. G.), Nicaragua, its People, Scenery, Monuments, and the proposed Interoceanic Canal. 2 vols. 8. London, 1852. Wetham (J. W. Bodham), Across Central America. 8. London, 1877. Norway. See SWEDEN AND NORWAY. OMAN. AN independent State in South-eastern Arabia extending along a coast lineS. E. and S. W.-of almost 1,000 miles from the Gulf of Ormuz and inland to the deserts. Area, 82,000 square miles; population, 1,500,000. The capital, Maskat (40,000 inhabitants) was occupied by the Portuguese till the seventeenth century. After various vicissitudes it was taken in the eighteenth century by Ahmed bin Sa'eed, of Yemenite origin, who was elected Imam in 1741. His family have since ruled. The present Sultan is Seyyid Feysal bin Turki, second son of the late Seyyid Turki bin Sa'eed bin Sultan, who succeeded his father June 4, 1888, and was formally recognised by the British Government. In the beginning of the present century the power of the Imam of Oman extended over a large area of Arabia, the islands in the Persian Gulf, a strip on the Persian coast, and a long strip of the African coast south of Cape Guardafui, including Socotra and Zanzibar. On the death of Sultan Sa'eed in 1856, one son proclaimed himself Sultan in Zanzibar and another in Muscat. Eventually the rivals agreed to submit their claims to the arbitration of Lord Canning, Viceroy of India, who formally separated the two Sultanates. Subsequent troubles curtailed the area of the state in Asia. The island of Kishm or Tawilah, near the entrance of the Persian Gulf, formeriy belonging to the Imam of Oman, is now under Persian government and is ruled by a Sheikh, but the port of Basidu at the western extremity of the island is British. Further south on the Persian coast of the Gulf of Oman is the Port of Jask formerly belonging to Oman, but now British. The closest relations have for years existed between the Government of India and Oman, and a British Consul and Political Agent resides at Maskat. The revenue of the Sultan amounts to about 250,000 dollars. The exports in 1903-04 were valued at 2,509,840 dollars; chiefly dates, 1,069,050 dollars; fruit, 36,680 dollars; fish, 26,550 dollars; and limes, 58,230 dollars. The imports were valued at 3,880,580 dollars; chiefly rice, 175,200 dollars; coffee, 86,700 dollars; sugar, 208, 400 dollars; piece goods, 328,400 dollars; twist and yarn, 98,500 dollars; cereals-wheat and other grain, 697,890 dollars; arms and ammunition, 861,890 dollars. The imports from the United Kingdom were valued at 510,990 dollars; India, 2,410,600 dollars; France, 386,600 dollars; America, 82,200 dollars; Asiatic Turkey, 26,370 dollars; Persia, 241,820 dollars; Russia, 105,500 dollars; other countries, 116,500 dollars. The number of vessels entered and cleared the port of Maskat in 1903-04, including the native craft, was 540 of 256,934 tons, of which 381 of 242,623 tons were British. There is a mail weekly from and to Bombay, and Maskat is connected by cable with the Indo-European telegraph system. British Consul and Political Agent.-Captain W. G. Grey, I.A. Administrative Report of the Persian Gulf Political Residency. Calcutta Annual. PANAMA. Government. PANAMA, formerly a department of the Republic of Colombia, asserted its independence on November 4, 1903, and the de facto Government was at once (November 6) recognised by the Government of the United States, which gave notice that no Colombian military force would be permitted to land at any port of the Isthmus. This course of action was occasioned by the rejection by Colombia of the Canal treaty which had been negotiated by the Governments of the United States and Colombia. The United States Government justified its interference on the ground of its rights and duties under the treaty of 1846 with the then existing Republic of New Granada, which gave a right of way across the Isthmus from sea to sea in return for the guarantee of neutrality and other considerations on the part of the United States. But, apart from treaty obligations, it was held that in the interests of civilisation and for the purpose of free transit, permanent peace should be established and the incessant civil wars, which had been the curse of Panama, should be brought to an end. The new State has been recognised by the chief European Powers. The de facto government of the new State consisted of three officials, who were styled consuls and exercised the functions of President of the Republic, and there was a Council of six ministers representing various administrative departments. A Constitutional Convention, elected on January 4, 1904, met on January 15 and soon afterwards chose as President of the Republic.-Dr. Manuel Amador Guerrero. On November 18, 1903, a treaty between the United States and Panama was signed, providing facilities for the construction and maintenance of the inter-oceanic Canal. In this treaty, Panama grants in perpetuity the use of a zone five miles wide on each side of the Canal route, and within this zone the exclusive control for police, judicial, sanitary and other purposes. For subsidiary canals other territory is ceded and, for the defence of the Canal, the coastline of the zone and the islands in Panama Bay are also ceded. The cities of Panama and Colon remain under the authority of the new State |