Before the correctional tribunals, 64,204 persons were sentenced in 1883, or 22.56 per 10,000 of population; and before the assize courts, 5,772, or 2.03 per 10,000. The agglomerated (not communal) population of the principal cities and towns was as follows, at the census of December 1881: Embraced in the area of Italy is the independent republic, and one of the oldest States in Europe, San Marino. It has an area of 32 square miles and a population of about 8,000. In 1872 it concluded a treaty of protective friendship with the kingdom of Italy. Trade and Industry. The commerce of Italy, like that of France, is divided into general and special. The following table shows the total special imports and exports (including precious metals and goods in transit) of the kingdom in each of the five years from 1879 to 1883: The following table shows the value of the leading imports and exports in 1883: The commercial intercourse of Italy is mainly with France, the United Kingdom, and Austria, as the following table for 1883 shows: The value of the commercial intercourse of Italy with the United Kingdom, according to the Board of Trade Returns, is shown in the subjoined tabular statement in each of the five years from 1879 to 1883: The principal articles of export from Italy to Great Britain in the year 1883 were olive oil, of the value of 537,6867.; hemp, of the value of 390,4717.; oranges and lemons, of the value of 271,190.; sulphur, of the value of 222,9257.; chemical products, of the value of 270,7821.; shumac, of the value of 184,1521.; wine, of the value of 122,648/.; almonds, 72,6317.; stones, 124,5007.; and iron ore, 55,5351. The staple articles of British produce imported into Italy are cotton fabrics, iron, coals, and woollen manufactures. The value of the most important article, cotton manufactures, imported from Great Britain in the year 1883, amounted to 2,121,0827. Next in importance to cotton manufactures stood iron, wrought and unwrought, of the value of 1,322,8801.; coals, of the value of 962,5317.; woollen manufactures, of the value of 655,2971.; machinery, of the value of 545,9317.; refined sugar, of the value of 252,2071. Of the total area of Italy 86.9 per cent. is productive and 13.1 per cent. unproductive. Of the total area 12 per cent. is under forest and 36 per cent. under culture. Of the area under crops, about 28 million acres, nearly one-half (12 million acres) is under wheat, the average yield being 140 million bushels, the import of which, however, as well as of other kinds of grain, is generally greater than the export. Agriculture is generally in a primitive condition. Vineyards occupy about 5 million acres, and olivegroves about 2,200,000. Chestnuts are also an important object of culture, occupying about 1,225,000 acres. The average yield of wine is over 605 million gallons, Italy standing next to France in quantity. Italy is the chief olive-producing country in Europe, the average yield of olives being over 9 million bushels, and of oil 3 million cwt. The average value in the last five years of all agricultural products was 128,000,000l. In 1881 Italy had 4,783,232 cattle; 8,596,108 sheep; 2,016,307 goats. In 1883 Italy exported 127,003 and imported 36,566 cattle; exported 273,939 and imported 34,841 sheep; exported 38,668 and imported 5,252 swine. The wool product is not, however, sufficient for consumption, the export in 1883 being only 1,978,020 lbs. and the import 20,987,500 lbs. Iron is found in considerable quantities in Sardinia, Elba, and Lombardy, partly worked in Italy, and partly exported. The output of the mines in 1882 was 248,083 tons, valued at 115,8947. The total annual value of the iron and steel produced in Italy is 850,000l. Copper, zinc, and lead are also worked in considerable quantities. The chief mineral product is sulphur, 445,918 tons having been produced in 1882, valued at 1,865,7011. The quarries of Italy, especially its marble quarries, employ about 20,000. men; the annual output being valued at a million sterling. In 1882 the number of hands employed in all mines (excluding quarries), was 52,326, and the total value of the output 2,952,6107. In 1878 there were 2,030 silk factories in Italy, employing 15,992 men, 120,226 women, and 76,384 children, producing over 5 million lbs. of raw silk. The total weight of the cocoon harvest in 1881 was 91,683,000 lbs.; in 1882, 69,581,844 lbs.; and in 1883, 92,886,200 lbs., valued at 5,298,3331. On the 1st of January 1884, the total number of sailing vessels and steamers making long voyages was 7,471, of 973,333 tons, the tonnage of steamers alone being 107,452 tons. According to an official return, the kingdom of Italy had a registered seafaring population, that is individuals whose names were inserted in the Inscription Maritime,' of 185,017 at the commencement of 1884. The total number of vessels which entered Italian ports in the year 1883 was 111,296, of 18,465,381 tons, of which 26,163 were steamers, of 15,029,721 tons. Of the total 17,610 (10,626 Italian), of 5,724,302 tons (1,467,520 Italian), were sea-going vessels, and the remainder coasters. There cleared the Italian ports during the same year 110,554 vessels, of 18,367,948 tons, of which 25,999, of 14,975,618 tons, were steamers. Of the total 16,664, of 5,575,684 tons, were sea-going vessels, and the remainder coasters. The total length of railways opened for traffic on the 1st of January 1883 was 5,651 English miles, of which about one-fourth belonged to the State. In the sessions of 1878 and 1879 the Italian Parliament passed bills for the construction of additional 3,739 miles of railway, to complete the existing system. The new lines are to be built within a period of fifteen years, at a total cost of 40,000,000l., with a State contribution of 26,000,000l., paid in annual instalments of 2,000,0001. The total expenditure in the construction of railways up to the end of December 1882 was 111,480,8687. The number of post-offices in the kingdom at the commencement of 1883, was 3,497. In the year 1882 the post conveyed 177,034,688 letters and postcards, 160,726,706 newspapers and printed matter; and of money-orders 4,102,253, for the value of 532,630,868 lire. The revenue in 1882 was 32,660,886 lire, and the expenditure 27,729,462 lire. The length of telegraph lines in 1883 was 17,258 English miles, nearly two-thirds of the whole belonging to the Government. There were, at the same date, 1,747 telegraph offices, exclusive of railway and private offices. The number of telegrams forwarded in the year 1882 throughout the kingdom was 6,454,942, including 373,807 official telegrams. The revenue in 1882 amounted to 469,9247., and the total expenditure to 344,8277. Italy has a station on the bay of Assab, on the African coast of the Red Sea, opposite Aden. It has an area of 243 square miles and a population of 1,193 on December 31, 1881. Diplomatic Representatives. 1. OF ITALY IN GREAT BRITAIN. Ambassador.-Count Nigra, accredited January 19, 1883. Naval Attaché-Rear-Admiral Raphael Noce. 2. OF GREAT BRITAIN IN ITALY. Ambassador.-Sir J. Savile Lumley, K.C.B., born in 1825; Chargé d'Affaires in Russia, 1862 and 1865; Envoy to Saxony, 1866-67; to Switzerland, 1867-68; to Belgium, 1868-83; appointed to Italy, August 29, 1883. Secretaries.-Hugh Fraser, Hon. Hugh Gough, W. N. Beauclerk. Naval Attachés. —Capt. E. Rice, Capt. L. A. Beaumont, and Capt. C. Kane. Money, Weights, and Measures. The money, weights, and measures of Italy are the same as those of France, the names only being altered, the Franc changing into the Lira, divided into 100 centesimi, the Kilogramme into the Chilogramma, the Mètre into the Metro, the Hectare into the Ettaro, and so on. The British equivalents are: MONEY. The Lira, of 100 Centesimi - Intrinsic value, 25-22 to 17. sterling. Annali del Ministero di Agricoltura, Industria e Commercio, 1883. 8. Roma, 1884. Censimento della Populazione del Regno d'Italia-1861, 1871, 1881, eseguiti a cura della Direzione Generale di Statistica. L'Italia economica negli anni 1867, 1868, 1869, 1870, e 1873, 5 volumi. The first four years are by Dr. Pietro Maestri; the volume for 1873 is an official publication issued by the Ufficio della Statistica Generale d'Italia. Annuario statistico italiano, anni 1878, 1881, 1884. 3 volumi. Pubblicazione della Direzione Generale della Statistica. Annali di Statistica. 10 volumes of the first series, 25 of the second series, and 10 of the third series, now being published. Pubblicazione della Direzione Generale della Statistica. Annuario del Ministero delle Finanze. Statistica finanziaria; pubblicazione annuale del Ministero medesimo. Annuario Militare e Annuario del Ministero della Marina. Pubblicazione annuale dei rispettivi Ministeri. |