COMMERCE WITH THE UNITED STATES. (See Index, under " United States.") IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF GOLD AND SILVER COIN AND BULLION. Shipping, Railroads, Telegraphs, and Post-Office. (See Index.) Money and Banking. The following table shows the amount of coinage issued in the fiscal years stated (ending March 31): 1890-91. 1891-92. 1892-93. 1893-94. 1894-95. Gold coins. Silver 886,000 1,124,835 8,448,617 8,815,781 1895-96. Yen. 1,423,750 20,007,377 1896-97 Yen. 952,433 12,927,034 Nickel " 1,667,226 500,125 500,000 726,000 350,000 51,500 650,000 The total coinage issued from the mint from its foundation in 1870 up to 1897, exclusive of re-coinage, amounted to 284,782,821 yen. The paper money in circulation consists of Treasury notes, Kokuritsu Ginko notes, or notes of the national banks, and Nippon Ginko (or Bank of Japan) notes, exchangeable for silver on presentation. The note circulation on April 1, 1897, was 203,768,357 yen. In 1895, the Nippon Ginko, or Bank of Japan, had a paid-up capital of 22,500,000 yen; notes in circulation, 180,336,815 yen; loans, 328,525,696 yen; deposits, 540,665,431 yen. The Kokuritsu Ginko (133 head offices having 180 branches), paid-up capital, 48,951,100 yen; notes in circulation, 20,728,708 yen; loans, 518,363,525 yen; deposits, 1,099,963,525 yen. The Shokin Ginko, or Specie Bank, paid-up capital, 4,500,000 yen; loans, 47.421.012 yen; deposits, 322,413,441 yen. At the end of 1895 there were 792 private banks, with paid-up capital of 49,967,260 yen; loans, 380.898,955 yen: deposits, 842,575,973 yen. In 1895-96, 1,605,855 persons deposited 46,397,978 yen, and withdrew 17,918,294 yen from the post-offices, which act as savings-banks. For further information relating to Money and Banking, see "A History of Banking in All Nations," Volume IV, pages 409 to 504; published by the " Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulletin." THE NEW CURRENCY LAW. (See Vol. IV, p. 84.) PERSIA. The estimated arca of Persia is 628,000 square miles. Its population, though variously estimated, is reported by the Government as having been, in 1881, 7,653,000, divided as follows: By the same authorities, the number of inhabitants in 1894 was estimated at about 9,000,000. The total revenue in cash and kind in the year 1876-77 was 50,700,000 krâns, or (1 kr. = 9.25d.) £1,950,000. In 1888 89 it was 54,487,630 krâns, or (1 kr. = 7.6d.) £1,602,580. With the rise in the price of silver, the value of revenue rose in 1890-91 to £1,775,000, and owing to the fall in silver the receipts for 1898-99 are estimated at £1,500,000. The expenditure for the year 1888-89 amounted to about 50,100,000 krâns; of this expenditure 18,000,000 were for the army, 10,000,000 for pensions, 3,000,000 for allowances to princes, 600,000 for allowances to members of the Kajar tribe, 800.000 for the Foreign Office, 5,000,000 for the royal court, 500,000 for colleges, 1,500,000 for civil service, 2,630,000 for local government expenses, 800,000 remission of revenue in poor districts; the remainder was paid into the Shah's treasury. Besides wheat, barley, rice, fruits, and gums, Persia produces silk, the annual yield, chiefly from the Caspian provinces, being about 606,100 pounds. About two-thirds of this quantity is exported. The opium industry is on the increase. In 1870, there were exported 800 boxes of 150 pounds each; in 1891, the export amounted to 10,000 cases, and is now estimated at 13,00 cases, the opium sent to Europe being prepared for medicinal purposes, and that to China for smoking. Tobacco is exported annually to the amount of 5,500 tons; cotton, 9,934.400 pounds; wool, 1,200,000 fleeces, weighing 7,714,000 pounds, about one-third to Bombay, and the remainder mixed with Turkish wool, chiefly to Marseilles. Persian carpets, of which there are about thirty different kinds, are all made by hand, and the design varies with each carpet. The export of these carpets in 1888 reached the value of £140,000, and is now a little more. The estimated value of the combined imports and exports is as follows; in the absence of any official records, however, the estimates are very uncertain: The imports consist mostly of cotton fabrics, cloth, glass, woolen goods, carriages, sugar, petroleum, tea, coffee, drugs, etc. The exports principally consist of dried fruits, opium, cotton and wool, silk, carpets, pearls, turquoises, rice, etc. There are annually exported from Persia about 10,000 boxes of opium, valued at about £750,000. The customs duties are, for foreigners, five per cent. ad valorem, the value being the invoice price plus the freight. The monetary unit is the krân, a silver coin, formerly weighing 28 nakhods (88 grains), then reduced to 26 nakhods (77 grains), now weighing only 24 nakhods (71 grains) or somewhat less. The proportion of pure silver was before the new coinage (commenced 1877) 92 to 95 per cent.; it was then for some time 90 per cent., and is now about 89% per cent. The value of the krân has in consequence much decreased. In 1874, a krân had the value of a franc, 25 being equal to £1; in December, 1888, a £1 bill on London was worth 34 krâns.. In consequence of the fall in the price of silver, the value of a krân is (October, 1897,) about 41⁄2d., a £1 bill on London being worth 53 krâns, while the average exchange for 1895-96 was 50. A AFRICA. EGYPT. The area of Egypt is claimed to be 10,698 square miles, of which 6,204 is in Lower Egypt and 4,438 in Upper Egypt. The latest and apparently the only census was taken in 1882, which gave the population at that date as 6,817,265. Taken by nationalities, the number of foreigners in Eg, pt is: Greeks, 37,301: Italians, 18,665; French, 15,716; Austrians, 8,022; English, 6,118; Germans, 948; other foreign nations, 4,116; total, 90,886. Of this total, nearly 90 per cent. reside in Lower Egypt. The budgets show the estimated revenue and expenditures to have then been as follows: The table following shows the amount of the Egyptian debt in January, 1898: Crops. About sixty per cent. of the area of Egypt is under cultivation. The agricultural year includes three seasons or crops. The leading winter crops, sown in November and harvested in May and June, are cereal produce of all kinds; the principal suminer crops, sown in March and harvested in October and November, are coiton, sugar, and rice; the autumn crops, sown in July and gathered in September and O tuber, are rice, sorgho (a sort of maize), and vegetables generally. The total number of date trees which yield fruit or seed is about 3,452,674. Cattle and farm animals, including horses and camels, number 1,668,860. The following table shows (in feddans *) the area of the several crops in 1890 and 1891: Cotton.. Beans. 864,302 871,241 Flax, henna, indigo.. 6,050 5,829 Lentils, 77,216 75,756 Area cultivated. 5,022,701 Vegetables, potatoes.. 37,244 34,542 Sugar-cane. 65,505 "Guilbane 19 (chichling vetch). The exterior commerce of Egypt, comprising imports and exports of all kinds of merchandise, is given at the following figures for six years: The values of the leading imports and exports are shown below, in £'s (Egyptian): The trade with the principal countries is shown as follows, in £'s (Egyptian): 1,226,870 1,531,079 For the trade of Egypt (and Tripoli) with the United States, see Index, under "United States." The arrivals and clearances of commercial vessels at Alexandria have been as follows: The Suez Canal. The Suez Canal is 87 miles long (66 actual canal and 21 miles lakes), connecting the Mediterranean with the Red Sea; opened for navigation November 17, 1869. The movement of vessels is shown below: Other particulars will be found in Volumes III and IV of "The Commercial Year Book." Post-Office, Railroads, Telegraphs. (See Index.) MONEY.-For gold and silver coins, see Index. CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. Area and Population. The Cape of Good Hope, or Cape Colony, is a possession of Great Britain, having an area of 221,311 square miles. According to the census of 1891, the total population was 1,527,224, of which 376,987 were European and 1,150,237 were native and colored. The population per square mile was 6.9. Pondoland was annexed in 1894, with an estimated population of 200,000. Bechuanaland was annexed in 1895, with an area of 51,574 square miles and a population of 72,736. |