Statement showing the imports at the port of Ancona, during the year ended December 31, 1861, 4r.-Continued. exports Statement showing the exports from the port of Ancona during the year ended December 31, 1861, with description of merchandise, measure, quantity, and value, and name of country exported to. Casks....****** Hardware........................................... ******.... Packages....................... Clapboards................................ Drugs..................******** Cheese................................. Indian corn........................... French beans .............................. Indigo ............... *******..... Bacon................................... Oak timber..............................********** Pieces.................... Statement showing the exports from the port of Ancona during the year ending December 31, 1861, &c.—Continued. DECEMBER 5, 1862. I have the honor to inform you that, in conformity with the instructions received in circular No. 17, addressed to the consular officers of the United States, dated Washington, July 30, 1862, I have communicated to the prefecture of the province of Ancona, as the chief authority, a copy of the provision of the law mentioned therein, and have inquired if the "privilege of purchasing supplies from the public warehouses, duty free," is now or will be extended to the vesselsof-war of the United States. The prefect answered, that he himself, not being able to give me the information required, applied for it to the ministry of foreign affairs at Turin, and received in answer a copy of the note addressed to the royal extraordinary commissioner at Palermo, which the prefect communicated to me. I herewith enclose a copy of the original note above mentioned, and a translation of it. DECEMBER 31, 1862. In conformity with section 152 of the general instructions, I respectfully report that according to a royal decree of September 11, 1862, of the kingdom of Italy, substantial changes will take place commencing with the 1st of January, 1863, in regard to public revenue. The royal decree issued thereupon is too large and too detailed to be communicated properly in an extract; I therefore thought it convenient to transmit a printed copy of the whole, which I accordingly send herewith under a separate envelope as printed matter. A main point of this royal decree is, that on and after the first of January, 1866, the ports of Ancona, Leghorn, and Messina will cease to be free ports, only Genoa remaining further as such. The second matter which requires to be noticed is a royal decree, in consequence of the legislative act dated August 24, 1862, fixing the weights of gold and silver and copper coin, viz: ROME.-W. J. STILLMAN, Consul. SEPTEMBER 30, 1862. I have the honor to report that the statistics of trade between the United States and Papal States show a very meagre total. The general trade of the Roman States is not extensive, and coming mostly by second hand, through the free port of Leghorn, it is almost impossible to classify it as to the country from which it originally came, or to which it goes. The principal imports are tobacco, pine timber, coal, salt fish, cloths, hardware, alcohol, coffee and sugar, rosin, and a little cotton. The exports are hides and skins, wool, oak timber, wheat and maize, rags, mosaics, pictures, and statuary. As I understand that the Roman government does not publish statistics of trade at present, it is impossible to give any accurate data of the amount either of export or import, and I confine myself to estimates of the amount of such articles as our country may be specially interested in. The tobacco trade is a monopoly of the government. The amount annually imported is about 4,000,000 pounds. Pine timber is imported from Trieste, and is of the Alpine pine-not well fitted for cabinet or joiners' work. The amount imported is about 75,000 feet. Its average price about twenty-eight cents per cubic foot-a value too great to enable it to be used in ordinary work, and most articles manfactured from wood are of oak. Wooden wares, furniture, and such portions of house carpentry as with us are of pine, are here mostly, for cheapness, made of oak. It seems to me that importations of our wooden wares, and even pine lumber, might be advantageously made from the United States. Our improved agricultural implements are unknown here, and, as the country is mostly cultivated in enormous farms, it strikes me that their introduction would not be difficult, even in face of the prejudice against labor-saving machines. The quantity of salt fish consumed in the Papal States is very great; but the trade, like that of tobacco, is a government monopoly. The coal is English bituminous, mainly for the use of the railways. About 800 to 900 barrels of American alcohol are imported, and considerable quantities of rum. Last spring some American lard in tubs-about fifty or sixty barrels—w imported from Leghorn, and found a ready market, and a very small quantity of American cheese. There has also been considerable demand for rosin. Coffee and sugar are mainly imported from the French colonies. I doubt not that a considerable market might be found for ice by making an arrangement with the government which holds the monopoly of the sale. Rome is supplied at present with snow, from the neighboring mountains, packed in winter. The exports to the United States go mainly by way of Leghorn, and might, I imagine, be considerably increased by the establishment of direct trade between Civita Vecchia and American ports. The wines of this portion of Italy, which are unknown in America, are cheap and excellent; and although the lighter kinds would with difficulty bear transportation, those of the southern districts, nearer the Neapolitan provinces, are equal to the common Bordeaux, and as capable of bearing a sea voyage. These can be obtained here, perfectly pure and in good quality, at the rate of seven to ten cents a bottle. I am The extraordinary cheapness and abundance of fruits, apricots, peaches, pears, figs, &c., has suggested to me the feasibility of exporting them to the United States in cans, as we are accustomed to prepare them for winter use. satisfied that a profitable trade of limited extent might be established in this direction. |