The charges on real property amount to nearly half of the annual

rent.

The subjoined table shows the amount of income derived from real property in each province of the kingdom of Italy:

The increase of wealth in most of the Italian States has been much more rapid within the last century than the increase of population. This has been the case even in one of the most neglected provinces, the Island of Sicily, ruled by an oligarchy of sixty-one dukes, 117 princes, 217 marquises, above 1,000 barons, and about 2,000 other noblemen.† An official report‡ states that the net rental of the surface of the island is valued at about two millions and threequarters sterling, and that of the underground at a quarter of a million. The sum total of three millions is divided in the ratios of two, thirteen, seventy-five, and 910 parts of a thousand among the Crown, the communes, the church, and the landlords generally, in 699,000 lots, each averaging 41. per annum. In 1811, the net rental of the country was declared by the landowners to be somewhat less than a million sterling per annum-a sum divided unequally among two thousand families. The number of landlords among whom the surface is now divided is about twenty thousand; and that of mine-owners one thousand. This change of persons is owing to various measures, the principal of which are the abolition of entails, the equal division of the half of all properties, and the assignment to creditors of encumbered estates. During the last century and a half the growth of wealth in Sicily, as already stated, has outstripped the march of population. In 1716 the number of inhabitants was 1,200,000, and the value of property about 6,000,000l. sterling; in 1748 the population had risen to 1,300,000 souls, and the public wealth to 12,000,000l. sterling. In

*Mr. West, ib. † S. Gualterio, Rivolgimenti Italiani. By Mr. Consul Godwin in Commercial Reports, presented to Parliament, 1862.

1811 the number of inhabitants was 1,800,000, and the value of property 18,000,000l.; in 1857 the population was 2,200,000, and the amount of wealth 60,000,000l. Population has therefore only doubled itself, whereas the increase of wealth has been nearly tenfold; or, deducting one-third for the decreased value of gold, sevenfold in the course of one hundred and fifty years.

The population of the States comprising the present kingdom of Italy amounted to, in the year 1788:

The above figures are only estimates, drawn, however, from the best authenticated sources. They show that the population of Italy, under previous administrations, has not even doubled during a period of three quarters of a century, giving a lesser increase than any other State in Southern Europe.

Trade and Commerce.

The want of Custom-house returns for the whole kingdom, for the year 1862, and, to some extent, for 1861, precludes the possibility of giving any later reliable statistical information than that contained in the subjoined official reports. The following table exhibits the trade of Genoa, the first commercial city of the kingdom of Italy. It gives the number and tonnage of vessels, of each nation, which entered and cleared at the port of Genoa in the years 1859 and 1860:—

1811 the number of inhabitants was 1,800,000, and the value of property 18,000,000l.; in 1857 the population was 2,200,000, and the amount of wealth 60,000,000l. Population has therefore only doubled itself, whereas the increase of wealth has been nearly tenfold; or, deducting one-third for the decreased value of gold, sevenfold in the course of one hundred and fifty years.

The population of the States comprising the present kingdom of Italy amounted to, in the year 1788:

The above figures are only estimates, drawn, however, from the best authenticated sources. They show that the population of Italy, under previous administrations, has not even doubled during a period of three quarters of a century, giving a lesser increase than any other State in Southern Europe.

Trade and Commerce.

The want of Custom-house returns for the whole kingdom, for the year 1862, and, to some extent, for 1861, precludes the possibility of giving any later reliable statistical information than that contained in the subjoined official reports. The following table exhibits the trade of Genoa, the first commercial city of the kingdom of Italy. It gives the number and tonnage of vessels, of each nation, which entered and cleared at the port of Genoa in the years 1859 and 1860:—