Steam navigation between the River Plate and Europe—Continued. The agreement between the Liverpool, Brazil and River Plate Steam Navigation Company, familiarly known as the Lamport & Holt Line, and the Belgian Government for the carrying of the mail is as follows: The company undertake to establish a first-class steamship line between Antwerp, Rio Janeiro, Montevideo, and Buenos Ayres, three steamers a month each way, the steamers being required to call at certain ports designated by the Government of Belgium on certain days, also to be designated by the Government, making the distance between Antwerp and Buenos Ayres in thirty-five days. The contract extends to fifteen years, and the company receives a guarantee of 250,000 francs per annum and is exempted from all port dues at Antwerp and has the same privileges in South American ports. In 1881 a company called the Canadian and Brazilian Direct Mail Steamship Company was organized by English bankers and received a subsidy of $50,000 from the Canadian government and $50,000 from the Government of Brazil for the establishment of steam communication between Montreal and Rio Janeiro. The company was organized and run for two or three months, employing four steamers of 2,200 tons burden each, but for some reason the steamers were withdrawn and the project abandoned. [Extract from the Buenos Ayres Herald.] The Mexican Government has granted a concession to the Mexican South Atlantic Colonization and Mail Steamship Company to establish a line of steamers between Vera Cruz and Buenos Ayres, touching at St. Thomas, Rio de Janeiro, and points in Uruguay and Paraguay. The steamers will make monthly round trips, and the company will receive a subsidy for each trip of $18.000 for the first ten years, $16,000 for the second ten years, and $14,000 for the third ten years, carrying the mails free and Government employees, civil and military, for half fare. The company will be allowed to bring 300 colonists monthly and will be compelled to bring at least 500 yearly. They will receive two-thirds fare for each colonist, the fare not to exceed $25. In case of a foreign war, the Government will have the privilege, if the company suspended their trips, of using one-half the vessels belonging to the company as war ships, paying $7,500 monthly for their use. The vessels of the company must be of the first class, four of 2.000 tons each and two of 1,000 tons each. After the Government shall have paid the subsidy for seven years the company will be obliged to deliver to the Government a war transport of 2,000 tons free and after fourteen years another vessel of the same class. STEAMSHIP COMMUNICATION WITH THE UNITED STATES. Translated from the message of the Executive power in 1879 to the National Congress of the Argentine Republic.] To the honorable National Congress: It was always a persistent design of the public powers of the nation to establish the direct navigation between the ports of the Republic and the United States, in order to thus complete our system of exterior communication. In 1865 the Congress passed a law granting a subsidy for this object. The President, Sarmiento, announced in one of his annual messages that this subsidy would at last be applied, and the actual administration renewed for two years this business, asking Congress to augment the subsidy granted, and which had proved insufficient, when all was suspended because the company that had undertaken this enterprise could not obtain from the United States Senate the pecuniary auxiliary that was indispensable for its attempt. For the first time, after an expectation so long delayed, a responsible company directed by the firm that constructs vessels of the best reputation in the United States, and it has conditions to realize the communication that have been sought with so much reason. The Executive power considers it useless to dilate on the considerations upon the advantages of a direct communication with the most powerful, commercial, and free nation that has best realized the forms of government that we have accepted, following precisely its example. This other market that opens itself is a new interchange for the men, the ideas, and the products. But the conditions of the enterprise are onerous, and the Executive power complies with its duty in submitting to the honorable Congress in order that it resolve itself upon the subject. The enterprise asks 10,000 francs monthly and the maintaining of this subsidy for ten years. After divers conferences with the minister of the interior it has reduced its conditions to 100,000 francs per annum, the subsidy lasting seven years. The Executive power incloses with this message all the antecedent writings of the business. May God guard the honorable Congress of the nation. Proposition of the company. N. AVELLENada. The Argentine Government, in view of the services which this line lends, that will be the first step in uniting the Republic with the grand North American Continent, will pay to Messrs. John Roach & Son the sum of $8,000 (8,000 harà dollars, gold) for every round voyage for the term of eight years, paid on the return of each steamer from the round trip, with a corresponding receipt from the administration of post-offices on its having duly delivered the mails. The steamers will be subject to the laws and ordinances that exist in the Republic for steam packets; they shall carry the correspondence of the Argentine Republic to whatever point at which they touch without any remuneration, making a rebate of 33 per cent in prices of passage of the immigrants and 50 per cent on the passage of each employee of the Government who can justly show that his voyage is on account of the Government. They will also make a rebate of 25 per cent on whatever freight they may carry on behalf of the Government, such as materials of war, etc. [Translation from the message of the Executive power to honorable National Congress of the Argentine Republic, 1882. } To the honorable Congress of the nation: Our commerce with the United States of North America has taken a favorable development that it is convenient to encourage by means of the establishment of a regular line of communication. This necessity has been felt since some time past, and a law of 1865 destined the sum of $20,000 (fuertes) to subsidize the first line of steamers that was established between the ports of Buenos Ayres and New York. The Executive power does not believe it necessary to enlarge in considerations upon this subject, that, if promptly favored, is bound to influence in a most powerful manner the national commerce. The interests of our country will be benefited by a more intimate contact with the great producing and manufacturing nation of North America, in whose markets the Argentine products will find easy and abundant collocation. An enterprise has solicited of the Executive power its consent for a subsidy, with the object of establishing this line of communication, and he remits to your honorable body the petition presented by it. In view of the preceding considerations the Executive power solicits of your honorable body the sanction of the accompanying project. May God guard your honorable body. The Senate and House of Deputies, etc.: ROCA. BERNARDO DE IRIGOYEN. ARTICLE 1. It authorizes the Executive power to grant a sum not exceeding 96,000 hard dollars (fuertes) annually, the subsidy offered by the law of the 18th of August of 1865, to a line of steam navigation between the ports of Buenos Ayres and New York. ART. 2. Communicate, etc. IRIGOYEN. THE RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. His excellency Señor Don Vincente Quesada, the new minister from the Argentine Republic, has just received some information from his Government the importance of which will be realized by our exporters and particularly the manufacturers of locomotives, rolling stock, and other railway supplies. Some years ago the Argentine Government commenced the construction of a vast system of internal improvements, embracing railway lines to the various parts of the Republic, running like the spokes of a wheel from Buenos Ayres, the hub, into the interior, and intended to reach not only the interior provinces, but the surrounding nations— Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia. These lines of road were to supplement and reenforce the great natural facilities for transportation furnished by the Rio de la Plata and its branches, which in themselves give a longer system of water navigation than is to be found in any other country on the globe and realize the ambition of the Argentines, which is to make Buenos Ayres the commercial metropolis of South America, as London is to Europe and New York to the United States. In addition to the railway system the harbor of that city was to be improved so as to make it more convenient for vessels to receive and discharge cargoes. What is now termed the harbor of Buenos Ayres is no harbor at all, but only an open roadstead in the Rio de la Plata, in which vessels are compelled to anchor 8 or 9 miles out and receive and discharge their cargoes by means of launches and lighters. The water is so shallow along the shore in front of the city that even the lighters can not get to the docks, but goods are first loaded into carts with immense wheels high enough to drive into 3 feet of water and broad enough to keep them from sinking into the sand. These carts are hauled by mules and oxen out into the stream where their contents are transferred into lighters which convey them out to the vessels. Sometimes when a "pampero" or prairie wind prevails it is impossible to do business even on this plan, and vessels are often detained several days by such causes. In order to obviate this difficulty it has long been contemplated to construct an artificial harbor by extending two long piers from the shore into the river several miles, and excavating a basin between them, so that the largest ocean vessels can tie up at the docks. The estimated cost of this enterprise is $10,000,000. The city of Montevideo, Uruguay, across the River Plate from Buenos Ayres, has suffered from similar inconvenience and has recently made a concession to a French company to construct a harbor which will cost not less than $1,000,000. This concession requires that the French company shall inclose with piers or breakwaters a space sufficient to furnish plenty of harbor room, in consideration for which it is to be permitted to charge a fee of a certain amount on every package that is landed or loaded during the next ninety-nine years. These fees are to be collected by the customs officials and a certain percentage of them are to go into the public treasury of Uruguay. Contracts have been let and the work has already been commenced. Stimulated by the enterprise of her rival across the river the Argentine Republic has undertaken the construction of a similar harbor. But the railway enterprises of the Government have been such a drain upon the treasury of Argentine as to cause serious financial embarrassment. Treasury notes were issued, but immediately fell to a discount of 20 per cent, and it was feared that the credit of the Government abroad would be impaired. The Argentines have always been very proud of the financial standing of their Government, whose bonds have never been below par, but are selling at a premium of 4 and 5 per cent in the London market-the only South American securities that stand so well. The Government also feared that an attempt to place another loan of the amount necessary would impair the value of its outstanding securities and was considerably perplexed by the problem it was required to solve. A happy solution has finally been reached. Señor Quesada has received official information that the Government has made a contract with Lucius Gonzales, twice secretary of the interior and once secretary of state, to complete all the railways now in progress and construct such a harbor as has been proposed. The terms of the contract are exceedingly favorable and illustrate the public confidence at home and abroad in the success of the enterprise and the future prosperity of the Republic. Señor Gonzales, with whom the contract is made, represents a syndicate of English capitalists and agrees to complete the construction of all the improvements now in progress at their original estimated cost of $59,000,000, of which $10,000,000 are to be expended on the harbor and $49,000,000 upon the railroads. The Government agrees to issue 6 per cent fifty-year bonds to the amount of $59,000,000, which are to be deposited in London in trust for the syndicate Gonzales represents, until the completion of the entire system of improvements, the time being limited to five years. At the end of this period Gonzales agrees to turn over to the Government the harbor and the railroads fully completed and equipped, and then if an inspection shall show that the terms of the contract have been complied with the bonds are to be handed over by the trustee to the contractor. Interest is to be paid, however, on the full amount from the date of the commencement of the works at the rate of 6 per cent, but it is to be withheld by the trustee as a forfeit until inspection shall show that the amount has been legitimately expended by the contractors. In other words, Gonzales is not to receive his semiannual interest, amounting to $1,750,000, until it is shown that he has expended an equal amount in construction, and in case of any failure to continue the works this interest is to be considered full compensation for work performed. In addition to the construction of a harbor the Andean Railway, which is to connect Buenos Ayres with Santiago, Chile, is to be completed at an estimated cost of $2,398,000 for construction, $1,000,000 for rolling stock, $600,000 for shops and machinery, $1,000,000 for the expenses of the engineering department. Total, $4.998,000. The Central Railway is to be completed to the coal mines in the southern part of Chile, at a cost of $6,305,000, with $2,000,000 for rolling stock, and $1,000,000 for shops. Total, $9,305,000. The Northern Road is to be extended to the Bolivian boundary at a cost of $8,000,000, with $1,000,000 for shops; total, $9,000,000. Branches of this line are to be extended from Chumbica to Catamarca, costing $1,293,000; and from Dean Fuenes to Chilecito, costing $5,000,000, an aggregate expenditure for the Bolivian Line of $15,293,000. Another line is to be constructed from Tamatirue, to connect with the above, costing $2,500,000. The Richahuelo enterprise is to be completed at a cost of $13,931,000, and various other smaller works, at an aggregate cost of $4,500,000, which make a grand total of $49,000,000. When these works are completed Buenos Ayres will have lines of tranportation to the Pacific Ocean and one to Bolivia, which will make that port the entrepôt and shipping point of much of the commerce that now goes from Peru, Chili, and Bolivia on steamships through the Straits of Magellan; and the merchants and producers of the Pacific coast, who are now in the same situation regarding the European market as California and Oregon were before the completion of the transcontinental lines, will have an opportunity to ship by land as well as sea, the transportation distance being shortened from four to six thousand miles, and the time of communication shortened from fifteen to twenty days. The coal mines of southern Chile, where the only steaming fuel to be had in South America is found, will be brought within three days of Buenos Ayres, and the people of Argentine will be no longer compelled to import coal from Europe. The producers of Bolivia who lost their seaports during the recent war with Chile, and are now practically cut off from the markets of the world, will have a means of outlet by the way of Buenos Ayres, and the development of that country will be stimulated to an enormous degree. Bolivia is full of metal, and has vast ranges S. Doc. 231, pt 6—23 for feeding cattle and sheep; but the mines have been worthless because of the impossibility of getting machinery into the country, all of the interior transportation being done on the backs of llamas, which can not carry more than 125 pounds. In addition to furnishing means of communication for the Andes and the Pacific ports with the Atlantic, these roads will make the interior of the Argentine Republic accessible, and that country will have as fine a railroad system as Kansas and Texas. The agricultural lands of the Republic are mostly in the northern provinces, which are now beyond the reach of markets, and the opening of these regions will bring in an enormous immigration from the Old World, while the expenditure of such a vast sum of money will tempt laboring men and mechanics to Argentine. The importance of these enterprises to the United States can not be overestimated. They will not only necessitate the expenditure of many millions of dollars for railway supplies, but the men who are engaged in the work of construction must be fed and clothed with imported merchandise. The development of the country will increase its purchasing power, and the expenditure of nearly $60,000,000 of foreign money within five years will give the country such a boom as it has never before experienced. As this money is to be raised in England, it may be expected that a large part of it will be expended in that country; but the merchants and manufacturers of the United States can underbid those of England on nearly every article that will be required except steel rails, and if they adopt proper means may be able to increase their exports to the Argentine Republic to a large amount, and get a fair share of the permanent commerce which the enterprises will develop. PARAGUAY. [Extract from the report of the commission.] The commerce of Paraguay is small, although rapidly increasing, and at present is absorbed in that of Uruguay and the Argentine Republic, as there are few independent merchants in the country as yet, the trade being controlled by agents of mercantile houses in Montevideo and Buenos Ayres. These cities are the entrepôts for all the exports and imports of Paraguay, where they are transshipped from the river steamers to the ocean vessels. The total exports and imports for the last five years, as far as the statistics could be secured, were as follows: The imports come exclusively from Europe, with the exception of a few agricultural implements, wagons, and a little lumber and kerosene oil from the United States, of a total value scarcely worth mentioning. Three-fourths of the imports are from England and the other fourth from France and Germany. The principal article imported is manufactured cotton, which forms the wearing apparel of both sexes, and large quantities of white drillings are used, nearly all of which bear trade-marks to deceive the people into the belief that they came from the United States. Mr. Hopkins, who has been in and around Paraguay for forty-five years, and originally went there as an agent of the United States Government, says that the people will not wear anything but American cottons, and the British manufacturers are compelled to deceive them in order to keep the trade. The goods are the cheapest possible fabrics, being about half starch and pipe clay, but are especially adapted to the needs of the people and answer as well as a better class of drillings. But it will not be many years before Paraguay will cease to import cottons and become an exporter of them. The plant grows wild with great luxuriance and under cultivation produces a fiber that is claimed to be as good as the best seaisland grades. No serious attempt has yet been made to cultivate the crop, but experiments have tested the adaptability of the soil for the purpose, and a party |