Production and Industry. Greece is mainly an agricultural country, and the existing manufactures are few and unimportant. A British Embassy Report of 1885 gives the following division of the soil of Greece, including the recently added territories : Acres 250,000 Acres Cereals 1,000,000 1,000,000 Kitchen-gardens, &c.. 7,500 1,000,000 5,000,000 Vines. 250,000 Forests 1,500,000 Currants 3,000,000 Olive trees 325,000 Various fruit-trees While there are a few large proprietors in Greece, the land is to a large extent in the hands of peasant proprietors. On the whole, agriculture is in a backward state. The province detached from Turkey in 1881 is, however, of unusual fertility. The average production of cereals for the whole of Greece is--wheat, 7,000,000 bushels; barley, 3,000,000 bushels; rye, 825,000 bushels; for the old provinces 2,700,000 bushels of maize; mezlin, 1,380,000 bushels. The most favoured and best cultivated crop is the currant, which covers vast districts: the yield for 1886-87 was estimated at 270 million lbs. ; olives yield about 760,000 bushels yearly, and vineyards about 4,000,000 bushels of grapes; other 12,000,000 lbs. of tobacco and 30,000,000 lbs. of cotton are produced. According to the latest official returns, there are 108,361 horses, 164,000 cattle, 50,123 mules, and 106,208 asses in Greece. In contrast to these numbers, there were 3,464,954 sheep and 2,510,970 goats, the latter roaming about in a half-wild state, described as causing much destruction. Iron ore is found in some of the Cyclades and in the Ionian Islands, but its working is undeveloped. In recent years the lead mines of Laurium have been worked and are estimated to have yielded during the twelve years 1877-88 over 1,200,000 tons of material for treatment. Of this quantity 643,000 tons have been treated at the mine, and 570,000 tons, producing 22,000 tons of lead, have been treated elsewhere. Zinc is also found in considerable quantities. Commerce. The staple article of export from Greece to Great Britain is currants, the value of which, in the year 1889, amounted to 1,413,3651. Other articles of export are olive oil, of the value of 14,3997. in 1889; lead, of the value of 73,5617. in 1884, and 112,6447. in 1889; silver ore, of the value of 67,720%. ; zinc, of the value of 17,295.; sponges, 83,8467.; and dye and tanning stuffs, 22,4867. in 1889. Of the imports from the United Kingdom into Greece, not quite one-half are manufactured cotton goods and yarns, their value in the year 1889 being 385,0591. There were also imported woollen manufactures valued at 77,1147.; coals, valued at 127,0127., and iron to the value of 69,6867. in 1889. The total value of the general commerce of Greece in 1889 was:Imports, 162,122,869 drachmai; and exports, 115.974,249 drachmai. In 1888 the figures were-imports, 124,388,595 drachmai; exports, 103,142,901 drachmai. The special commerce for 1888 and 1889 was as follows with The following table shows the principal classes of special imports and exports and their values : The principal article of export is currants, valued at 55,508,735 drachmai in 1889. The value of the lead exported in the same year was 7,640,724 drachmai; of olive oil, 5,274,705 drachmai; of wines, 4,379,408 drachmai. The trade of Greece with the United Kingdom was, in the five years 1885 to 1889, according to the Board of Trade Returns, as follows: Exports from Greece 1,912,804 1,545,798 1,888,400 1,888,444 1,864,297 produce For details see first paragraph under Commerce, p. 644. Navigation and Shipping. The merchant navy of Greece in 1890 numbered 81 steamers, of 40,484 tons, and 5,809 sailing vessels, of an aggregate burthen of 223,158 tons. The total number of vessels that entered Greek ports in 1889 was 4,861 of 2,249,109 tons, and cleared 3.945 of 2,124,269 tons. Of the vessels entered 1,851 of 281,235 tons were Greek; 408 of 417,316 tons were British. Of the total 1,129 of 887,251 tons entered, and 902 of 886,148 tons cleared the port of Piraens. A considerable amount of the carrying trade of the Black Sea and the Eastern ports of the Mediterranean is under the Greek flag. Internal Communications. Recently the internal communication by roads has greatly improved; there are now about 2,000 miles of roads. In May 1882 the construction of a canal across the Isthmus of Corinth, about 4 miles, was begun; it is estimated to cost a million sterling; and more than three-quarters of the work (1890) is now completed. Railways were opened in 1890 for a length of 452 miles, while 127 miles were under construction, and 517 miles were projected. The telegraphic lines, land and submarine, were of a total length of 4,382 English miles, at the end of 1889; length of wire, 5,082 miles. The number of offices was 175. They despatched 684,650 inland telegrams, and 271,189 international, in the year 1889. Receipts (1888), 1,130,160 drachmai; expenses, 992,320 drachmai. Of post offices there existed 249 at the end of 1888, and there passed through the post in that year 6,344,000 letters, besides 180,000 post-cards, 7,706,000 samples, journals, and printed matter. The receipts were 1,193,930 drachmai; expenses, 1,198,473 drachmai. Money, Weights, and Measures. The money, weights, and measures of Greece, and their English equivalents, are :— MONEY. Greece entered in 1868 the Monetary League of the Continent. The Ionian Bank at Corfu and the Thessalian Bank at Larissa have the right to circulate their own notes in their respective provinces. MONEY, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES 647 The Drachma, of 100 lepta, was, by the abolition of forced paper currency in November 1882, made equivalent to the franc of the Monetary League (25.22 francs = £1 sterling). In 1885, however, the forced paper currency was renewed, so that the drachma is now equivalent to about 8&d. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary-Dr. J. Gennadius. There are Consular representatives of Greece at Cardiff, Dublin, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Southampton, Calcutta, Malta. 2. OF GREAT BRITAIN IN GREECE. Enroy and Minister.-Hon. Sir Edmund J. Monson, K.C.M.G., C.B., appointed February 1, 1888. Secretary.-F. E. H. Elliot. There are British Consuls at Corfu, Patras, Piraeus, Syra. Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Greece. 1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Commerce de la Grèce avec les pays étrangères pendant l'année 1889. Athènes, 1890. The Finances of Greece. Speeches delivered by H. E. M. Charilaos Tricoupis in introducing to the Hellenic Chamber the Budgets for 1887 and 1888. London, 1886-87. Report by Sir Horace Rumbold on the Budget of 1885, and the General Condition of the Greek Finances, in 'Reports of H.M.'s Diplomatic and Consular Agents Abroad.' Part IV. Folio. London, 1885. Report by Mr. W. H. D. Haggard on the Finances of Greece, No. 472, 'Diplomatic and Consular Reports.' London, 1889. Report on the Trade of Patras in 1889 in No. 644; Piraeus in No. 672; the Cyclades, 673; of 'Diplomatic and Consular Reports,' 1890. Statistique de la Grèce. Mouvement de la Population, 1884. Athens, 1888. Trade of Greece with the United Kingdom, in Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions for the year 1889.' Imp.4. London, 1890. 2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Baedeker's Handbook to Greece. Bernardakis (A. N.), Le présent et l'avenir de la Grèce. 8. Paris, 1870. Bianconi (C. F.), Ethnographie de la Turquie, de l'Europe et de la Grèce. Paris, 1877. Brockhaus (Hermann), Griechenland, geographisch, geschichtlich und kulturhistorisch von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart dargestellt. 4. Leipzig, 1870. Campbell (Hon. Dudley), Turks and Greeks. 8. London, 1887. Carnarvon (Earl of), Reminiscences of Athens and the Morea. 8. London, 1870. Cusani (F.), Memorie storico-statistiche sulla Dalmazia, sulle isole Ionie e sulla Grecia: 2 vols. 8. Milano, 1862. Digenis (Basile), Quelques notes statistiques sur la Grèce. 8. Marseille, 1878. Dora d'Istria (Mme.), Excursions en Roumélie et en Morée. 2 vols. 8. Paris, 1865. Kirkwall (Viscount), Four Years in the Ionian Islands: their Political and Social Con. dition, with a History of the British Protectorate. 2 vols. 8. London, 1864. Mansolas (Alex.), Rapport sur l'état de la statistique en Grèce présenté au Congrès International de Statistique de St.-Pétersbourg en 1872. 8. Athènes, 1872. Mansolas (A.), La Grèce à l'exposition universelle de Paris en 1878. 8. Paris, 1878. Maurer (G. L. von), Das Griechische Volk in öffentlicher und privatrechtlicher Beziehung. 3 vols. 8. Heidelberg, 1835. Murray's Handbook for Greece. 2 vols. London, 1884. Reclus (Elisée), Géographie universelle. Vol. I. Paris, 1877. Schmidt (Dr. Julius), Beiträge zur physicalischen Geographie von Griechenland. 3 vols. 8. Leipzig, 1864-70. Sergeant (Lewis), New Greece. 8. London, 1878. Tuckerman (Charles K), The Greeks of To-day. 8. London, 1873, Wyse (Sir Thomas), Impressions of Greece. 8. London, 1871. |