The Senators are elected every six years by cumulative voting. They are not paid, and candidates must prove a qualification equivalent to about £400 a year.

The present number of Deputies is 115. They are elected every three years by the Departments, at a stated ratio of one for every 20,000 of the population. They also are unpaid, and must have an income of not less than £100 a year. The electors are the same for both Chambers. They must have attained the age of 25 (or, if married, 21), and there is a qualification, adjusted every 10 years, of property or earned income.

For local administration the Provinces are subdivided into Departments, and these again into more than 400 subdelegations, and over 1,000 districts. The Provinces are governed by intendentes nominated by the President; and the Departments by governors nominated in the same manner. The governors appoint sub-delegates to administer the cantonal divisions, and the sub-delegates appoint inspectors over the communal districts. The town districts have an elective municipal government, the elections taking place every three years, and they have contracted up to this time an aggregate municipal debt approaching to £600,000. The three Territories of Angol, Autofogasta, and Magellanes, are under probationary government by the State authorities.

Judicial Adminis

tration.

The judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court, composed of six members, resident in Santiago, who have no political functions. In 1881 a law was passed establishing the incompatibility of the judicial and legislative functions. The Supreme Court is occupied chiefly with cases of real estate, war claims, and criminal cases. Ordinary cases are tried before justices

of the peace (one in each Department). There are also four courts of appeal, sitting in Serena, Santiago (2), and Concepcion. In Santiago and other thickly populated departments, there are two, four, or even six, justices of the peace, civil and criminal. Chili is fortunate in possessing a codification of her laws. The civil code was promulgated in 1858, and the commercial code, penal code, code of mines, code of organization of tribunals, etc., followed in order. The civil code is taken largely from the Code Napoléon, and the military code from the ordinances of Spain.

and

Education in Chili is free and compulsory, Education being supported by the State. In the budget of 1886 the cost of Justice, Public Worship, and Religion. Education, was placed under the same head, and amounted to £802,360. The schools are divided into three grades, superior, intermediate, and primary. Santiago is the seat of the national university, which has five faculties and a council of higher public education, which superintends the higher and intermediate schools of the country. These schools are free, and have their own buildings, apparatus, etc. The principal one is in Santiago, founded in 1813, and called the National Institute. In the provinces the superior schools take the name of liceos. There are also normal and technical schools, schools of agriculture, naval and military colleges, and academies of painting and music, as well as a national library and various museums. The elementary schools number about 770, with an average attendance approaching 50,000.

The Roman Catholic religion is supported by the State, but others are tolerated. The Catholic archbishop and three bishops are nominated and paid by the State, subject to confirmation by the Pope. The clergy also are paid out

of State funds-but these funds do not amount to as much as the ecclesiastical revenues formerly appropriated to State purposes. It is estimated that the total number of native priests does not exceed fifty, the remainder coming from Spain and Italy. The separation of Church and State appears to be impending. In the meantime the law recognises civil marriages only.

Finance.

According to the budget of 1886 the total receipts were £9,176,000 (including a surplus of over £2,000,000, from 1885), and the total expenditure, £6,739,500. The foreign debt is £6,746,700, and the interior debt, including an issue of paper money during the war with Peru and Bolivia, £9,984,000.

COLOMBIA.

The Federal Republic of Colombia (capital, Santa Fé de Bogota), originally called the United States of Colombia, was formed out of the previously existing kingdom of New Granada, by the combination in 1861 of the following nine States:

Colombia extends from Costa Rica to the boundaries of Venezuela, Brazil, and Ecuador, and its importance depends mainly on the commercial significance of the narrow isthmus of Panama, which is crossed by a railway from ocean to ocean (Panama to Aspinwall), and which is now in course of being pierced for a ship canal. A considerable part of the channel of 46 miles has been excavated or levelled, and upwards of twenty-five millions sterling have been expended on the works. It is possible that the political status of

Panama will be greatly changed when the canal is open for the passage of large vessels. It is already proposed in anticipation of this that the State of Panama should be taken under the central government of the Republic--whilst some have thus early spoken of neutralization.

Area, about 500,000 square miles; population, over 3,000,000, of whom about a quarter of a million are the earlier inhabitants known as "Indios."

There was a civil war in 1876–7.

GOVERNMENT.

The Constitution of Colombia, adopted in 1861 and revised in 1886, is one of the numerous copies of the United States model. The chief of the executive is the President, elected by universal suffrage; but his term of office is unusually short, being limited to two years. He has the assistance of a Council of seven Ministers, in charge of the principal administrative departments, they being directly responsible to Congress. Congress also, as in several other States of South America, nominates three prominent men (usually the candidates next in order to the President at the time of his election), as designados to fill any vacancy which may occur during the biennial term, and thus avoid the evil of too frequent contests for the supreme authority.

Legislature is intrusted to a Congress of two Chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has 27 members, being three for each of the nine constituent States, irrespective of their population. The House of Representatives includes at present 66 members, who are returned by the several States, at the rate of one deputy for the first 50,000 inhabitants, and one for every additional 20,000, or portion of 20,000.

The State Legislatures are on the same model, and the State Presidents are also elective. The suffrage is virtually universal (on a basis of fixed residence) throughout. It will be seen that the organization of government in Colombia approaches more nearly to that of the United States than that of any other South American Republic.

The revenue of 1886 was estimated at 5,104,000 pesos, or (nominally) £1,020,800, and the expenditure at £800,000. But there has not for some years past been an excess of revenue over expenditure, and the interest on debt is much in arrear. Foreign debt, nearly £2,900,000; internal debt, considerably over £3,000,000.

COSTA RICA.

The Republic of Costa Rica (capital, San José) has had a separate existence from the year 1839. (See Guatemala.) It is a small country between the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, with an area of about 21,000 square miles. The population is 210,000, of which some 70,000 are "Indios." Only a small part of the surface of the land is capable of cultivation. The northern boundary has been in dispute with Nicaragua, and the southern boundary with Colombia, both disputes having been referred for arbitration to the President of Guatemala.

GOVERNMENT.

The government of Costa Rica is similar to, though not identical with, that of Guatemala. Seven editions of the Constitution were promulgated between 1859 and 1871, and the last was practically suspended for over ten years. Regular elections, however, have been held in 1882, 1884, and 1886.