of the concession. Disagreements shall be decided by arbitration, a final umpire (in case of necessity) to be chosen by the high court of justice of the South African Republic.

This agree

The contractors have the right to form a company. ment shall last thirty years and may be renewed under like conditions for a further period of thirty years.

NATIONAL DEBT OF CHINA.

Under date of June 15, 1899, Consul Ragsdale, of Tientsin, transmits the following statement, from the North China News of June 8, of the national debt of China. The sterling amounts have been reduced to United States currency in the Bureau of Foreign Commerce. The fluctuations of the Chinese silver tael render it impossible to reduce it prospectively to United States currency; it has, however, been reduced for past years at the values given by the Director of the United States Mint:

The Shanghai Customs Bank has recently published a statement of the loans contracted by China with foreigners during the last twelve years. The Customs Bank at Shanghai is a purely native institution and is conducted exclusively by Chinese familiar with the banking system of their own country. The amounts due by China on account of six loans are stated. There was a German loan in 1887 of 5,000,000 marks ($1,190,000). In 1894, the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank negotiated a loan of 10,930,000 taels ($8,306,800). In 1895, there were four loans negotiated. One for £1,000,000 ($4,866,500) was made by Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co.; the second for the same amount was negotiated by Messrs. Arnhold, Karberg & Co. The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank negotiated for £5,000,000 ($24,432,500). Russia and France lent 400,000,000 francs ($77,200,000). England and Germany lent £16,000,000 ($77,864,000). There was a supplementary £16,000,000 ($77,864,000), and this also was English and German. The sums, principal and interest, which China needed to pay for the German loan of 1887 have been paid, and there still remain the following sums:

1899.......

Taels.*

1900..

1901..

1902........

These payments will close the German loan.

The following sums will be paid to the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank for the loan of 10,900,000 taels in 1899:

*The value of the haikwan tael was estimated by the Director of the Mint, July 1, 1899, at 72.8

cents.

1899

1900

1901

1902

1903

1904

1905

1906

1907

The following sums will be paid to Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co.:

*The value of the haikwan tael was estimated by the Director of the Mint, July 1, 1899, at 72.8

cents.

To Messrs. Arnhold, Karberg & Co., for a loan also of £1,000,000, the following sums, principal and interest, will be paid:

*The value of the haikwan tael was estimated by the Director of the Mint, July 1, 1899, at 72.8

cents.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank negotiated a loan of £3,000,000 ($14,599,500). The following sums on account of this loan at 6 per cent will be paid in successive years as under:

*The value of the haikwan tael was estimated by the Director of the Mint, July 1, 1899, at 72.8

cents.

The amount 19,191,700 taels will be paid to the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank every year from 1915 to the year 1934. During the years 1935 to 1944 the amount 6,074,400 taels will be paid to this bank each year.

The loan negotiated by Russia and France in 1895 for 400,000,000 francs ($77,200,000), together with the English and German loan of 1896 at 5 per cent and the subsequent English and German loan at 41⁄2 per cent, both of £16,000,000 ($77,864,000), will, taken together, principal and interest, entail the payment each year of 19,191,700 taels ($12,474,605) from the year 1899 onward to the year 1934. In the year 1935 the 5 per cent payment will become 7,032,400 taels and terminate. The same year the 41⁄2 per cent payment will be 6,074,400 taels and will continue each year until 1944. In that year 1,012,400 taels will be the last payment.

The payment of principal and interest together each year will, on account of the preceding liabilities, amount to about £50,000,000 ($243,325,000) per annum till the year 1902. After that year the debt will gradually diminish to £40,000,000 ($194,660,000) in the year 1911. In the year 1915 it will amount to £33,000,000 ($160,594,500). Just as the national debt of Great Britain has sustained an enormous diminution of late years, so it will be with the Chinese debt. In twenty years' time, the annual payments for existing loans will amount to about one-half of what they require at present. This is an alleviating circumstance in the outlook upon the future, and it opens the way for the negotiations of new loans during the era of railroad construction on which the country has now entered. In opening new lines of railway the system of loans will more and more be adopted, in order that those western countries which overflow with money may convey it to China, where there is felt to be a great want of it. If we reckon at 25 francs ($4.825) to the pound, the 400,000,000 francs of 1895 are £16,000,000 ($77,864,000). The annual payment of 19,291,700 taels represents, therefore, a loan of £48,000,000 ($233,592,000), contracted by China in the years 1895, 1896, and 1898. The German loan of 1887 was 5,000,000 marks ($1,190,000).

There are then a loan of a quarter of a million; a loan of £1,981,800; a loan of a million; of another million; loans of £3,000,000 and of £48,000,000; total £55,231,800 ($268,785,547).

The money added very beneficially to the circulation in China through loans during the years 1887 to 1898 amounts, therefore, to £55,000,000. These amounts will be paid back, but very gradually. Money flows in where it is wanted from countries where it is abundant, and coins diminish in intrinsic value while labor requires the same amount of muscular exertion and exhibits the same skill as it did of old. Money in the form of coins increases in relation to their number and indicates less value as the years roll on. The more abundant the coins circulated, the cheaper they become. They always tend, as they are multiplied, to represent a smaller amount of labor and skill than they did the year before. The true wealth of a country can not then be regarded as correctly estimated by the amount of current coin in circulation, or by the rate of exchange in any month or year. The real wealth of a country should rather be estimated by the number of laborers doing actual work and the amount of skill they possess in producing articles which are in demand for their excellent qualities.

In addition to the native-bank return of sums due for loans by China up to the year 1942, the Chinese papers also state the debt of China for every year to 1942 as presented to the Chinese Government by the inspector-general of customs. The sum due in the present year, 1899, is £53,021,840 ($258,030,794). Ten years hence it will be £42,153,257 ($205,138,825); twenty years hence it will be £29,038,130 ($141,314,061); and thirty years hence it will be £12,743,401 ($62,015,761). In the year 1942, the debt will be £799,275 ($3,889,343); but it can not be doubtful that new loans will be negotiated during the intervening years, and China is not likely to be free from debt at any time, so far as we can now foresee.

NATIONAL DEBTS.

In transmitting a detailed statement of the national debt of China, as printed in the North China News, Shanghai, June 8, 1899, Consul Ragsdale, of Tientsin, under date of June 15, sends the following condensed statement, from the same journal, of the national debts of the principal countries of Europe, reductions to United States. currency being made in the Bureau of Foreign Commerce:

During the reign of George III the English national debt was at first reduced by £10,000,000 ($48,486,500), and afterwards on account of the American war was increased by £121,000,000 ($588,846,500). In the years 1784 to 1793 £10,000,000 were paid off, and in the year 1792 £2,400,000 ($11,679,600) were paid off. During the war with France, lasting from 1793 to 1815, money was spent lavishly. From 1793 to 1801, the average price of £100 ($486.50) 3 per cent stock to the purchaser was £57 17s. 6d. ($281.59), and from 1803 to 1815, £60 17s. 6d. ($296.61). In the year 1798 the ministry raised £3,000,000 ($14,600,000) at the rate of £200 ($973.30) 3 per cent stock and a 5s. ($1.22) long annuity for every £100 ($486.50) borrowed. In 1815 the Government needed £36,000,000 ($175,194,000), and they obtained it by paying to every subscriber £174 ($847) worth of 3 per cent stock and £10 ($48.66%) 4 per cent stock. This was, in fact, a payment of nearly 6 per cent interest. While the British Government was paying nearly 6 per cent interest for a loan of £36,000,000, the debt accumulated rapidly.

For comparative purposes and more direct reference, the details of the national debts of Europe are put into tabular form by the Bureau of Foreign Commerce, viz:

NOTES.

A New Textile Plant.-Consul Atwell writes from Roubaix, July 18, 1899:

Some years ago, an explorer in Asia discovered a plant of silken fiber, used by the Turcomans for the manufacture of withes and cord and by the Canagues for woven goods. This plant, known as the Apocynum venetum, is a sort of bush with slender, cylindrical branches, sometimes 6 feet high. It grows in Europe, Siberia, Asia Minor, the north of India, Manchuria, and Japan; but it is not cultivated, and, up to the present, has been used only in the natural state. branches die yearly, and in the spring new shoots start horizontally from the roots. It flourishes best where the land is under water during a part of the year, notably in the neighborhood of rivers that overflow at stated periods.

The

Under favorable conditions, the Apocynum develops quickly, and in a short time the branches form a thick growth, almost like a miniature wood. The best fiber is obtained by cutting the branches in midsummer, when the plant has obtained its full growth.

The attention of the Russian Government was called to this plant in 1891. It is there known as the Apocynum sibericum, because it was first seen in Siberia.

It grows luxuriantly on the banks of the Amu, Darya, and the Ili, and the natives of these regions have used the fiber for many years for cord and fish nets. They value it not only for its great strength, but also because no care is required in its cultivation.

In 1895, the Russian Government began to use it in the manufacture of bank notes, and since then the plant has been cultivated at Poltava. The results obtained thus far are considered excellent, and the time is doubtless near when the Apocynum venetum will take an important place in the textile market.

Salmon Fisheries in Norway.-Consul Nelson, of Bergen, on July 11, 1899, sends a printed analysis of the report of the inspector of salmon fisheries in Norway, from which the following extracts are taken:

The average yield from the rivers for 1895-96 is put at 249,387 kilograms (549,958 pounds), valued at 249,127 kroner ($66,676); that from the coast fisheries at 792,477 kilograms (1,747,094 pounds), valued at 845,575 kroner ($226,614). The