FINANCIAL.

Rate of discount.-The official rate of discount of the Netherlands Bank has been, during the year 1877, as follows: For bills of exchange bearing more than two signatures, 3 per cent. discount; for promissory notes or bills of exchange not bearing more than two signatures, 31 per cent. discount; for advance on Netherlands securities, 3 per cent. discount; for advance on foreign securities, 3 per cent. discount; for advance on merchandise, 3 per cent. discount.

Gold and silver.-Gold is coined by government and by private persons at the government mint at Utrecht. The amount of gold coined during the present year by the Netherlands Bank is now about 11,000,000 of guilders.

Silver has not been coined during this year. The coining of silver for account of private parties has been temporarily prohibited by act of Parliament. This suspension terminates on the 31st of December, 1877, and a bill to extend the prohibition for another period is before the chambers now, and will probably receive their sanction.

Silver and gold are both legal tender for all public and private debts in any amounts.

Investments of capital.-In regard to the investment of capital by the Netherlands public, only a small fraction of the funds out of the redeemed United States 5.20 bonds has been invested in new American 4 and 4 per cent. government securities. The greater part appears to have been invested in Russian Government securities, which have been thrown upon the money market in large quantities, mostly from London, and which offer a higher rate of interest.

JOHN F. WINTER.

Statement showing the value of declared exports from Rotterdam to the United States during the four quarters of the year ending September 30, 1877.

Statement showing the value of declared exports from Rotterdam, &c.—Continued.

Statement showing the values of declared exports from the consular district of Padang to the United States during the four quarters of the year ending September 30, 1877.

PERU.

CALLAO, September 30, 1877. (Received November 5.)

Report upon the agriculture, commerce, and industries of Peru for the year ending September 30, 1877.

LACK OF STATISTICS.

In submitting my annual report, I must draw attention to the impossibility of getting any reliable official statistics here. No official reports are published, save of the exports and imports of the port of Callao, and this is more the work of a few enterprising merchants than of the gov..

ernment.

EARTHQUAKE AND REVOLUTION.

The year now drawing to a close will be ever memorable in the history of Peru. On the 9th and 10th of May a terrific earthquake and tidal wave swept the whole coast, exhausting its strength and fury mostly to the southward of this port, destroying much property and many lives, and crippling for a time the guano and nitrate exportations. Soon afterward a band of revolutionists, in the interest of Pierola, seized the Peruvian iron-clad steamer Huascar in this port, and proceeded down the coast, depredating for supplies upon the English marine, thereby becoming involved in a quarrel with the officials of that nation, and resulting in a naval engagement with the English ships Shah and Amethyst, under command of Admiral De Horsey, and though little damage resulted from the action, the Huascar, under cover of night, made the Peruvian fleet and surrendered, thus putting an end to this attempt at revolution. The political tranquillity of the country is, however, by no means assured; arrests are being frequently made of plotters and conspirators, and unless the congressional elections, which take place on the 21st of October, should result in favor of the administration, the opinion prevails that the country will again be involved in civil war. This state of affairs has produced a general distrust among commercial men, and causes the financial condition of the country to be the reverse of a healthy condition; the paper money issued by the banks and guaranteed by the government is much depreciated, and all business is transacted on the basis of the silver sole.

RAILROADS.

The railroad interest of the country has in many cases succumbed to the financial pressure, and work on those now in course of construction has been suspended, and it is feared that the death of Henry Meiggs, the great railroad contractor, now looked for daily, will greatly disarrange, if not entirely prevent, the early completion of those roads under his charge.

The Oroya road, which, if ever completed, is to connect Callao with Oroya, a distance of 136 miles, is now completed to Rio Blanco, 83 miles;

elevation reached, 11,543 feet. The track is mostly graded and tunnels cut the whole distance, the highest point traversed being 15,645 feet, and the elevation at Oroya 12,188 feet; the average grade being 31 per cent., and the maximum grade 4 per cent. It is in contemplation to extend the road from Oroya, by two branches of about 80 miles length each; one to open up the agricultural resources of Eastern Peru, and the other to outlet the vast wealth of the renowned Cerro de Pasco mines.

MANUFACTURES.

The manufactures of Peru are of such insignificant proportion as hardly to warrant notice. A few cotton factories and oil works are in operation, with what success I am not prepared to state.

AGRICULTURE.

Agriculture is in its infancy, and on the western slope of the Andes confined to the small areas of valley land susceptible of irrigation. On the eastern slope the rains are abundant, the lands very fertile, and fine crops of all kinds would be the result of judicious cultivation. Cotton, which received a stimulus from the late war in the United States, is now being abandoned to give place to sugar, for which this country is well adapted, as many as three cuttings of cane being obtained from the year's growth. Corn, tobacco, coffee, and wheat are also produced, the two latter to the east of the Andes. Cattle, horses, hogs, and sheep are extensively raised, and some trade carried on in wool, hides, and horns. In the mountain districts llamas and mules are the animals of burden. Labor is scarce and agricultural implements of the primitive style.

GUANO AND NITRATE OF SODA.

Guano, the great source of governmental wealth, still holds out. No new deposits have of late been reported, though active search is being continuously made. The quality of the guano is not so good as in former years, being mixed with stones, gravel, and other foreign matter; the shipments continue large, mostly to Europe. Nitrate of soda exists along the coast in inexhaustible quantities, and is looked upon as the next source of revenue after guano.

MINES AND MINERALS.

This country is rich in minerals, and mining is being carried on to some extent. Silver is the principal metal found.

BRITISH AND AMERICAN SHIPPING.

The shipping of Peru is confined to a few small coasters, and nearly the entire trade of the country is done in foreign bottoms. The English have a fine line of iron steamers running the entire west coast; also one via the Straits of Magellan to Liverpool. By an inclosure marked A, which accompanies this report, you will see that the United States furnishes a little less than one-seventeenth of the whole amount of tonnage required in this trade, and of the trade itself our people contribute about one-thirteenth, while we take in return about one-tenth. This certainly is a humiliating acknowledgment; and while England's supremacy is

to-day beyond question, that she can retain that hold in the future is to my mind extremely doubtful, if our government and people will only exert themselves to wrest it from her.

ARTICLES SUITABLE FOR THE PERUVIAN MARKET.

From a mercantile traveler, representing several Philadelphia firms, who has just finished a thorough canvass of Ecuador and Peru, the information is derived that the merchants of the United States can successfully compete with the world in those markets, as follows: Cotton goods of all kinds; glass ware, except window-glass; wooden ware and brooms; furniture; plated ware; edge-tools; fire-arms and ammunition; hard soaps; shovels and hoes; hams, bacon, and lard; kerosene; watches; canned goods; stationery; soft felt hats; sewing-machines.

The freights by steamer are, however, in favor of Europe in the ratio of 61 to 100 of the cost.

The watches must be reduced in size and pattern and made lighter. The cotton goods should be of softer finish. Certified invoices should accompany each shipment.

DISCRIMINATING SHIPPING ACT.

In conclusion, I would call the attention of government to the complaints of masters in regard to the shipping act, which they seem to think militates against the commerce of the United States, in that it puts them on an inequality with the rest of the maritime world. Especially do they murmur at what they term the injustice of section 4580 Revised Statutes United States, as entailing the loss of many thousand dollars yearly to the shipping interest.

ROBT. T. CLAYTON.

Statement showing the commerce of Callao during the year 1876.