salaries, costs of each cubic meter of filled-up cuttings and masonry, the price of rails and sleepers, etc., as set forth in the estimates of the engineer, VALDIZAN, and in view of the observations made by the technical section of the Direction of Public Works. If the next section is contracted for with the Peruvian Corporation, the price per kilometer shall be fixed in view of the exact figures which these different expenses and items shall have practically demonstrated. The cost, likewise, of the instruments, tools, and outfit purchased for the first section shall be deducted.

"ART. 6. From the very commencement of the works the Government shall name an inspecting engineer and an accountant, if such be necessary, in order to appreciate any modifications in the figures that form the price per kilometer which it may be necessary to introduce for the contracts of the succeeding sections. To each one of these the Peruvian Corporation shall give every kind of facility for the performance of their respective duties.

"ART. 7. The techinical and managing staff shall be preferably Peruvian, or at least 75 per cent of them.

"ART. 8. The Peruvian Corporation obliges itself to contract a permanent medical man with his medicine chests and other necessary elements, so as to attend the sick workmen, and watch over the health of their encampments, clothing, and foods, with the obligation to pass in, at least once a week, a report to the Board of Health.

"ART. 9. The Peruvian Corporation is under the obligation to work, keep in repair, and maintain the traffic on this section during two years, in accordance with the conditions which will in due time be agreed upon.

"ART. 10. All the expropriations which may be necessary are to be made by the Government and shall be paid by the Peruvian Corporation, as they are included in the price per kilometer agreed upon up to the maximum figure of £617,000 for the whole section.

“Drawn up in duplicate in Lima on the 15th of February, 1905. "F. BALTA-SCHATZMANN."

"LIMA, February 24, 1905.

"In view of the contract celebrated by the Minister of Public Works with the Peruvian Corporation for the construction of the section from Oroya to Huari, of the railroad from Oroya to Huancayo, for which he was duly authorized by the resolution of 10th instant.

"Whereas the article 3, of the clause C, of the law of March 30, 1904, authorizes the Government to contract for its account the construction of this line, paying for it a price within the limits of the revenue set apart for this work in accordance with the same law;

"And whereas the price per kilometer agreed upon in the above conract is below the estimate drawn up by the Engineer DARIO VALDIZAN, and the other clauses correspond duly to the conveniences of the State;

"It is resolved, That the contract herein referred to be approved, and that it be drawn up as a public document, which must be signed by the Director of Public Works, as representative of the Government. "The expenses entailed by this work shall be debited to the item No. 7087 of the General Budget now in force.

"Let it be registered, communicated, and published.

"BALTA."

RESTRICTION OF GUANO EXPLOITATION.

By a decree of December 28, 1904, persons convicted of digging guano between the months of February and November, inclusive, of any year shall be fined $1.95 per ton of the product extracted, regardless of whether or not the vessel shall have been regularly dispatched by Peruvian port authorities. A repetition of the offense will render offenders liable to confiscation of their vessel, as prescribed by article. 4 of the law of July 17, 1896.

The chief guano deposits of Peru are (1) the Lobos Islands (Lobos de Afuera and Lobos de Tierra) off the port of Eten, and (2) the Chincha Islands, off the port of Pisco. There are numerous minor deposits, such as the rocky promontories and islets of Islay, near the port of Mollendo, etc. By a contract entered into in January, 1890, the Peruvian Corporation, a British syndicate, enjoys the exclusive right of exporting guano from the Peruvian deposits until 3,000,000 tons shall have been exported. Peru may continue to dig guano, but only for the purpose of benefiting national agriculture. It is said that about one-third of the 3,000,000 tons have already been exported by the Peruvian Corporation.

IMPROVED PORT FACILITIES AT CALLAO.

On January 1, 1905, a new form of agreement was signed between the Government of Peru and a French syndicate, la Société Générale de Paris, which has for some years past been operating at Callao under the name of the Empresa del Muelle y Darsena del Callao (Dock and Breakwater Enterprise). In 1887 this syndicate constructed the present very handsome system of stone docks and appurtenances at Callao, and was given a concession by the Government whereby it possessed the exclusive monopoly of loading and discharging vessels at this port, rights to landed property about the water front, etc. In return for these and other valuable considerations the docks were at the close of a certain number of years to become the property of the State.

By the terms of the new contract with the Empresa del Muelle y Dársena del Callao the Government of Peru waives its rights to proprietorship of the docks and their appurtenances after the stipulated

term of years. They are to remain the property of the Empresa for an indefinite period, but, in turn, the public is benefited as follows: "1. The exclusive monopoly hitherto enjoyed by the Empresa del Muelle y Darsena as to loading and discharging vessels at Callao is removed.

"2. Ships and merchandise entering the port are freed from imposts of 20, 12, and 10 centavos Peruvian silver (4, 2.4, and 2 cents United States currency) per ton, formerly charged to reimburse the Empresa for certain cash loans made in the past.

"3. The Société Générale de Paris waives all claim now and forever to certain balances still due on the following loans: April, 1885, $243,500; October, 1885, $365,250; May, 1887, $121,750.

"4. The Government of Peru admits the right of Empresa del Muelle y Darsena to own the docks, buildings, etc., which it has erected with its own capital; and also its right to operate the same, but without monopoly or privilege of any sort. It also confirms the syndicate's rights to certain pieces of real estate.

"5. The Empresa del Muelle y Dársena agrees to begin, one year from date of contract, the work of enlarging the present docks along the unfinished sea wall known as the Maleçon Grau. The latter has long been lying unfinished, and its completion will greatly improve the appearance of the Callao water front."

It is generally felt that this new contract will in the course of time attract maritime enterprises of magnitude to this port.

SALVADOR.

MESSAGE OF PRESIDENT ESCALÓN.

*

*

The message of President Escalón as delivered to the Salvadorean Congress on February 18, 1905, covered the general economic conditions prevailing throughout the Republic. After referring to the continuance of amicable relations with the nations of the world. and the maintenance of internal peace and order, the President stated that very important works have been completed by the Department of Fomento, among which may be mentioned the introduction of water from a distance to different towns which lacked a supply of that indispensable life-sustaining element. Attention is called to the beneficial results obtained from the celebration of the National Exposition held in the capital of the Republic during the summer of the previous year, and which was the first exposition of the kind which has taken place in the country. The Government expects soon to extend La Union Railway to San Miguel, and has taken steps looking to the accomplishment of construction to that point.

The President stated that there has been an increase in the business of the post-offices of the country commensurate with the progress and development of the other industries of the country. This increase also applies to the Department of Telegraph and Telephones, in which branch important improvements have been introduced.

The relations of the Governments of the other Central American States remain unchanged, due to the salutary conduct which all of these Republics observe toward each other. With the object of more closely cementing that harmony, and in order to dissipate every cloud that might arise to disturb it, there was held at Corinth, about the middle of the year, a conference which was attended personally by the Presidents of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Salvador, and by a representative of Guatemala. The beneficial results of this conference, in which the most sincere and complete cordiality reigned, now exist free from all jealousy in the relations of the Governments there represented.

A complete synopsis of the debt of the Republic is given in the President's message, which shows that the total domestic debt, expressed in bonds of Salvador, amounted to 4,946,655.65 pesos in December, 1904. The other bonded debt of the Republic aggregated 3,763,549.08 pesos. The receipts and disbursements during the 1904 are shown in the following table:

Balance on hand January 1, 1904....
Customs duties, imports and exports
Liquor tax....

Rents and sundry receipts

Contracts, negotiations, etc

Total....

RECEIPTS.

year

Pesos.

254, 179.00 5, 124, 085. 11 2, 143, 369.66 793, 234. 28 826, 158.13

9, 141, 026. 18

Deducting from the total receipts the items corresponding to the balance on hand from the foregoing year and to the product of negociaciones the net receipts are 8,060,689.05 pesos.

The new stamp law went into force July 1, one month after the date in which this budget became effective. In the six months from July to December this tax produced $114,474.81, the amount collected being almost double that estimated in the budget, and the amount from this source collected during the entire fiscal year was $100,000.

UNITED STATES.

TRADE WITH LATIN AMERICA.

STATEMENT OF IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.

Following is the latest statement, from figures compiled by the Bureau of Statistics, United States Department of Commerce and Labor, showing the value of the trade between the United States and Latin-American countries. The report is for the month of February, 1905, with a comparative statement for the corresponding month of the previous year; also for the eight months ending February, 1905, as compared with the same period of the preceding year. It should be explained that the figures from the various custom-houses, showing imports and exports for any one month, are not received at the Treasury Department until about the 20th of the following month, and some time is necessarily consumed in compilation and printing, so that the returns for February, for example, are not published until some time in April.