DEFENCE
449
On December 31, 1897, the public debt of Chile was : —
External 17,734,970/.
Internal (including municipal) . . . 26,744,263 pesos
The interest on the external debt is at 4^, 5, and a small portion at 6 per cent., and the total charge amounts to about 965,680Z. (12,875,733 pesos).
In 1897 the State property consisted of lands valued at 114,062,702 pesos ; nitrate fields estimated at 150,000,000 pesos ; guano deposits estimated at 2,500,000 pesos; railways (including rolling stock), 102,158,258 pesos; telegraph lines, 1,500,000 pesos ; moveable property, 1,069,298 pesos ; total, 371,290,258 pesos.
The following .statement shows approximately, according to data collected by the Statistical Bureau in the three years 1893-96, the value of the real property in Chile owned by corporations and private persons : —
—
Urban
Rural
Total
Municipal Charitable . Ecclesiastical (untaxed) ,, (taxed) . Private
Pesos
19,929,526
6,123,487
11,266,449
11,672,108
633,204,303
Pesos
107,792
3,810,008
680,085
2,285,566
752,921,385
Pesos
20,037,318
9,933,495
11,946,534
13,957,674
1,386,125,688
682,195,873
759,804,836
1,442,000,709
If to the value of private properties be added the sum of 50,000,000 pesos, the estimated aggregate value of properties under 2,000 pesos, the value in private ownership amounts to 1,436,125,688 pesos. Of this about 200,236,400 pesos (or one-seventh) is mortgaged, viz.: 160,236,400 pesos to land banks and about 40,000,000 pesos to private persons.
Defence.
By the law of Xovember 24, 1897, the strength of the army must not exceed 9,000 men, distributed between 10 regiments of infantry, 8 of cavalry, 5 of artillery, a corps of engineers, and 2 corps of invalidcs. There are 4 generals of division, 6 of brigade, 18 colonels, 40 lieut. -colonels, and 555 inferior officers. The army is provided with Mauser and Mannlicher rifles. Besides the regular army there is a K'atioual Guard, composed of citizens. This force has (1896) been reorganised, and every Chilian from 20 to 40 years of age is obliged to serve. It consists of three parts : the active, into which citizens enter on the completion of their twentieth year ; the passive, to which citizens i)ass on the completion of their twenty-first year after having performed the services required in the active guard ; the sedentary, composed of those who, having completed their thirtieth year, have passed from the passive guard. In the year 1898 the numbers enrolled were : active, 16,309 ; passive, 7,301 ; sedentary, 5,672 ; total, 29,282. In the three years 1896-98 the total numbers enrolled were 512,700.
The Chilian fleet consists of 5 armourclads, including the old Huascar, 2 second-class and 3 third-class cruisers, 11 gun -vessels and gunboats, 4 destroyers, launched at Birkenhead in 1896, and all of more than 30 knots, and 15 first-class and 4 second-class torpedo boats. The following are the principal vessels. Abrev. -. c.h., central battery ; h., barbette ; a.c, armoured cruiser ; cr. cruiser.
G G
