FRENCH INDIA — FRENCH INDO-CHINA 817
In 1905 the penal system was reformed, punishment by torture (the cangue, &c. ) being abolished.
There is a common budget for the whole of Indo-China, and also a separate budget for each of the States. The Provinces, about 120 in number, have also th^ir budget, as have the municipalities. The general budget is supported by receipts from customs, government monopolies, indirect con- tributions, posts, telegraphs, and railways in all the countries of the union, and besides maintaining these, provides for military and judicial services public works, and other matters relating to the whole of the union. For 1912 the revenue and expenditure estimated in all the budgets amounted to 59,580,391 piastres. Expenditure of France (budget of 1913) for military purposes was 17,979,772 francs. The outstanding debt of Indo-China on January 1, 1910 amounted to 345,913,000 francs. On Dec. 20, a loan of 90,000,000 francs was agreed to by the French Chamber of Deputies.
The military force projected for 1913 consists of 10,873 European troops and 13,816 natives; total, 25,457. The forces are commanded by the Commandant-Superior, a general of division with the same rank as army corps generals in Fran(!e. The naval force comprises ships of quite modern construction : 1 armoured battle-shii3, 3 armoured cruisers, 3 protected cruisers, 4 torpedo-destroyers, 1 armoured gunboat, 12 torpedo-boats, 4 submarines, and about half a score of gunboats or other vessels of little fighting value. The naval force is provided with about 4,500 men.
In Indo-China there are mines yielding in 1911 : — coal, and lignite 434,046 (metric) tons ; zinc ore, 28,241 tons. The value of the total output was 5,355,978 francs.
In 1887 the French possessions in Indo-China, including Annam, Touking and Cambodia, were united into a Customs Union. The total value of the imports in 1911 was 244,143,000 francs, and the exports 250,147,000 francs. The chief export is rice, amounting for 1911 to 117,470 metric tons. Other exports are fish, pepper, hides, coal, cotton, rubber and sugar.
Into Great Britain in 1911 the imports from Indo-China amounted to 142,805Z. (chiefly rice).
In 1911, 1,839 vessels of 1,681,893 metric tons entered, and 1,677 vessels of 1,638,895 tons cleared.
The oldest railway in Indo-China is that from Saigon to Mytho, which is being extended from Mytho to Cantho (60 miles). In lecent years there has been rapid development of the railway system. Total length of line in 1912, 1,183 miles. There are train lines and light railways at Hanoi and Saigon. Within the union there are (1912) 8,719 miles of telegraph line with 376 telegraph offices, and 12 urban and 5 inter-urban telephone systems with (together) 270 miles of line. There are 309 post offices (1912).
The Bank of Indo-China, with an authorised capital of 36 million franc.<3 and reserve and redemption funds amounting to 24,265,000 francs, has till 1920 the privilege not only of making advances on security, but also of engaging in financial, industrial, or commercial enterprise in Indo-China and New Caledonia. For French Indo-China there is a coinage of silver pieces, piastres, ^-pi^stres, ^ -piastres, and y^ -piastres; the piastre (since 1895) weighs 27 grams, and the fractional coins in proportion ; the piastre and ^-piastre are "900 fine, but the i- and iV-pi3.stre (since 1898) only '835 fine. The piastre and the Mexican dollar are usually worth rather less than 24d. There are two bronze coins,* one equal to the 100th and the other the 375th part of a piastre.
In 1900 the territory of Kwang Chau Wan on the coast of China, leased from China in 1898, and increased in 1899 by the addition of 2 islands in
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