INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS IN GUATEMALA.

Recent information indicates that affairs in Guatemala are steadily improving. The financial obligations of the Government are being met with the utmost regularity. During the month of September, 1893, $80,000 of the bonds of the Internal Debt, which amounts to $1,600,000, and $60,000 of the Floating Debt, for $3,000,000, with $8,800 of a loan for constructing aqueducts in the capital, were redeemed. Besides this, the Government remitted $78,750 to London for the service of the Foreign Debt; $82,000 of Treasury bills were paid off, and $253,000 paid on account of arrears of salaries of employés. "When account is taken of the fact that Guatemala, like the rest of the world, has been suffering from a commercial crisis and the depreciation of silver," says the South American Journal, "these facts appear to be highly creditable to those responsible for the management of its finances."

Some important industries are being developed in the country. The manufacture of cotton cloth has been established with most satisfactory results, and some paper mills, recently opened, have been so successful that it is hoped that all the ordinary classes of paper used will soon be supplied from home manufacture. Brick and tile works are numerous, but can only produce the common classes of materials. Attempts, more or less successful, have also been made to establish factories for carriage building, wool weaving and tanneries. The great trade of the country will, however, for many years to come, be the exportation of produce.

Guatemala coffee is well known in every market, but, principally in that of the United States, and many other tropical plants are cultivated on an extensive scale, such as sugar and tobacco. But the resources of the country in raw materials, textile and medicinal plants, mines and timber have scarcely been touched as yet, and all that is wanting to derive a large revenue from this source is assured peace and increased immigration. Trade has recently shown symptoms of steady increase. In 1892, 157 steamers and 14 sailing ships entered the port of San José, 151

steamers and 12 sailing ships entered the port of Champerico, and 55 steamers and 7 sailing ships entered the port of Ocos. This shows a trade of considerable magnitude, and the figures for this year will be much higher. The larger number of these vessels bear the United States flag.

RAILROAD DEVELOPMENT.

To complete the Transandine Railway, which would give uninterrupted communication between points in Chile and Buenos Aires, the capital of the Argentine Republic, it is necessary to build only 33 kilometers (20 miles), as trains can now run over 1,189 kilometers out of a total of 1,222 miles. The Argentine section will be completed during the current year as far as Puenta. del Inca, so that in 1894 there will remain to be constructed 15 kilometers, including two tunnels at the summit. Work on this remnant of the Argentine section will be commenced as soon as the line on the Chilean side is sufficiently far advanced to permit the work being prosecuted in such a manner that the two sectionsthe Argentine and the Chilean-shall be finished at the same time. Thus, the only obstacle to the completion of the road has been the lack of satisfactory arrangements for constructing the Chilean section. The contractors, John and Matthew Clark, having found it impossible to raise money for this link under the guarantee of the Chilean Government, asked the Chilean Congress to increase the guarantee from 4 to 5 per cent., and this having been done, it is said there will be no difficulty in completing the road.

The Chilean Congress has granted a concession for a railway to connect the Southern Line of Chile with the Argentine Great Western at La Paz. The road will be mostly in Argentine territory, namely, 175 miles from La Paz to the Andine pass of Tinquiririca and 75 miles further to a point on the main trunk Southern Railway, between San Fernando and Curico. The road is expected to be of special use for the valuable cattle trade across the southern passes of the Andes into Chile.

From a report by Mr. C. C. Mallet, British Consul at Panama, it appears that steady progress is being made in the construction of the important railway from Cartagena to Calamar, on the Magdalena River, in Colombia. The concession for this road was obtained in 1889 by Mr. S. B. McConnico, representing some American capitalists. The funds for the enterprise were raised in the United States, but work was delayed for nearly three years because of the difficulty experienced in securing an amount sufficient to complete the road. Construction was commenced in June, 1892, and one year later, June 15, 1893, the first section of the railway from Cartagena to Turbaco, a distance of 14 miles, was formally opened. The next section to Arjona, 8 miles, was to have been opened in October, and it is expected that the road will be completed to Calamar by June, 1894. At the time of Consul Mallet's report, in September last, 1,800 men were at work on the road. The road is being built with care and is equipped with the best American cars and locomotives. The distance from

Cartagena to Calamar is 65 miles. Most of the land adjacent to

the line is suitable for fruit culture and cacao. The trade from the upper Magdalena, a large part of which, it is hoped, will be diverted to the port of Cartagena, is expected to give the road substantial profits. The completion of the line will, it is predicted, result in an active competition between Cartagena and Barranquilla which, hitherto, has had superior advantages, owing to its ready means of access by the Magdalena River to important agricultural, mining and commercial regions.

Work to complete the unfinished gap on the Tehuantepec Railroad, Mexico, about 60 kilometers (37.28 miles), is being arranged for by Mr. Chandos Stanhope. It is expected that work on this road across the Isthmus will soon be resumed, and efforts will be made to complete it by the month of May, before the rainy season

sets in.

A concession has been granted to Ignacio Cevallos for the construction of a railroad from the city of Mexico to Chapultepec, Tacubaya, Dolores Cemetery, Molino de Valdes, Molino de Belem

and Santa Fé, terminating in Las Cruces, at a point on the boundary line of the Federal District, with the privilege of building a branch to El Desierto. The track is to be narrow gauge.

The Mexican Government has granted a concession to Mr. Francis Harold Woodhouse for the constuction of a railroad from a point on the line of the Mexican (Vera Cruz) Railway, between the stations of Guadalajara and Apizaco, to the Iron Works to be established in the municipality of Zacatlan (Puebla), passing by the towns of Chignahuapan and Zacatlan. The line may be continued to strike the Interoceanic Railway.

III.

COMMERCIAL INFORMATION.

FINANCES AND COMMERCE OF CHILE.

The report of Mr. Lewis Joel, British Consul-General at Valparaiso, Chile, giving an account of the trade and commerce in that consular district, has been published. In his introductory observations, Mr. Joel says:

The civil war which was inaugurated on January 7, 1891, and terminated with the battle of the Heights of Valparaiso, on August 28, 1891, and the subsequent abdication of the Dictator Balmaceda, placed the entire country under the jurisdiction of the victorious constitutional party. The establishment of the new regime was looked upon by the mercantile.community as an augury of coming prosperity, and a largely augmented trade, in the near future, was considered assured. Large orders for merchandise of all kinds were consequently sent to Europe, and the first ten months of the year saw the fulfillment of these expectations. Then, a reaction set in, brought about by an overstocked market, in consequence of the continued ordering of merchandise from Europe after the wants of the market had been supplied. The depreciation of the paper currency, and the violent fluctuations in exchange on Europe, were no doubt contributory causes to the decline in trade during the last two months of 1892.

The purchase power of the paper dollar in payment of bills of exchange on Europe was, in January, 1891, 28. During the civil war, it fell, at one time, as low as 1s. 3d., but at the termination of the war, it stood at 1s. 41⁄2d. Then, a better feeling prevailed, and from then to the end of the year, the value fluctuated between Is.