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at Rome, in order to pursue his candidature. He is a son of an ex-President of Argentina, and in the 'seventies served under General Mitre and afterwards on the side of Peru in the war with Chili. He has been President of the Buenos Ayres Provincial Chamber, Under-Secretary and afterwards Foreign Minister under President Juarez. He has had much diplomatic experience in Europe and is reputed to be a man of unusual ability. The Opposition candidate is Dr. Udoando, who has the support of the Republican party. The official candidate, however, has a preferential position, for the provincial electoral colleges which select the candidates are the nominees of the Provincial Governors who follow instructions from the Central Government. At the close of the year the election of Señor Saenz Peña was regarded as uncertain. The chances of Señor Udoando, the Opposition candidate, were inappreciable. Señor Victorino de La Plaza has been chosen as the official candidate for the Vice-Presidency.

On May 1 there were rather serious Labour demonstrations in Buenos Ayres, twelve persons being killed and about a hundred injured. The trouble continued for some days. It appears to have been Anarchist in origin. On November 14 a bomb was thrown in the Calle Callao at the carriage of Señor Falcon, the Buenos Ayres Prefect of Police, who died of his injuries the same day. The Anarchist, said to be a Russian, shot himself, but ineffectually. A Secretary, Señor Lartigue, in the carriage with Señor Falcon, was killed. The Government immediately declared a state of siege throughout the Republic, thus arming themselves with summary powers of arrest and deportation without trial. It was reported that there were 10,000 persons of Italian, Russian and Spanish nationality in the Argentine in sympathy with the Anarchist movement. Many deportations followed. A Bill was passed in September for the construction of a cable by the Western Telegraph Company uniting the Argentine with Europe via Ascension. Another project was for the connection of Buenos Ayres with La Plata by an electric underground railway. The Trans-Andine tunnel was almost completed during the year and trains were expected to be running in the first half of 1910, thus giving through railway communication from Buenos Ayres to Valparaiso. The tunnel is 18 feet inches above rail-level with a width of 16 feet 5 inches. It is 3165 27 metres long and at the highest point is 3190-86 metres above sea level. At the crest of the mountain there are some 2,000 feet of strata overhead. The engineers are Messrs. Livesey, Son & Henderson, and the contractors Messrs. C. H. Walker & Co., Ltd. The headings of the tunnel were broken through on November 27. The Argentine Trans-Andine Railway passed in that month to the Central Argentine and Buenos Ayres and Pacific Railways for a sum of 2,391,2007. Mr. C. E. Akers was appointed from the Board of Trade to be British Commissioner

at the Centenary Exhibition which is to be held in Buenos Ayres from May to August, 1910. He reported in November that he had secured 129,000 square feet round the Central Hall for the British section, most of the space having been already applied for.

On October 24 a monument of General San Martin, one of the liberators of Argentina from Spain, which had been presented to the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer by the Argentine Government, was inaugurated with considerable ceremony. An Argentine squadron visited the harbour, and there was a parade of San Martin's regiment in the uniform of his period. The hero passed the later years of his life in Boulogne.

The total areas sown in 1909 as officially reported in December were: wheat, 5,836,550 hectares; flax, 1,455,000; oats, 572,600. At the close of the year it appeared that the harvest would equal in bulk and quality that of its predecessor, except in the case of linseed, the crop of which was inferior.

Chili has shown but few signs of improvement during 1909, and the low rate of exchange and currency difficulties have adversely affected the nitrate industry. The Presidential Message delivered to Congress in June put the ordinary revenue at 72,448,000 pesos gold and 133,000,000 pesos paper. The ordinary expenditure was 39,000,000 pesos gold and 190,000,000 pesos paper. The 3,000,000l. loan had been devoted to the rebuilding of Valparaiso and to railway construction. The Estimates for 1909 were for a revenue of 67,000,000 pesos gold and 120,000,000 pesos paper, and on the expected expenditure there would be a deficit of 37,000,000 pesos paper. But for 1910 it was calculated that revenue would exceed expenditure. The external debt had been reduced during the year and then stood at 20,393,000l. The President reviewed relations with other Republics in a satisfactory sense, and spoke of cordiality with Bolivia having given an impetus to the construction of the Arica- La Paz Railway, of which forty kilometres had been constructed. Port works along the coast had been well advanced, and the TransAndine Railway into Argentina was on the point of completion. The opening was expected in May, 1910. A new railway contract has been given to the firm of Sir Douglas Fox for a line of some 700 kilometres from Pueblo Hundido to Lagunas; and another railway is mooted between Copiapo and Cabildo, 600 metres over a mountainous route. The Government decided in October on an expenditure of 4,000,000l., to include a 20,000ton battleship, two ocean-going destroyers and several submarines, the tenders to be sent to London. The Bill submitted to the Chambers at the end of the year was, however, reported to be for 3,000,000l., to provide for a battleship, four torpedo-boat destroyers, and two submarines. On December 20 there were Ministerial difficulties, and the Government resigned.

The Chamber of Deputies decided in August to postpone until 1915 the coming into operation of the Metallic Conversion

Law, subject to the condition that the rate of exchange for six consecutive months does not fall below 17d. per peso paper. The Bill of postponement had been vetoed by the President. The contract for the railway across the Andes from Arica to La Paz, in Bolivia, a length of over 300 miles with an elevation of 12,000 feet, was awarded to Messrs. Sir John Jackson, Ltd. The scheme is expected to absorb 3,000,000. King Edward VII. accepted in December the position of arbitrator between Chili and the United States in the matter of the Alsop claim. President Alcorta's award in the boundary arbitration committed to the Argentine President fixed the boundary line between Peru and Chili along the course of the Rivers Heath and Madre de Dios to the mouth of the Toromanos, and thence a straight line to the intersection of the River Tehuamann with meridian 69, and thence northward along the meridian. In Peru a severe earthquake was felt in April. An attempt at revolution was made in June by partisans of Señor Pierola, who seized President Leguia, who was, however, released by Government soldiers. A Government tobacco monopoly was set up during the year.

Uruguay has had an uneventful year under President Williman, whose term of office expires in March, 1911. The total trade in 1908 was of the value of 15,297,7291., of which Great

Britain has about 25 per cent. Trade with this country is increasing, and the last Consular Report estimates that 50,000,000l. of British capital has been sunk in Uruguay, chiefly in railway enterprises. The public debt on January 1, 1909, was 27,692,7951. The Budget for 1909-10 estimated an expenditure of $22,111,170 gold; details of revenue are lacking. There are 1,273 miles of railway now in the Republic. President Williman announced in September that the financial year closed with a surplus of 360,000l.

On August 24 an Argentine steamer, the Columbia, was collided with and sunk by the German steamer Schlesien in the harbour at Montevideo and eighty persons were drowned. A contract was signed by Lord Grimthorpe, representing a group of British financiers, for the construction of a three-mile promenade on the sea-front at a cost of 1,400,000l., with sites. for public buildings, theatres and hotels. The State guarantees the bonds of the syndicates. A concession has been granted for the construction of a railway from Colonia, opposite Buenos Ayres, to San Luis, on the Brazilian frontier.

In Paraguay the revolutionary movement again became threatening in September and was said to have obtained the support of the Colorado party under General Caballero. In April the Government withdrew the measure authorising a loan of 2,000,000l. on the ground that the majority by which it was passed in Congress was too small.

Venezuela has had an uneventful year. Ex-President Castro endeavoured to return to the Republic early in the year, but was

detected in Martinique and expelled by the French authorities. The British refused to allow him to land at Trinidad. In April an agreement was signed by Venezuela and Holland under which Holland received 20,000 bolivars on account of the seizure of her merchantmen in 1908, Holland restoring the coastguard ships she afterwards seized. Venezuela has not yet yielded to the British claim for the abolition of the 30 per cent. additional duty on goods entering from the British West Indies.

In consequence of a frontier award by the President of the Argentine under the Arbitration Treaty of 1902 between Bolivia and Peru, a popular demonstration was made outside the Argentine legation at La Paz in July. The Argentine Government gave the Bolivian Minister his passports and ordered its Minister at La Paz to leave, but a prompt and ample apology by the Bolivian Government closed the incident. The award was violently denounced and there were rumours of impending war with Peru, where it was equally unpopular. The inauguration of the new President of Bolivia, Dr. Villazon, in August eased the situation; the two Governments entered upon direct negotiations and protocols were signed in September, one accepting the award and another modifying the frontier line.

In Colombia President Reyes's Message to Congress (Feb. 22) declared that perfect tranquillity prevailed throughout the Republic, and the fiscal year closed with a gold surplus in the Treasury of $2,000,000. Progress was being made with railway and road construction, and in February the railway communication between Bogota and the Magdalena River was completed, though the line was partly reconstructed later in the year; the steamer services on the river were improved also. At the end of July, however, President Reyes resigned on the ground of ill-health, after obscure revolutionary troubles in the lower provinces. General Gonzales Valencia, Governor of the Department of Bucaramanga, and an ex-Vice-President and former supporter of President Reyes, was elected President for the latter's unexpired term. President Reyes retired to Europe. Some financial difficulties followed, and it was semi-officially stated towards the close of the year that payment of the January coupon of the external debt would be deferred; means were found, however, to provide for it, and early in 1910 the credit of the Republic seemed to be recovering. The Presidential election was to take place in July, 1910, and it was expected that stability would then be restored. In January Colombia recognised the independence of Panama, and the latter Republic agreed to pay Colombia 500,000l. as Panama's share of the Colombian debt.

CHAPTER IX.

AUSTRALASIA.

I. THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA.

THE salient features of Commonwealth history in 1909 were the settlement, subject to referendum, of the financial question between the States and the Commonwealth; the change of Ministry; and the great progress made with the question of national defence.

The Conference of State Premiers at Hobart, Tasmania (March 5-12), dealt with the first problem (ANNUAL REGISTER, 1908, p. 471), and ultimately resolved that not less than threefifths of the revenue from Customs and Excise should thereafter be divided among the States according to population, the minimum, however, being fixed at 6,750,000l. Out of this a special annuity was to be granted to Western Australia, beginning at 250,000l. and decreasing by 10,000l. yearly. The chief part of this arrangement, as will be seen, was ultimately superseded.

The State claims had raised a counter-current of feeling, apart from party politics, that the Federal Parliament should be made. supreme, and should delegate powers to subordinate legislatures, so that eventually the existing States might give place to new territorial divisions. The existing machinery of Government, it was argued, was proving inadequate; there were too many Parliaments; the Labour party desired labour legislation to be transferred to the Commonwealth, other observers wished to see the railway systems unified. A petition with upwards of 58,000 signatures for a referendum on "unification" was presented on June 1 by a Queensland member, and was followed up by a Bill; but the question progressed no farther during the year.

The sensation caused by the debate on the Navy Estimates in the Imperial Parliament, and New Zealand's offer of a Dreadnought (p. 62), set up a similar movement in Victoria and New South Wales. The Melbourne Age pressed for such an offer; the Argus supported it; it was cordially taken up by the Governments of the two States and the Opposition leaders in the Commonwealth, and subscriptions were started, the Sydney fund eventually reaching 82,000. The other States, however, were not so responsive, and the Prime Minister, Mr. Fisher, described the offer as "a spectacular display, not a policy," and preferred to provide an Australian contingent for the Imperial Navy. Lord Charles Beresford, speaking at the Australasian dinner in London on May 27, favoured the latter policy, and it was eventually adopted. The New South Wales subscription was devoted, half to a "King Edward VII. " naval training college, and half to farms for training British immigrants.

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