Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/484

4(54 ITALY [STATISTICS. Internal Administration. It was not till 1865 that the adminis trative unity of Italy was realized. Up to that year some of the regions of the kingdom, such as Tuscany, continued to have a kind of autonomy ; but by the laws of 20th March the whole country was divided into 69 provinces and 8545 communes. The exteut to which communal independence had been maintained in Italy through all tlie centuries of its political disintegration was strongly in its favour. By the new law the communal council was to consist of SO members if the commune had more than 250,000 inhabitants, of 60 members if more than 60,000, of 40 if more than 30,000, of 30 if more than 10,000, of 20 if more than 3000, and in all other cases of 15. It was found by the census of 1861 that the first category was represented by only 1 commune, the second by 12, the third by 34, the fourth by 265, the fifth by 1762, and the sixth by 6471. As many of the communes, especially in the north, were found to have a very small population, a considerable number of them have been wisely incorporated with others. The syndic (sindaco) or chief magistrate of the commune is appointed by the king for three years, and he is assisted by a "municipal junta" consisting of ten assessors and four substitutes for the communes of the first category, and of 8 + 4, 6 + 2, 4 + 2, and 2 + 2 respectively in those of the others. The communal council meets in ordinary course twice a year. Eligibility for office as a councillor is determined very much by the same considerations as affect the political suffrage, the main criterion being the amount of direct taxes paid. All those in receipt of communal salaries are excluded, and, if a sufficient number can be obtained without them, all who are unable to read. The provincial councils consist of 60, 50, 40, or 20 members, according as the population exceeds 600,000, 400,000, or 200,000, or falls below this last number. Each council elects its own president ; its sessions, which in regular course occur once a year, are opened and closed by the prefect or his substitute in the king s name. The term of office for the provincial council is five years. A " provincial deputation" or standing committee, appointed by the council, acts under the presidency of the prefect as the repre sentative of the same throughout the year. The various sections of the local government municipal, com munal, and provincial councils are left remarkably free from inter ference on the part of the central authorities. There is a prefect in every province, but, to quote Galleuga s words, he is little more than the head of the provincial police. In point of local influence the syndic, who in the large cities is usually a nobleman or distinguished statesman, is the more important functionary. The principal law regulative of communal taxation is that of July 3, 1864. By this the communes were allowed, not only to impose independently of the state an additional tax or super-impost (sovrimposta) on the articles already subjected to the national octroi, but also to charge a local customs duty on other articles of meat and drink, on forage, fuel, building materials, soaps, fatty matters, and other objects of the same class. Italy thus took rank, says Alessio, as one of the European countries in which the greatest liberty of taxation was granted to the local corporations. Further licence has been since conceded, in 1869, 1870, &c. In 1877 the total income of the communes amounted to 228,733,014 lire or nearly 9,115,000, and of this sum 38 71 per cent, was fur nished by the communal octroi proper (dazio consumo), 31 24 by the super-impost on the laud, 6 10 per cent, by the hearth-money or fuocatico, 3 27 by the tax on cattle and horses, and the remainder^ by a variety of taxes on public and private conveyances, dogs, domestics, riding and carriage horses, &c. A tax on photographs and insigne, first rendered legal in 1875, and only adopted by a few of the communes, is the least valuable on the list. Foreigners, except when they really take up permanent residence in a commune, arc for the most part exempted from the local taxation. The effect of many of the taxes, especially as applied by the short-sighted local policy, has proved highly prejudicial to the development of indus tries. The tax, for instance, on wood and coal tells against the glass works of Venice, the potteries of Florence, the gold and silver work of Milan. At Voltri taxes are paid on nearly all the raw materials of the cotton industry, on the coal, the petroleum, the oil, the very flour needed for the dressing of the stuffs, &c. Paper is taxed hi many towns (at Bologna as much as 7 per cent.), at Genoa not only paper but printed matter, at Reggio Emilia types and printing machines. There is often a most extraordinary difference in the amount imposed on the same article : every quintal of wax for stearine candles, for example, pays 5 lire in one city, 10 in another, 40 in a third. In many cases, as at Bergamo, Como, Parma, &c. , the result is that the factories show a tendency to locate themselves outside of the communal limits. 1 And in spite of this superabundant taxation the debts of the com munes are unusually numerous, and in some instances give rise to grave concern. Italy has the honour of being the first of European nations to furnish regular returns in regard to the whole department of provincial and communal debts ; and the light thrown by these on the state of the local finances is very instructive. At the inquiry 1 Sec G. Alessio, " L imposta del dazio consume in Italia," in Annaii di Stat., 18 SO. in 1873 it was found that the total of the debts of the eonimum-.- amounted to 545,129,128 lire, and that of the provinces to 54,401,390. By 1877 these figures had increased to 707,551, 255 for the communes, and 90,073,603 for the provinces. Nearly the half of the communal inere.ise of 162 millions was due to the two cities of Florence and Naples, the former being responsible for 36,933,905 lire of the increase, and the latter for 36,726,188 lire. The state of the Florentine finances is particularly noteworthy. It is estimated that the dazio consumo cost every inhabitant 30 1 1 lire in 1877, and 31 "58 in 1878 (the only other chief cities with similar amounts being Genoa, with respectively 33 ami 27i lire, and Rome with 28^ and 29J), and the total communal taxation is stated at 54 lire per head. On March 18, 1878, Florence suspended pay ment of the capital and three months later of the interest on its debts, which amounted to about 160,000,000 lire. A royal commis sion was appointed in June 1879 for the liquidation of the debt, and it put into operation a scheme by which the debt will be cleared oil by 1939. Full details will be found in the Report of the Jjritixlt Consul for Florence, 1880, or in Mr Anthony Trollope s interesting survey in the British and Foreign Quarterly Iievirn; 1879. Tin- other cities where the local customs press heaviest on the citizen* are Palermo and Catania (20 lire), Leghorn (nearly 20), Siena (19), Pavia (18), Milan (17), Turin (16). Among those that suffer least are Belluno. Arezzo, and Sondrio. At the close of 3878 it was cal culated that the quota of the communal debt for every individual would amount to 91 3 62 lire at Florence, to 309 60 at Pisa, to 274 at Genoa, to 248 52 at Naples, and that on an average of all the capoluogi or provincial chief towns the quota would be HO "96 lire. See Statistica dei dcbiti communali al 1 Gcnnaio 1879 (Rome, 1880). Finance. It is not every Government even in a country of excep tional wealth like England that is able to keep the balance on the right side of the national account ; in Italy it long seemed as if no Government could do so. To attain the parcguio, or in familial- phrase to make both ends meet, was the dream and the despair of minister after minister. Money was wanted for so many things : taxes of any considerable value could be imposed on so few. The various parts of the national organization had to b3 put with all pos sible speed into a condition not altogether unworthy of the prestige and the promise of the kingdom. What in other countries had been the growth of generations, Italy was called upon to produce at once by "forcing." To attain her nominal or political unity she had to submit to many sacrifices ; to make the unity something better than a musical word, she had to submit to many more. That she should have spent so much on her army, her fortifications, and her fleet, is matter of regret in spite of the secondary purposes which such things subserve ; that at the same time she has aimed high, and acted liberally in respect of more needful if less ostentatious departments, is worthy of admiration, and, in judging of what she has attained, it must never be forgotten what an inheritance of debt and disorganization passed over to her from the states which she supplanted. The following table (XLII.) of debt, revenue, and expenditure (given in millions of lire =40,000), shows that on the whole the financial condition of the country, considered in itself and apart from the causes to which it is due, is an improving if not a satisfac tory one. It must be noted that in the columns of revenue and expenditure no account is taken of the movement of the capitals, of the expenses connected with the railway system, or of the debts and payments of one part of the administration to another. Years. Debt. Revenue. Expenditure. Deficit or Surplus. 1866 . 6,930 617 1,338 -721 1867 7,415 714 929 -215 1868 7,679 768 1,014 -2-16 1869 8,081 871 i,oin -148 1870 8,815 866 1,081 -215 1871 8,951 967 1,041 - 74 1872 9,622 1,014 1,098 - 84 1873 9,760 1,047 l,13fi - 8!) 1874 9,788 1,077 1,090 - l:< 1875 9,986 1 ,096 1,082 + 14 1876 10,769 1,123 1,103 + 20 1877 11,29 . 1.181 1,158 + 2;; 1878 11,289 1,192 1,177 + l-j 1879 11,276 1,228 1,186 + 42 If the items excluded from the above comparison be taken into consideration, the revenue and expenditure will stand for the later years as follows (Table XLII I.): Revenue. Expenditure Revenue. Expenditure.) 1874 1334 1397 1877 1437 1474 1875 1447 1415 1878 1437 1448 1876 1370 1399 1879 1463 1547 The most noticeable facts indicated by Table XLII. are(l)the rapid increase of the national debt, which at the declaration of the king dom of Italy in 1861 amounted to only 3,131,053,610 lire, so that it more than doubled itself in seven years and more than trebled