RÉUNION.

Statement showing the imports from the United States at Réunion Island for the year ending December 31, 1881.

*Out of which 3,497 cases have been entered at customs, duties paid; 60 cases shipped for Madagas car; & cases empty, having leaked; total, 3,566 cases. +10.092.80 francs, at rate of exchange, 19.3 $1,916.05. $1,571.20 francs, at rate of exchange, 19.3= $303.25.

Statement showing the imports and exports between the Island of Réunion and the United States for the year 1881.

(FROM THE CANARY ISLANDS AROUND BY THE BARBARY STATES TO THE GULF OF ADEN.)

MOROCCO.

Report by Consul Mathews on the trade, commerce, and navigation of the Empire of Morocco for the year 1880-'81.

UNITED STATES CONSULATE,
Tangier, September 21, 1881.

The improvement in trade which was looked forward to for the year 1880-81 has not been realized to any great extent; early crops of wheat, barley, and beans, which from the time of sowing promised to be abun dant, were subsequently destroyed by heavy falls of rain and stormy winds in the spring; the damage done being so great that many agriculturists barely secured the seed put in the ground, while maize, millet, and dary seed, which were sown after the rains of spring, and promised to give good result, have in many districts been damaged by worms and blight. The inclemency of the weather was not without its effect on

fruit, of which most of the trees in full bloom at the time suffered considerably.

But the greatest drawback to trade in general has been the want of confidence experienced by most foreign traders who seem loath to speculate in any branch of trade, finding it almost impossible to get their own back from the natives, who are so ground down by exorbitant taxation as to find all their products have disappeared before they have the value of them in hand; that the poor agriculturist is on the one side dunned by his government for taxes, and on the other by his foreign creditor, who also has to suffer from the results of the government's rapacious propensities.

In many cases where the native is willing to acquit himself honorably towards his foreign creditors, he dreads to show his resources for fear of having his properties confiscated by the unsalaried authorities, in whose eyes the greatest crime a man can commit is to possess property of any consideration. Under these circumstances and in the absence of any proper tribunal wherein redress is likely to be obtained, foreign traders are chary about placing their wonted confidence in natives whose solvency may from one day to another become nil by a stroke from the functionary who has jurisdiction over them.

It is therefore not surprising that many of the tribes are in open revolt, and many who were formerly honest and thrifty plowers of land have been converted into bands of marauders whom all the Sultan's efforts cannot subjugate. During the whole year divisions of the Sultan's armies are sent to different parts of the empire, carrying devastation wherever they go, but instead of subjugating the tribes, such steps only serve to irritate them all the more, as instead of inquiring into grievances and endeavoring to redress wrongs by introducing salutary reforms, the Sultan's government policy seems that of wishing to weaken the already overwhelmed tribes, who in their turn resume their lawless practices as soon as the armies leave their district; and in many cases where the faults of the guilty parties are visited upon the innocent these also become infuriated and join in the rebellious movement when they see their property unlawfully confiscated or destroyed.

Up to the present the Sultan and his army have not arrived at the southern capital, Morocco City, on account of the daily sanguinary encounters they have to sustain; but what is worse is that every part of the country they go through bears the mark of their passage in the shape of ruin, misery, and rebellion.

Under such government it is not to be reasonably expected that trade and industry can flourish, especially when its autocratic system gives the population no chance of turning to account the rich resources of the country; many of the rich articles being prohibited to trade in while the less valuable produce is so hampered with taxation that the producer must give his produce for nothing in order to allow shippers to realize cost after paying taxes, duties, and expenses.

Attempts are being made to induce this government to adopt a more equitable system, and to encourage trade so as to enrich its treasury by more legitimate contributions, likely to result from the extension of commerce; but little hopes, as yet, are entertained of successful issue for these wise suggestions, the Sultan's government being composed of men who only look to their own private benefit, and so long as their pockets are filled during their term of office, little care what becomes of the multitude, who, in their eyes, only exist to be fleeced by their su periors.

Owing to the foregoing reasons, there has been a falling off in trade during the last year as compared with the previous one, and although some allowance should be made for the cessation of import in breadstuffs, yet the deficiency ought to have been made up by an increase in other goods.

On the other hand, the damage suffered by the crops of cereals cannot have affected the export to the extent of making the total inferior to that of the preceding year when there was hardly any crop at all of cereals, while the oil crop this year has been most abundant.

IMPORTATIONS.

The total import during 1880-'81 is $3,638,895, against $4,714,863 in 1879-'80. Deficiency in 1880-'81, $1,075,968.

The total export during 1880-'81 is $3,381,770, against $3,747,685 in 1879-'80. Deficiency in 1880-'81, $365,915.

Subjoined is a review of the various articles which form the staple trade in the country, and others which would prove a means of prosperity to it being prohibited to trade:

Raw cotton.-The quantity imported has slightly increased, being 1,051 cwts., value, $23,155, in 1880-'81, against 996 cwts., value $20,310, in 1879-80. Prices ruled about $18 per 30 kilograms for middling or lean.

Cotton goods.-Gray, bleached, and printed cotton cloths from Manchester form an important item of the trade, and of late years English manufacturers have so successfully imitated the Pondicherry blue dyes, as to secure for English dyed cottons a preference over the original goods from India.

The staple articles are T-cloths, gray, white, croydons, bleached long cloths, dyed bafts and muslins of all descriptions, plain, embroidered, and printed, from Manchester and Glasgow. Prices vary according to quality and fluctuation of producing markets.

Woolen cloths.-The original Yorkshire goods are now almost superseded by German and Austrian manufactures, particularly in the lowpriced goods, but in the better classes, England still holds her own. The values run from $1.25 to $3 per yard.

French textures of all descriptions are imported in small quantities, excepting silk goods, in which no other country has been able to compete with any success against Lyons and Nismes.

Iron and hardware.-Birmingham and Sheffield are the chief sources of supply, notwithstanding German and Belgian competition in the lower qualities. Swedish and English iron in bars is largely imported from England, chiefly for agricultural implements, but of late years some of these being imported ready made, the quantities of these metals are not so large. Besides, the little encouragement given to agriculturists makes the demand for implements considerbly smaller, the land under culture being in some districts less than one-half that in former years. Other metals, chiefly brass, copper, bar tin, tin, zinc, brass and copper in sheets, are imported in small quantities for native manufacture, chiefly from England.

Loaf sugar is the principal item of French importation to this country, Marseilles having completely annihilated Belgian and Dutch competition in these markets. This article amounts to nearly one-half of the total import from France. Brown and crushed sugar in small quantities from England and France.

Coffee.-Rio quality is imported second-hand from Marseilles and