sn1rPI.'C-._I D I Letters. I Total in German Ave) age Number i lmpcrial Post. Empire. to each Person. ]umions_ ‘Iill1'ons 1872 3520 407 '8 10 1873 4290 4924 12 1874 4566 5219 13 1875 4982 5760 14 1876 5164 5963 14 1877 521 '5 l 6042 14 The average number of letters to each person is thus a little greater in Germany than it is in Ireland, whereas it is 26 in Scotland and 35 in England. The number of post- cards has increased fron1 265 millions i11 1872 to 99'3 millions in 1877. The following table sl10ws the general pos-til circulation during the three years 1875-77 :—— | 1873 1876. 1877. l .‘[illions. Millions. Millions. Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 576 '0 596 ‘3 604 '2 Post-cards .................... ..‘ 64'? 827 99'3 Printed papers .............. . .‘ 93 '0 101 '0 1 12 '4 .'L-wspa[)e1‘.s ................... ..l 392-8 414-2 433-5 Samples ....................... ..' 9 '3 9'0 9 '8 Money orders ................ 33'5 39 '8
- ":‘:i.;';.:1::1:;z.:;*;.s::::::::’} £784
_ Parcels ......................... ..' 78'4 80'3 82 '3 Total weight of parcels .... ..' lb 559 lb 583 1 lb 915 Telegrap/Ls.—By combining the postal and telegraphic departments Germany has been saved a large number of officials; but great sums are still spent annually on the extension of the telegraph system. Since 1876 important localities have been brought into communication with Berlin by subterranean wires. This plan is expensive, but u11der it a considerable saving is anticipated in repairs. The number of telegraph offices in 1877 was 7251, of which about 4600 belonged to the state, and the rest to private railways. The following table shows the progress of the telegraphic system between 1872 and 1877, and the number of messages in these two years :—~ Telegraph Service. ' 1872. | 1877. _ I‘ Miles. Miles. Length of llllC ......................... .. 23,350 33,660 lnfllgtll of wire ......................... ..' 77,870 121,810 Number of ofliees ...................... 4,038 7,251 Number of messages~ I Home service ...................... ..’ 8,478,000 8,994,000 International (includ. in transit)‘ 4,945,000 I 5,203,000 The increase of messages is insignificant, a circumstance which must be attributed to the recent dulness of trade. On the whole the telegraph is not as yet used to a very great extent in Germany. The number of messages for every 100 inhabitants in 1877 was 33, as compared with 47 in Norway, 49 in Denmark, 54 in Belgium, 58 i11 tl1e]Nethe1‘lands, 64 in Great Britain, and 100 in Switzer- anc. SHIPPING. The German mercantile marine has always been distin- guished by the excellence of its personnel. The seamen of Frisia are acknowledged to be among the best in the world, and the shipping of Bremen and Hamburg had won an everywhere respected name long before a German mercantile marine, properly so-called, was heard of. Many Hamburg vessels sailed under charter of English and other houses in foreign waters, especially in the Chinese. Since 1868 all German ships have carried a common flag——black, White, red—but formerly Oldenburg, Hanover, Bremen, Hamburg, Liibeck, Mecklenburg, and Prussia had each its GERMANY 461 own flag, and Schleswig-Holstein vessels sailed under- the Danish flag. It is but lately that a uniform mode of measuring the hold tonnage of German ships has been in- troduced, and accordingly it is only since 1871 that it has been possible to give an exact statement of the position of German shipping. The official returns show that the marine is on the increase. The following table gives its position on the 1st of January in the years 1872-78. The tonnage is reckoned according to the English register ton. Sailing Vessels. Steamers. Total. Number. I Tons. Number. Tons. Number. Tons. 1872 4,354 l 892,000 175 97,000 4,529 988,000 1873 4,311 869,000 216 130,000 4,527 999,000 1874 4,242 866,000 253 168,000 4,495 1,034,000 1875 4,303 878,000 299 190,000 4,602 1,068,000 1876 4,426 901,000 319 184,000 4,745 1,084,000 1877 4,491 923,000 318 181,000 4,809 1,104,000 1878 4,469 935,000 336 183,000 I 4,805 1,118,000 The lowest tonnage of vessels included in this return is 16 tons for sailing vessels a11d 11 tons for steamers. On comparing the state of the German marine with that of other countries we find that Germany ranks fourth in the list of maritime nations. Great Britain and the United States have considerably larger fleets. That of Norway also was even in 1871 greater than that of Germany, and it has increased much more rapidly than the other since that time ; but on the other hand the mercantile marines of France and Italy, which in 1871 were larger than the German, are both now less. The following table shows the proportion of the mercantile shipping of Germany belong- ing to each of the maritime states on the 1st of January 1878. It must be borne in mind that Bremen and Ham- burg properly consist only of one port each, whereas Prussia has hundreds of miles of coast-line both on the North Sea and o11_ the Baltic. States. : (§"lIr,r::_g_ Steamers. Total. Tons. Tons l Tons. Prussia ................... .. 243 464,477 31,573 496,050 Hamburg ................ .. 2 137,347 84,127 221,474 Bremen .. ............... .. 2 158,677 57,311 216,054 Mecklenburg‘ .......... .. 2 108,521 3,812 112,333 Oldenburg . ............. .. 21 61,774 27 61,801 Liibeck .................. .. 1 3,760 6,463 1 10,223 Total .......... .. 271 934,556 183,379 1,117,935 North Sea Ports ....... .. 62 419 698 38,699 458,397 Baltic Ports ............ ..' 209 514,858 144,680‘ 659,538 The number and the tonnage of steamers have, as in other countries, increased greatly, while those of sailing vessels have remained almost stationary. The aggregate horse- power of the steamers in 1871 was 23,287; in 1877 it was 50,603. The number of seamen employed in 1878 was 40,832, a11d of those 8173 served on board steamers. In 1876 165 sailing vessels of 35,439 tons, and 14 steamers of 6200 tons, were built in Germany ; and 8 sailing vessels of 3862 tons, and 1 steamer of 1910 tons, were built abroad. There were besides 50 ships with a total tonnage of 21,755 which had been bought in America, Holland, and Great Britain. The shipping returns of German ports have lately fluctu- ated but little. The total amount was 13,311,000 tons in 1876. A striking difference will be observed in the follow- ing table in the returns between the numbers entering and
clearing in ballast:—