No. 202.
Mr. Wing
to Mr. Fish.
Quito, Ecuador , September 20, 1873. (Received November 4.)
Sir: I have the honor to forward per this mail the report of the minister of the treasury for Ecuador, to the present Congress. It will be found to be interesting in many particulars.
It will be observed that the national income for the past two years exceeds that of the preceding two by nearly $1,000,000.
The domestic debt for manumitted slaves has been liquidated, and only one dividend to North American creditors remains unpaid.
There is an increase of 382,063 pounds (nearly 50 per cent.) in the coffee exports of 1872 over those of 1871 from Guayaquil alone. This is a matter which I have always regarded as of great importance to this country, and to the coffee commerce of the world.
It is pleasant, likewise, to see it officially stated that all of the machinery and articles of general utility purchased by the government are from the United States.
I am aware, also, that another large order has recently gone forward to New York, and that additional American engineers have been and are to be employed by this government.
The small number of American shipping entries in the port of Ecuador, as set forth in the report, will, I trust, be rectified at no very distant day.
Table Z shows the situation of all the light-houses and buoys on the Ecuadorian coast.
There has, of late, been much trouble in regard to the smuggling of silver out of the country, which has prevailed to such an extent as almost to enforce the cessation of specie payments.
It is probable that the salary of the President of the republic will be increased to $20,000 per annum before the close of the present session of Congress.
I have, &c.,