midday, a substantial soup of vegetables and macaroni, with pork-fat or olive-oil, or a dish of polenta; and bread and cheese, with onions or salad, as the case may be, in the afternoon and evening, sometimes varied by stockfish. Only on very rare occasions mutton or goat's meat and wine are indulged in. The cost of living per day to mechanical laborers in this city is variously estimated at from 30 cents to 50 cents. The following were the market rates of the principal articles of consumption at Rome during the second week in June, 1878:

A considerable advance in wages paid to agricultural laborers and in the cost of living followed immediately on the annexation of this district to the Kingdom of Italy in 1870, but they have not varied materially during the past five years. Dating from 1870, wages paid to agricultural laborers on that portion known as the Agro Romano have increased 40 per cent.; other portions of the district of Rome show an increase of from 20 per cent. to 25 per cent.

Reference may be made to statement No. 1 for the increase in wages paid to mechanical laborers in the city since 1870; with few exceptions the advance is slight, and bears no proportion to the increased cost of living. Immediately after the events of 1870 prices of the principal articles of consumption advanced 25 per cent.; during the past five years they have not varied sensibly.

When Rome became the capital of Italy, owing to the great influx of speculation, government employés, and strangers from all parts of Italy, rents advanced from 75 to 100 per cent., where they still remain.

4. PRESENT STATE OF TRADE.

The returns of Italian commerce for the quarter ending March 31, 1878, give the following results, compared with the same period of the preceding year:

IMPORTS.

The custom-house receipts for the same period (1878) were $5,279,447.40 against $4,843,651.60 in 1877; an increase in 1878 of $235,795.80. The year 1877 was most disastrous to Italian commerce, as will be seen from the following returns compared with 1876:

There being a falling off in exports in 1877 of $50,081,174.60 and of $460,603 in custom-house receipts. The depression in trade is to be attributed to a variety of causes, first among which are the Eastern war, the overstocked markets, and the uncertainty attending the ratification of the commercial treaty with France.

As regards the commercial relations of Rome, it cannot be said to be prosperous, although a slight improvement has been manifest during the present year, and exports to the United States have been more active than for several years back. Although Rome is not a great manufacturing center as compared with the industrial importance of cities of its size in Northern Europe, it is one of the principal markets of Central Italy. Its principal articles of export to foreign countries are raw wool, horned cattle, cheese, cereals for seed, raw hides of small animals, such as lambs, kids, and hares, an earth for cement known as pazzolana, statuary, paintings, mosaics, cameos, jewelry, and an infinite variety of minor works of fine art. The limited manufactures of woolen, cotton, and silk are nearly all absorbed at home or in the surrounding rural districts. The same is true of manufactures of boots and shoes, carriages, firearms, and machines and machinery.

Rome, from its historical associations, as the principal seat of classical study of the fine arts, as the capital of Italy, and the seat of the Papacy, attracts a large floating population of all nationalities, constantly renewed, whose expenditures form a very considerable source of wealth, that thus far has not been noted in any statistics. This is especially true of mosaics, cameos, and jewelry, all of which are among its most flourishing

industries, and such other works of art as may be carried away directly by the purchaser without having recourse to the ordinary means of shipment. Most European nations have established institutions for the study of the fine arts in Rome, while the United States are represented by 17 sculptors and 18 painters, whose artistic productions are destined almost exclusively for our country.

The following are the chief articles of import into Rome from foreign countries: Dry and smoked fish, petroleum, spirits, sugar, coffee, spices, colored marbles, cast-iron and steel, hardware, hard coal, coke, porcelain, pottery, glass and crystal, medicines, chemical products, paints, kid-gloves, woolen, cotton, linen and hemp, and their respective manufactures, paper, books, machines and machinery, haberdashery, gold, silver, and precious stones.

Imports from the United States consist almost wholly of petroleum, cotton goods, sewing-machines, and agricultural implements and machinery. I have not been able to obtain trustworthy figures of the imports into Rome from the United States, as they are only in part received direct from New York via Glasgow and Leghorn per Anchor Line steamers, and in part through the ports of Genoa, Civita Vecchia, and Naples.

5. PAPER MONEY.

Paper money is a legal tender in Italy for all payments except customs. During the year 1877 the premium on gold raised from 9 per cent. to 12.50 per cent., and from 8 per cent. to 11 per cent. for the 5 months ending June 15, 1878.

By act of Parliament six of the leading credit establishments form the syndicate for the emission of bank-notes. The syndicate guarantees the government paper money with its united capital and reserve, and in turn is authorized to issue a limited amount of paper money on its own account. Italian paper money is of one uniform type throughout the kingdom. The denominations of bank-notes in circulation are as follows: 50 centimes, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 250, 500, and 1,000 lire.

On the 1st of April, 1878, the total of paper money in circulation in Italy amounted to $304,155,396. In this sum the Government figures for $182,000,000 and the syndicate for 122,155,396.20. The small amount of coin reserves (for the syndicate banks, only $25,739,600, on the 1st of January, 1877), must render any attempt at a resumption of specie pay. ments for the present, at least, improbable.

6. BUSINESS HABITS AND SYSTEMS.

Large estates, with the exception of the Agro Romano, are usually let on long leases, of not less than three generations; a small percentage of land is also worked directly by the owner. The estates on the Agro Romano are let on leases of from five to twelve years to middlemen, who in turn sublet in small lots, on shares, for periods of from one to three years; the lessee cultivating for a stipulated amount in kind for every acre under cultivation.

In that which relates to the business habits of the importers and merchants of this city in their relations with foreign countries, I can only offer the following: Contracts in trade are usually paid in acceptance at 90 days, which are returned from London, Paris, or Vienna, as the case may be, to a banker in Rome for collection; cash, in some cases, is paid with the usual discount. All commercial transactions with the various cities and markets of Italy are subject to the same conditions.

In conclusion, I may add that the conditions of the trade have changed sensibly since Rome became the capital of Italy; the barrier that formerly separated this city from the remainder of the peninsula blighted all enterprise and barely enabled a few industries to struggle along in the shadow of protection. The field is now free to all, and although not many new industries have appeared, work in others, with the exception of the textile, has grown in proportion to the increased population. CHAS. MCMILLAN.

UNITED STATES CONSULATE-GENERAL,
Rome, June 25, 1878.

THE NETHERLANDS.

AMSTERDAM.

Report, by Consul Eckstein, on the rates of wages, past and present rates, and the condition of labor, in the district of Amsterdam.

In looking over the archives of the consulate I found the Department Circular of the 11th of April last, addressed to consuls in certain countries, asking them to make inquiries and report in regard to certain points bearing upon the subject of labor and wages and kindred matters. Believing that up to the present no such report has been made from this consulate, and desirous to comply with the requirements and wishes of the Department, I have the honor herewith to make a brief report upon some of the points upon which the Department wishes information. As my knowledge of matters of this character appertaining to this city and consular district is, necessarily, very limited, on account of the short duration of my residence here, I may be allowed to bespeak the kind indulgence of the Department for any defects in the substance or form of this report.

RATES OF WAGES.

Agricultural laborers, who are employed by the year, and who have their homes and receive their subsistence upon the premises of their employers, are paid from $50 to $60 per annum, and usually receive, in addition, two common suits of clothing during the same time.

Farm laborers, hired by the day during the busy seasons, receive from 40 to 50 cents per day.

Florists and nursery laborers, at the city of Harlem and its neighborhood, engaged in raising bulbs or flower-roots, are paid $2.90 per week for nine months in the year and $265 for the other three months.

Female servants are paid from $20 to $60 per annum; but those whose wages are only from $20 to $30 are not living in the houses of their employers altogether, but come early in the morning and leave at about four o'clock in the afternoon.

Hotel servants.-Hotel and restaurant employés, and persons employed in public institutions of every description, are, as a rule, paid very low wages, but this fact is no criterion of the actual condition of this class of laborers, for the well-established custom of giving them drinkgelddrink-money-very often more than makes up for the low wages they receive; in fact, all such persons, including house-servants, males and females, rely more upon the income which they derive from this source than upon the actual wages which they receive from their employers.

Diamond-cutting, or polishing, a trade peculiar to Amsterdam, and carried on to a great extent, has of late years been, as it is now, remarkably prosperous. I am credibly informed that experienced and skillful diamond-cutters earn from $40 to $80 per week. There are said to be more than 1,500 of them in the city. The prosperity of those engaged in this trade dates from the discovery of diamonds at the Cape of Good Hope, as since that time diamond-cutting here has been an almost un