FINANCIAL STATE OF RUSSIA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 40, 15 July 1885, Page 4

FINANCIAL STATE OF RUSSIA.

I " Bußsian credit" -says the Shippirig World li wa3 undoubtedly built up m this (sountry by the faith sheflkepfc with her creditors during the. Crimean War, and the jQ-oy^rniuent has -certainly made tho |ititiQßt use.of; the,- good name 80 gained m cajoling the British public into t lending, her rhoneyi' lt will, perhaps; startle mb^jt 1 ' people 'to leafa that jthe ; Russian ftir^rf/ debt at the period of the Crimean' "Waif.' waß'jorily some £10,000,000 ; .Brerlinsf, whereas at the present day the total. debt.' expeeda , ,£573,0,00,000, , : , exclusiye. , ,' i'iso,(Joo,opp raised for railway purppsea.. Of this huse "total Bussia borrowed' ex-.* 4 iternally; between the., years 18*22-' ap:d ' 1860 £12',000i006i aria' between the years ißssifcnd'lß32iei9o,ooo,qod: Thuatha pre- i kent debtis fully twenty times greater than when she, was last at \Var with this (jqunjtryi As . regards the revenue, , it is very q difficult to gathe,r any precise details, but' the hugeness of the. annual deficits incurred will be easily gathered from the. fact;' that tho incrnase m the public doot fi-piri^ 1870 to 1880 has been £171.000,000 $r at the rate of; £17,000,000 a year.' : N,br 13 this all. In 1883 fclie Russian Finance;;

Minister found it incumbent upon him to « raise iurther revenue by increasing the existing taxes. Tho attempt proved an utter failure. With higher imposts, less money was brought into the Exchequer, or iv other words, it was found that the limit of taxation had been reached. Bankruptcy has been staring the country m the lace for years, and war or no war it is perfectly plain that Russian credit must rapidly go to pieces. It is almost superfluous to dwell upou the enormous depreciation m the paper currency. In ,1875 the paper rouble, the legal currency dC the country, was worth 33£ d, as against :22$d, its intrinsic value now. Should" (war be declared the Government will have jto live by- the printing press, and that jalone, and to what extent the depreciation may be further carried we need not > 'attempt to predict." . , •