A Queer City.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 238, 21 January 1888, Page 4

A Queer City.

The following • account of the Spanish' capital is from "L'Espagne telle qu'elleest,' by M.; V, Almirall, a native of Catalonia :—: — 4 • Madrid possesses scarcely any element of production. Her most important branch of industry is printing in its various branches, but the, ,» Madrid , publishers eanhpb? compete with those of Patfs> Leipzig, arid New .York, ,for exportation to America, which is ,the principal opening for Spanish publishers. Neither is Madrid an agricultural town of, any importance, for she is situated in the very centre of a perfect' desert. The territory all round .the capital is' arid and destitute of trees, and when the traveller arrives on the outskirts of the capital he could easily imagine himself to be at an enormous distance from the centre of popular tiotl. -'The foreigner is therefore all the more astonished with the contrast between the exterior a"nd the intendagpebt of Madrid; , Hero everything is gay and animated j, one sees at a glance, however, that there are many more idlers than 'workers in the streets'. Another origi'riality with Madrid is, that all'this life and animation is developed at an hour when the J Sjfime is drawing, to a close in other town*.' Official Madrid begins to show its activity übbufc a ,couple of hours after 'the daylight has* given < place to gaslight. f ße^e,en£ one, arid, two o,'clock after "midnight is the most.,favourabje moment to fix for an interview,* aricf "for finding your [individual in a good humour. At these late hours the Ministerial offices are open, 'and all, the high functionaries receive their visitors in their cabinets, .where, the. time is -passed in ; smoking, gossiping, plotting, backbiting. Political clubs are in full activity at tliis hour. It was thus that, iwhen M. Stanislaus Figueras occupied the 'Presidency of ; the Republic, the Madrilenes ! wislj.ed him VGftod morning ' overnight, be^ bause> he was accustomed to rise at five o'clock. But a towh that possesses half a million of inhabitants living luxuriously, and .that unaided by any great commerce, nidus try,; or agriculture, must have some special resources on which to subsist. Madrid finds, these, first' in her politics, and then in, her intriguings. Go into an '"aristocratic club ; you will find > there nothing but men living more or less directly by their) politics. This one has a • Minister's retiring pension— for iv povertystriken Spain anyone who has served in the , Ministry for, but, a moment has immediately .acquired the r right to a pension for life; and , at, certain recent epodhs in our history;, the Cabinet has been changed eVjCry .month, -. That one is DirectorGeneral, in some Ministry, the offices of which lie has never entered. If the club be less aristocratic, the names of the sinecures vary, but* the means of existence jare the same. They are either public servants receiving in active service or retirement from three to five thousand francs,! a month, or hangers-on waiting the return of their .party to power. . . . But it is true,- thanks to tripotage 01 intriguing, that the functionary who only receives, three thousand ! francs y early can spend five or, six thbusand on his apartments alone. By the same means the* June- 1 tionary's wife can appear at the opera covered with jewellery and precious stones, Occupying a box of which the* hire 'alone mufat be three or, four times what the husband earns. >. . . !.\. The sums of money which Madrid obtains by lripotag& are incalculable. The solution, of any business belonging to the country is centralised in thecapitali and rarely is this arranged gratuitously. ' Money passes from hand to ; hand, from the lowest to the highest official, and the fees are determined according to the importance of the case."