The total extent of the Spanish railway lines at the end of 1926 was 16,200 km. of which 11,75o km. were broad gauge, narrow gauge and 16 km. funicular railways.
The general advance in transport facilities in the interior of Spain is reflected in the following short table :— Agriculture.—The agriculturally productive area of Spain is officially estimated at 94% of the total, but a large part of this is not cultivated. The area under cultivation is approximately of the total, while about 48% is pasturage and mountain land. The remaining 6% is classified as unproductive for agri cultural purposes.
The crop taking the largest acreage is wheat, followed by barley and other cereals. These occupy about 20,000,000 acres, being approximately 16% of the total area. About 6% of the total area is devoted to olives and the vine.
The mainstay of Spain's economic existence is its agricultural production. This fact has not been lost sight of by the Govern ment inaugurated in 1923 by General Primo de Rivera. A vast number of proposals for stimulating agricultural production have been brought forward and put into execution.
Some of the legislation is interesting. For instance, on May 4, 1926, a tax of so pesetas to i oo kg. was levied on all oil manu factured from ground nut and sesame seeds, while the previous month imports of these seeds had been limited to 40,000 tons. Later on in the year importation was prohibited altogether. The idea in this case was to protect Spanish olive oil.
Legislation in the same year (May 12-29) instituted a fund of 25,000,000 pesetas for credits to wheat growers. On July 6, a minimum price for wheat was fixed. This had already been done in 1925. These two measures having proved inadequate, on July 9, 1926, the importation of wheat was again prohibited.
As a consequence of the resolutions passed at a conference held in Oct., 1926, a Royal Order of Dec. i 1926, established an Orange Committee whose mission was to develop the orange growing industry. Later on, in April 1928, an attempt was made to form a syndicate of all the orange producers and exporters, but the movement did not meet with anything like unanimous adherence, and at the moment the proposal is in the air. On
Jan. 7, 1927, a Royal Order pro vided for the inspection of or anges prior to shipment. This was a valuable move in the at tempt to standardize fruit ship ments from Spain, and should un doubtedly lead to great benefits for growers and exporters if the system can be extended and ap plied to all shipments.
In October, 1926, a Royal De cree established a Silk Commis sion for the purpose of develop ing silk worm culture in Spain. Poultry farming also formed one of the objects of Government solicitude, and a Royal Order of January s8, 1927 , promulgated measures for its development.
On Feb. 18, 1927, a Royal Order was published providing for the grant of credits against crops of wheat, oil, wine, rice and wool. The underlying inten tion of this Order was to facilitate credits to small growers, and the maximum amount of credit to be granted to any one grower was raised from 5,00o to so,000 pesetas.
A Raisin Committee was formed in June, 1927, with a central office at Denia. The duties of this Chamber are to promote pro duction, export, and consumption of Muscatel grapes and raisins. A Grape Committee was established at Almeria, whose duties are the protection of the trade in fresh grapes.
Export bonuses were granted in June, 1927, on rice exported during any one year up to a quantity of 20,000 tons.
In this multitude of measures for the protection and develop ment of agriculture, the wine trade was not forgotten, and a Decree-Law of May 7, 1928, authorised credits on Spanish wines at 5% interest, up to 6o% of the value.
Cotton-growing is still in an experimental stage, but results have been most marked, the crop rising from 86o tons in 1924 to tons in 1926. This increase also is partially due to the encouragement of the Government.
To this summary of the legislative and other measures taken for the protection of agriculture during the last three years may be added that the Spanish Government earmarked i oo,000,000 pesetas for re-afforestation in the Extraordinary Budget of 1926, and has recently created an Institute of Agronomic and Forestry Research and Experiment.