SPAIN--PORTUGAL
Spain instituted a ship-construction bounty system in 1880, when her
merchant marine was languishing, and in 1886 a comprehensive system of
mail subventions, contracting for the whole ocean service with a single
steamship company, _La Compañia Transatlantica Española_.
Previous to 1886, for a quarter of a century and more, postal
subventions had been given to private commercial houses, or individuals,
providing steam communication with the Spanish colonies and foreign
ports; but much of the service during that period had been performed by
this company through cessions from the holders of the contracts. Before
the adoption of the private contract system, the service to the colonies
had been performed by the first regular steamship line between the
Peninsula and the Antilles (in 1850), established at the State's
expense. The ships of this line were all under the command of officers
of the navy, and performed various services for the Government besides
carrying the mails and despatches.
Under the contract of 1886 (ratified by the Cortes in 1887) the company
were to furnish all the mail steam communication between the Peninsula
and the colonies and possessions, and foreign ports, for a total maximum
subvention of 8,445,222 pesetas ($1,689,044) annually. The subsidy was
calculated on the number of nautical miles run. The total sum was
distributed among the budgets for the Peninsula and the several
colonies.[DZ] In 1909 the subvention was redistributed over the various
lines, the total amounting in round numbers to $1,665,600. The contract
went as a whole also to the Spanish Transatlantic Company, to run for
twenty years. A particular requirement was that the company must favor
Spanish trade in every possible way.[EA]
The first construction subsidy law, that of 1880 (June 25), granted a
bounty of forty francs ($7.72) per measured ton of 2.83 cubic metres on
all ships built in Spain. All tariff duties paid on imported materials
for building, careening, or repairing ships or their machinery, were to
be refunded by the Government.[EB]
During the decade between 1880 and 1890 the Spanish marine slowly
increased. Further to foster it, in 1895 a more general subsidy law was
enacted. This act granted a construction subsidy of forty pesetas
($7.72) per gross ton for wooden ships; seventy-five pesetas ($14.48),
for iron and steel steamers; and fifty-five pesetas ($10.62), for ships
of mixed construction and for sailing-ships of iron and steel.[EC]
The year following the passage of this law was marked by rapid expansion
in the national marine. Then came a more rapid decline. This was due, it
is assumed, to increased taxes, and business depression occasioned by
the colonial wars, involving enlarged Government expenditures and the
cutting off of much colonial trade.[EC] During the war with the United
States (1898) Spain lost eighteen large steamers of 31,316 tons. After
that war, with the development of her national resources, the Spanish
marine again began rapidly to grow.[EC]
In 1909 (law of June 14) the system was extended with the addition of
general navigation bounties calling for an annual expenditure of
2,750,000 pesetas ($530,750). For ships making monthly sailings to
various named points, among them Brazil, Uruguay, and the Argentines,
and semi-weekly sailings to Algeria, bounties were provided ranging from
seven to seventeen cents per ton gross for every thousand miles run, to
continue for a period of ten years. Spanish ships manned by Spanish
crews and ranked by maritime agencies as first class were made eligible
to them. All ships receiving these bounties must admit naval cadets and
perform certain services for the Government. To shipbuilders, as off-set
to the duties on imported materials which they must pay, bounties for
port materials as well as for ships were granted by this law. The
construction subsidies were increased to $13.84 per gross ton for wooden
ships not possessing their own motor power, and $17.30 self-propelling;
$20.76 for iron or steel ships without motor, $27.68 for ships for
freight only, $29.41, freight and passengers; and $32 passengers only.
Ten per cent of the bounties for passenger ships was to be added for
each knot made above fourteen per hour. The sale of a ship to a
foreigner within two years after the ship's construction was made
invalid unless about a third of the bounty received be repaid. Ships
built abroad for Spanish citizens were to be relieved of certain duties
"provided it appears that it was absolutely necessary that they be built
abroad."[ED]
The total amount paid in mail subventions in 1910 was $1,858,186; in
navigation subsidies, $1,291,826. The total Spanish tonnage the same
year comprised 579 vessels of 765,460 tons.[EE]
* * * * *
Portugal grants postal subventions of comparatively small amounts to
three steamship companies which perform all her mail carrying. A move
toward the institution of a general subsidy system was made in 1899,
when a bill was before the Cortes providing construction and navigation
bounties for the encouragement of domestic shipbuilding and ship-using;
but this measure was not enacted. In 1911 the republic offered a subsidy
of one thousand dollars per voyage in either direction for steamship
service between Lisbon and New York, with call at the Azores, the
contract to run for three years.[EF] Portugal controls her shipping
service with her colonies, the trade with them being restricted to the
Portuguese flag.[EG] Her total tonnage is small: in 1910 only 110,183
tons.[EH]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote DZ: U.S. Con. Rept., no. 112, January, 1890, pp. 54-56.]
[Footnote EA: U.S. Vice Con. Gen. William Dawson jr., Con. Repts., no.
349, Oct., 1910.]
[Footnote EB: U.S. Con. Repts., 1890.]
[Footnote EC: Meeker.]
[Footnote ED: U.S. Con. Rept., no. 349, Oct., 1909.]
[Footnote EE: Lloyd's Register, 1910-11.]
[Footnote EF: Daily Con. Repts., no. 106, May 1, 1911.]
[Footnote EG: Meeker. Also Parliamentary papers.]
[Footnote EH: Lloyd's Register, 1910-11.]