(Railway News—May 21, 1870)

The Spanish loan, which was expected to have been brought out this week by Messrs. Rothschild, has not yet been submitted to the public. Various rumours are afloat as to the terms upon which it is to be issued, but nothing is definitely known beyond the fact that it will be a 5 per cent. stock, with arrangements for sinking fund, and that it will be secured upon the proceeds of the famous Almaden Quicksilver Mines, of which a very complete account will be found on another page. The authority for raising the loan was given by a law passed on the 24th March, which provides :—”The Government is authorised to sell the mines of Rio Tinto by public auction under the terms to be established by the Cortes, and likewise to effect a monetary operation upon the guarantee of the mines of Almaden and the salt depots of Torrevieja.” A statement by M. Alvarez on the Foreign Debt of Spain, just published, supplies a very instructive review of the various conversations which have taken place int eh debt of the country, and shows that the total amount of the present indebtedness of the country is £102,750,100, bearing an annual interest of £3,083,500—a sum which, having regard to the great resources of the country, and the revenues of its colonies, cannot be considered as excessive. As the new loan will be based upon security specially hypothecated for it, it will, no doubt, command relatively a much higher price than the ordinary Government loan, just as in the case of the Tobacco Loan, the price of which is relatively higher than the Government Debt of Italy.