The Express.
London, England, 1868-11-26 00:00:00

PUBLIC WORKS IN SPAIN.

MADRID, Nov. 20.
A recent decree of Senor Zorilla, the present
" Minister de Forriento," removes many of the
vexatious and costly restrictions upon the con-
struction of public works which have weighed so
heavily upon all concerned in them, or desirous of
entering upon them. The English merchants
and capitabsta who have had to do with enter-
prises in Spain and its colonies well know the
difficulties, delays, and expenses they perpetually
encountered in obtaining first the '• concession,"
and secondly in carrying out the " construction."
Many a work of value to the country has been
abandoned, and many another crippled under the
absurd and centralising restrictions which pre-
vailed. 1 have known instances in which the
delays have run on one, two, and even five years.
They could in reality only be overcome by bribery
and corruption on an extensive scale. So great
had the abuses become, and especially that of
delay, that occasionally some bold speculator, de-
positing his plans and asking for his concession,
would proceed with his work, hoping to get the
required authority by the time he had finished it.
I know a case in which a first-class house in
Madrid undertook some irrigation works in one of
the provinces, and after they had completed
them, and raised their first crop, the government
sent an official down to the district to report as
to the desirability or otherwise of granting the
concession! All 'these abuses and obstructions are
in future to cease. Senor Zorilla's decree lays
down completely new principles on which public
works are to be constructed._

1. State monopoly in respect of public works is an evil,
sad must not emst. 2. For the State to construct such
works is contrary to the principles of sound political
economy, and she must not continue to do so. 3. Forth.
State to dedicate its capital to public works is altogether a
vicious system, and must disappear.
With respect to works which ought properly to
belong to the State to construct, as pertaining to
its special obligations of national necessity, or of
the naval and marine services, such as lighthouses,
barracks, de., Senor Zorille proposes to lay a
measure before the next Cortes to define and par-
ticularize them. Such works will be paid for by
the State; but he inclines to submit their con-
struction to private competition. No subvention
of any kind is to be given to any industrial enter-
prise. I have given this prominence to this new
law, as it is one in which Englishmen are pecu-
liarly concerned. They will at once recognise its
importance. If it is carried out in its integrity,
and if the revolution terminates in the
estab-
lishment of a good and permanent govern-
ment, there is ample field for English enterprise
in Spain. Drainage and irrigation works alone
will afford a profitable return all through the
country. Their necessity is paramount and ob-
vious to every one who knows how antiquated
are the habits of the agricultural districts, and
how little man bas availed himself of the gifts
which Nature has bestowed upon him for the fer-
tilisation of the lands he cultivates. So remark-
able is ;the effect of irrigation on the dry and
thirsty soil, that the Spanish farmer is really
amazed at the improvement it effects. In some
districts it has been tried with such success by
spirited Englishmen, even under the old regime
of red tape and absolutism, that lands which cost
them only 41. an acre to buy have let at 61. a
year rent after the completion of the works of
irrigation.
The sanitary regulations and quarantine enact-
ments of Spain have long been a sourer of
grievance to all who approached her ooasta by sea.
(liven that in our English returns from the Board
of Health there has at any time figured the truth-
ful report of a few cases of cholera, instantly the
Spanish authorities would declare our ports infec-
tious, and inflict quarantine of from three days to
three weeks on all steamers and sailing vessels,
Fpanish or English, arriving in Spanish waters.
Frequently this obnoxious and childish quaran-
tine could not he performed at the port of declina-
tion, but at Vigo, on the Atlantic side, and at
Melton, on the Mediterranean side, both these
places being to some vessels many hundreds of
miles from their desired haven. This is to be done
away with, at any rate to be modified. To-day's
Gazette calls for a medical commission to consider
and report on all sanitary matters. If our boards
of health would put themselves into communica-
tic n with this commission, and convince them that
a few isolated eases of cholera, typhus, &a., occur-
ing now and then amongst our large populations,
are no indication of the presence of an epidemic,
but only an evidence of the faithfulness of our
system of returns, there is no doubt many unneces-
sary and arbitrary regulations pressing upon
commerce and travel would be removed.

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