In the programme of this Government and of the last, is included the Reconquest of Dalmatia. I must remind the House that one cannot speak of a reconquest, since Dalmatia was never conquered by Austria. After the collapse of the Venetian Republic our fathers voluntarily recognized the Emperor Francis I as their sovereign, and invited him to send his officials and his soldiers. We were not conquered, then. I must admit that of late years there has been a lively interest for Dalmatia, and ways of helping it have been sought, but the right way is still not found.
Committees sit for months and years, but there is no result.
They make excursions to Dalmatia at Easter, and the best season of the year. New bureaucratic posts are created, and a few new sinecures, but Dalmatia gains nothing. I will not deny that money has been spent on the country in recent years. Instead of building it in an agricultural district like Sinj or Knin, it is built in a town. . . . In years of distress the Government buys hay and sells it to poor people, but not to the poor peasantry, but to the poor moneylenders, who buy at 8 heller, in order to sell to the peasants at 16. . . .