The following table gives the different brands of cigars manufactured by the Government, and the prices at which they could be bought in 1867 in Estanco (i.e. a place privileged for the sale):—
| Price | |||||
| Menas (Classes.) | Corresponding Havana Brands. | Per arroba.[11] | Per 1000. | Per cigar. | Number of cigars in an arroba. |
| Dols. | Dols. | Cents. | |||
| Imperiales. | The same. | 37.50 | 30.00 | 4 | .. |
| Prima Veguéro. | Do. | 37.50 | 30.00 | 4 | .. |
| Segunda Veguéro. | Regalia. | .. | 26.00 | .. | .. |
| Prima superiór Filipino. | Do. | .. | 26.00 | .. | .. |
| 2.a Superiór Filipino. | None. | 38.00 | 19.00 | 3 | .. |
| 3.a Superiór Filipino. | Londres | .. | 15.10 | .. | .. |
| Prima Filipino. | Superior Habano. | 21.00 | 15.00 | 2 | 1400 |
| Segunda Superior. | Segunda superior Habano. | 24.00 | 8.57⅛ | 1 | 2800 |
| Prima Cortado. | The Same. | 21.00 | 15.00 | 2 | 1400 |
| Segunda Cortado. | Do. | 24.00 | 8.57⅛ | 1 | 2800 |
| Mista | Segunda Batído. | 20.50 | .. | .. | .. |
| Prima Batido, larga. | None. | 18.75 | .. | 1 | 1800 |
| Segunda Batido, largo. | None. | 18.75 | .. | ½ | 3750 |
[11] Arroba, 33 lbs.
[12] On an average 407,500,000 cigars and 1,041,000 lbs. raw tobacco are exported annually, the weight of which together is about 56,000 cwt. after deducting what is given away in the form of gratuities.
[13] The poor peasant being brought into this situation finds it very hard to maintain his family. He is compelled to borrow money at an exorbitant rate of interest, and, consequently, sinks deeper and deeper into debt and misery. The dread of fines or bodily punishment, rather than the prospect of high prices, is the chief method by which the supplies can be kept up.—(Report of the English Consul.)
[14] From December 1853 to November 1854 the colony possessed four captains-general (two effective and two provisional). In 1850 a new nominee, Oidor (member of the Supreme Court of Judicature) who with his family voyaged to Manila by the Cape, found, upon his arrival, his successor already in office, the latter having travelled by way of Suez. Such circumstances need not occasion surprise when it is remembered how such operations are repeated in Spain itself.
According to an essay in the Revue Nationale, April, 1867, Spain has had, from 1834 to 1862, i.e. since the accession of Isabella, 4 Constitutions, 28 Parliaments, 47 Chief Ministers, 529 Cabinet Ministers, and 68 Ministers of the Interior; of which last class of officials each, on an average, was in power only six months. For ten years past the Minister of Finance has not remained in office longer than two months; and since that time, particularly since 1868, the changes have followed one another with still greater rapidity.
[15] The reason of this premiun on silver was, that the Chinese bought up all the Spanish and Mexican dollars, in order to send them to China, where they are worth more than other dollars, being known from the voyage of the galleon thither in olden times, and being current in the inland provinces. (The highest price there can be obtained for a Carlos III.)
A mint erected in Manila since that time, which at least supports itself, if the government has derived no other advantage from it, has removed this difficulty. The Chinese are accustomed to bring gold and silver as currency, mixed also with foreign coinage, to Manila for the purpose of buying the produce of the country; and all this the native merchants had recoined. At first only silver ounces were usually obtainable in Manila, gold ounces very rarely. This occasioned such a steady importation that the conditions were completely reversed. In the Insular Treasury the gold and silver dollar are always reckoned at the same value.