Directory_and_Chronicle_1941 — Page 1437

THE PHILIPPINES

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owned by the Government; and the Philippine Railway Company. In Manila and in the province of Rizal, electric car service is maintained by the Manila Electric Company, the total extent of its lines being 83 kilometres.

Next in importance to railways in the domestic transportation of the coun- try are motor vehicles. During the year 1937, there were registered 48,654 motor vehicles of all classes. Many private individuals and companies author- ized by the Public Service Commission are engaged in land transportation both for passengers sand freight.

Funds for highway construction and maintenance are provided for from the following sources: a small percentage of the land tax, gasoline tax, motor vehicle tax and annual insular appropriations by the National Assembly. The first systematic programme of road construction and maintenance in different parts of the Philippines was inaugurated in 1908 by ex-Governor-General Forbes, who was then Secretary of Commerce and Police. There are today 9,882 kilometers of hard surfaced roads 5,654 kilometers of lightly surfaced roads and 2,176 kilometers of earth roads making a total of 17,712 kilometers of roads.

The construction of good roads open to all kinds of traffic in different parts of the Islands has been properly attended to by the Philippine Government during the past 20 years.

There are at present on cable line and three radio communication services in operation between the Philippines and foreign countries. Zamboanga is in radio communication with stations in North Borneo. The increased need for better and more extensive facilities for internal communication has been met by the rapid extension of telegraph and telephone lines, submarine cables, radio system and mail service.

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In 1936, there were in operation 537 telegraph offices, including 100 radio stations with 499 combined telegraph-telephone offices.

The chief mail distributing centre is Manila. From this point, mails are sent to provincial post offices in Luzon by electric cars, trains and auto-busses and to the main ports in Visayas and Mindoro by steamers and air-planes. The other islands where mail train service is in operation are Cebu and Panay.

Experiments have been made recently with aviation as a factor in the mail and passenger service, both domestic and foreign. Airplanes are at present operated under regular schedules between Manila and Baguio, between Manila and Cebu via Iloilo, between Iloilo and the towns of Bacolod and La Carlota in Occidental Negros, between Manila and Paracale, and between Manila and Davao.

BANKING AND COINAGE

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Among the principal banking institutions doing business in the Philippines are the National City Bank of New York, the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank- ing Corporation, the Chartered Bank of India, Australia & China, the Yoko- hama Specie Bank, the Philippine National Bank, the Peoples Bank and Trust Co., the China Banking Corporation, the Bank of the Philippine Islands, the Philippine Trust Co., the Philippine Bank of Commerce, the Savings Bank of Commonwealth the Monte de Piedad and Savings Bank, and the Netherlands India Commercial Bank.

The coins used in the Philippines are of the follo wing denominations:-Peso, one-half peso (50 centavos), peseta (10 centavos), media peseta (10 centavos), five centavos, and one centavo.

The Philippine Commission maintained this parity by passing the Gold Standard Act on October 10th, 1903. The new peso coined contains 20 grammes of silver, .800 fine; the 50 centavo piece contains 10 grammes of silver, .750 fine; 20-centavo piece, four grammes of silver, .750 fine; and the 10-centavo piece, two grammes of silver, .750 fine.

The paper money is issued in 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 500' peso denominations: The Philippine peso is equivalent to fifty cents in United States currency.

The P200 denomination of paper money now in circulation in the country was formerly issued by the Bank of the Philippine Islands, but its issuance has been discontinued.