Portuguese labour

In several dozen articles scattered throughout this work, and especially in those found on pages 139 and 303 et seq. of volume II and the articles mentioned there, we have dealt at some length with the industries of this archipelago. These articles would have benefited from closer and more logical coordination, but pressing circumstances did not allow this to be done as would have been desirable.

Since it may shed some light on these subjects, we do not wish to omit mention of the pamphlet (opúsculo) by the writer and economist Peres Trancoso, O Trabalho Português, I, Madeira (‘Portuguese Labour, I, Madeira’), published in 1929, on the sources of the economic wealth and the industrial and commercial development of this archipelago, although we may disagree with several of the statements made in that work.

We wish in particular to refer to some of the conclusions presented by the author. The statistical data that supplied this information are not known; they ought to have been recorded in the work, or at least their authoritative and reliable source ought to have been cited.

The notes under the heading Riqueza (‘Wealth’) are of interest, and we shall transcribe them verbatim:

Value of total production
Product	Value (contos)
Cane	10,000
Wine (must)	17,000
Butter	18,000
Agricultural produce (vegetables, cereals)	10,000
Pods	1,000
Wicker	1,800
Bananas	3,500
Miscellaneous (fruit, cheese, timber, etc.)	2,000
	63,300

INDUSTRIAL WEALTH

Industrial establishments: 1,010

Workers, including seamen: 7,978

Total wages of this workforce: 24,000 contos

Item	Value (contos)
Approximate value of industry (buildings, machinery, land, tools)	288,000
Value of residential, commercial and other buildings throughout the island (approximate)	500,000

WEALTH OF THE LAND (Rural property) Rural property (quintas, kitchen gardens, sown land, orchards, etc.) (absolute value): 411,600 contos. Woodland (10,000 hectares), average value: 50,000. Total: 461,600

Summary of the value of wealth
Item	Value (contos)
Manufacturing industry	288,000
Rural property	461,600
Urban property	500,000

Wealth	Value (contos)
Livestock	70,000
Miscellaneous (roads, bridges, levadas, harbour works, etc.)	25,000
	1,344,600

With Madeira having approximately 200,000 inhabitants, individual wealth comes to 6,670 escudos (Portuguese currency from 1911, = 1,000 réis), or 67 pounds in round figures. This is a low figure relative to the island’s productive wealth and its possibilities, and it only goes to show that laws restricting income and excessive taxes, as well as the laws taxing export products, etc., impoverish the community and unbalance the natural economy. Nevertheless, the numerical conclusion is no cause for discouragement, for the future looks bright for the beautiful island of Madeira, until one day it takes the place that belongs to it in the general economy of the Nation.