The “Public Works” loan was created by the law of 21st October 1885; its amount was £8,400,000, and its object the unification of certain loans required for various undertakings. The shares bore 5 per cent. interest with an annual redemption of 1 per cent. The sum issued was £8,333,000, of which £4,000,000 was placed in London, in January 1886, at 80 per cent., and the remainder in January 1887 at 85-1/2 per cent. This loan was guaranteed, as far as the interest was concerned, by the customs revenue, and the representatives of the investors had on this pretext reserved certain rights of control over the administration of this revenue. The “Central Northern Railway Loan” was divided into two series. The first, authorised by the law of 9th October 1886, was of £4,000,000; but of this sum only £3,968,200 was issued, as follows: to London, in June 1887, £1,300,000 at 91·5 per cent.; in April 1888, £1,500,000 at 94 per cent.; in May 1889, £1,168,200 at 97 per cent. The second series, authorised by the law of 30th October 1889, amounted in all to £3,000,000, of which only £2,976,000 was issued. The two loans bore an interest of 5 per cent. and a redemption of 1 per cent.; they were contracted to allow of the prolongation of the Central Northern Railway. The “National Bank” loan, created in virtue of the law of 2nd December 1886, authorised an issue of £2,058,200, to enable the Government to pay the debt which it had contracted towards the said Bank. The bonds were issued at 90 per cent.; they bore an annual interest of 5 per cent., with a redemption of 1 per cent. The “Treasury Bonds Conversion” loan, authorised by the law of 21st June 1887, was employed, as its description indicates, in the consolidation of a debt contracted for a short term. The issue required was $5,078,330 paper, but only £624,000 was actually realised.[103] The stock carried an annual revenue of 5 per cent., with 1 per cent. redemption, while the old Treasury Bonds have an interest of 9 per cent. [Footnote 103: The sum of $5,078,330 is equivalent at the present discount of paper to £446,873; in 1887 the value of the paper piastre was higher.——[TRANS.]] The loan contracted by virtue of the law of 15th August 1887 was intended to balance certain debts on the part of the National Government towards the Government of the Province of Buenos Ayres. The issue was one of £3,973,700, the interest being 4-1/2 per cent. and the redemption 1 per cent.; it was taken up at 90 per cent. The “Conversion of Debts” loan, at 6 per cent., contracted in virtue of the law of 2nd August 1888, was an operation of consolidation and reorganisation of debts. The issue amounted to £5,290,000. The bonds, which yielded 4-1/2 per cent., with 1 per cent. redemption, were negotiated in London, in February 1889, at 90 per cent.