, 1913-09-17

and the duty collected at the port of entry.
The free port is n neutral zone, segregated
from the main community and constituting,
a~ it were, a foreign district within a State.
Whatever the size of Il free port it must be
surrounded by II wall or other barrier. Wtll!e
wr'hin the enclosure custom, duties are un-
known, nevertheless, the district is kept uu-
der strict customs surVelIhuce.
This, the modern, conception of the free
port diff -rs considerably from the free port
of past centuries, for from the middle ages
to the nineteenth century, when uniform
customs tariffs were established in Cont
mental Europe, IA free port system was III
operation at number of cities in Italy,
France, Spain and Germany, aud III many Of
the small States numerous ut that time. By
the middle of the last century customs tariffs
of the chief European countries had been
unified. In England, uniform rates of duty
we're fixed by the Subsidy Act Of 1860 Uni
ticatjon Of the German customs tariff began
in 1884. Uniform Spanish and italian tariffs
date respectively from 1850 and 1861. BY
degrees muny Of the free ports were nbol-
ished, IN some instances to the local detri-
ment, for many enterprises had beneiitted
under the system. But the old system
seemed to lie our of hplm WY with the oil
ministrative policy of later times and imped-
ed uniformity of aclion and Practice incl
dentaIly it had also aft nrled opportunities
for smuggling. BY degrees, too, the system
Of bonded warehouses was established; of
course, only i'll part taking the place Of the
free port,
4 free port has never existed III Great
Britain. though more than three centuries
and a hall ago ,ome consideration was given
to placing Hull aud southampton on this
blSis.
The free ports of Hamburg, Rotterdam
and Cop4uhageu and others less notable,
testify to thr ,ounlnes4 of the principle UNI
DERIVING the mo tern conception of the free
pori Wlen |eXemplIti 4 nular c~rtlln cnndt-
tons, rs for instance the geographic sltul-
ton of Hamburg, which mikes 1t the ultural
distributing point for a number OF countIleS.
Hamburg has possessed a free port SINCE
the Md He Ages, but that now in o ,~eratiou
and world famous was opened in 1888.
Other ports in Germany whic have Sc
gregated territory accorded free port prI-
vIlege9 aimil N IN part to those enjoyed bV
Hamburg are Bremen, BremenhNveu, CuX-
haven and G~ee~Iemuude, In Austria Hlu-
gary, Trieste and tIune have free zones.
In Italy free zones are established mt
Genoa, One2lln, N4gles, Le9hnrn, Ancona
and Venice.
'llItIh y HpN6Nt lItt lVll, 'ilto =" ~
p,uhagem, dates only from 1894, when it
WAS opened us Il means whereby the city
hoped to regain the prestiG- rs a CONNER
ciaI centre Of the trade Of the Baltic that it
Ind enjoyed prior t. the events Of wr
from which it suffered grave disaster ut
the beginning OF the last century. The Gu
terprise received p4rttcllar impetus from
the fact that the work Of constructing the
"Kaiser Wilhelm Canal" had begun, n water
way that in a measure Woul make Hamburg
and Bremen into Btltic ports, and Is such
they might be regarded rs serious compa-
titors for the trade which Copenhagen could
reasonably claim because of more favourable
facilities ut high tide, and other advantages.
The free port is considered part Of the
Cpoenhagen h trbour aud IS therefore under
control of the Government authorities, but
the operation Of the port is conducted by /"
i)int stock company which owns the bulid-
ings and equipment and IS res ponsIbIe for
the exp .nle5. The original cot q con
s|tructlou amt equ p nent vas $1,S24,000
Increased trade, however, If er II few years,
warranted an issue of bonds by the com
pauy, to the am punt Of 81, 742 600, in order
that suitable additions to the plan could
be made.