10

WAREHOUSES  IN  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES.

long  as  their  quality  remains  good  enough  to  make  their  value  suffice
for  the  warehouse  dues  and  customs  fees.
Until  recently  American  firms  made  but  little  direct  use  of  Austrian ­
  warehouses  ;  but  since  about  a  year  the  warehouses  of  the  Erste
Oesterreichisehe  Aktiengesellschaft  have  been  patronized  regularly
by  several  American  manufacturers  of  leather.  All  nationalities  are
treated  exactly  alike.
Vienna  not  being  a  seaport,  there  are  no  facilities  for  the  removal
of  goods  from  boat  to  warehouse.
CUSTOMS  SUPERVISION.
A  customs  office  is  established  at  the  expense  of  the  administrators
in  the  warehouse  itself,  and  the  supervision  is  exercised  by  one  upper
and  four  ordinary  imperial  customs  officials  and  the  properly  organized ­
  military  guardians  for  dutiable  goods.  This  enables  convenient
and  prompt  discharge  of  the  work  in  connection  with  the  customhouse. ­

W.  A.  IluiiLEE,  Consul-General.
Vienna,  Austria,  October  31,1901^.

TRIESTE.
(From  United  States  Consul  Hossfeld,  Trieste,  Austria.)
HISTORY  OF  WAREHOUSES.
The  first  Austrian  law,  or  rather  ministerial  decree,  authorizing  the
erection  and  regulating  the  administration  of  public  warehouses
appeared  in  1866.  Its  object  was  “  To  secure  to  commerce  every  possible ­
  facility  contemplated  by  the  general  tariff  law,  to  aid  the  free
circulation  of  merchandise,  and  to  improve  commercial  credit.”
The  first  public  warehouses  within  the  free-port  territory,  or  free
zone,  of  the  port  of  Trieste  were  erected  in  1887.  They  were  the  property ­
  of  a  chartered  company  and  were  for  a  time  managed  jointly  by
the  chamber  of  commerce  and  the  city.  Although  the  business  of  the
new  institution  was  upon  the  whole  carefully  and  economically  conducted, ­
  it  resulted  every  year  in  a  considerable  deficit,  and  in  1894  the
Government  was  prevailed  upon  to  purchase  the  warehouses  and  to
manage  them  on  its  own  account.  They  are  still  far  from  being  selfsupporting,
  and  their  annual  deficit  must  be  met  by  governmental
appropriations.
DIMENSIONS  AND  ORIGINAL  COST  OF  WAREHOUSES.
The  area  (in  square  yards)  of  the  free  port,  its  warehouses,  and
appurtenances,  etc.,  is  as  follows:  Entire  free  zone,  499,124;  basins,
233,959;  quays,  101,897;  warehouses,  67,254;  loading  sheds  (hangars),
58,927;  available  for  new  warehouses,  192,420;  available  for  new
loading  sheds,  55,030.  The  total  length  of  quays  is  3,895  yards.
The  total  original  cost  of  the  warehouses  is  27,600,000  crowns
($5,602,800),  of  which  sum  3,900,000  crowns  ($791,700)  and  640,000