PORT ADMINISTRATION 053
may be taken as a general principle that railroad jurisdiction
in port areas is much more restricted in America than in
Great Britain.

The chief feature of ports under railway control is
that they subserve the general interests of the railway
concerned, and, in a number of cases, where ports in the
past have not been self-supporting, these have derived a
certain amount of financial assistance from the general
receipts of the railway company, thus enabling them to
maintain themselves in competition with other ports not
so favourably circumstanced.

Under a recent Act of Parliament, however, losses of
railway-owned port undertakings have now to be borne
direct by the undertaking; but, still, there are indirect
ways in which the port may be benefited by its association
with a railway company.

4. Municipal Control. It has already been stated that
a certain amount of municipal jurisdiction is associated
with that of the State (Provincial or Federal) in the
administration of North American ports. Municipal
control is an even more distinctive feature of certain
European continental ports such as Hamburg (where the
town is a self-governing community, practically identical
with the State), Antwerp and Rotterdam. In this country,
the principal example is Bristol, where a Committee of the
City Council, known as the Bristol Docks Committee,
administer the affairs of the port. Another instance is at
Preston, in Lancashire.

At municipally administered ports, the position is
somewhat analogous to that under railway administration,
in that such ports are subsidized by annual contributions
from the city revenues, and in the case of a port which is
not self-supporting, or which has to encounter severe
competition, this subvention is a valuable financial
auxiliary.

5. Private or Company Management. Lastly, there are
a number of ports which are privately controlled by

SE
“y.