FREE PORT OF GENOA 235 of ATS ar- 330 YY on d, ed se- ng ‘a8 of 10. er Jo rs, ts re n <q al 10 I~ 'S. wr 113 mn WwW +d 30 n y a )e d 0 4 through a salaried director, to enforce the observance of all the regu- lations and to insure the proper working of the zone; to supervise the work and conduct of the employees; and to punish offenders against the regulations. Their decisions may be appealed to the chamber of commerce. The actual work of moving the goods within the zone is done exclusively by the Compagnia dei Caravana, a company of custom- house laborers founded in: 1340. There are 21 guards in all, as well as a fire watch kept by the vorters of the Compagnia dei Caravana. Privately owned storerooms.—In the oldest warehouses in the zone there are 368 storage rooms, which were sold to private firms in 1797 and which are entirely operated by them under the control of the board and in accordance with the laws and regulations. The rest of the area, plant, and equipment are owned by the chamber of commerce. Operations in the zone.—The traffic in the zone is largely made up of the storage or treatment of coffee, sugar, oils, hides, cocoa, pepper, drugs, ete. Due to the development of the beet-sugar industry in ltaly, the importations of that product have decreased materially, but in other items there has been a steady increase. The operations consist of the grading and preparation of such products as coffee, cocoa, etc., bottling and canning food products of various kinds, and the refining of edible oils. {n 1901 an independent section of the zone was established for the nandling of grain. This business is under the management of the Societd Anonima Silos and under the control of the customs authori- Hes, _ In 1907 another independent section of the zone was established, an area of 2,000 square meters, at the Paleocapa Wharf, for the purpose of storing lubricating and other oils. It is operated by a *ompany called the “Unione Importatori Lubrificanti.” The equip- ment includes a 2-story warehouse with an area of 1,400 square meters on each floor, and the tank yards cover an area of 1,100 square meters. The total capacity of the tanks is 8,000 cubic meters. There are 4 steam and 2 electric pumps, an air compressor, and a Juadruple piping system with a total capacity of 120 tons per hour. Dispatch in operations.—Dispatch in unloading vessels is always lightly longer than when unloading for customs docks, due to the formalities which have to be gone through, but this delay has not seen found to be serious or to interfere with the business of the zone. Reconsignment trade—There is very little reconsignment trade, ind what there is consists largely of edible oils imported for refining ind blending purposes and later reexported to the colonies and to loreign countries. A few products from the colonies, such as hides ind skins, are also reexported to foreign countries. However, there