FREE PORT OF FIUME 231

Ly
1

d=110

of
jer

18,

re,
nd
of

ad,

Tires

+29
198
617
633

558

red

), 537
5,621
y, 206
v 537
272
204
rR

1926

1925

1013

Joa). __.....
RIOD eee enim mR ———
Metallic minerals... __________

i4, 166
4,284
5, 009

Tons
6, 646
15, 218
27
4,031 21, 981

Total. ean

13, 450

Manufacturing in the free zone—Shipbuilding.—All shipyards and
manufacturing industries are situated outside of the free zone.
Influence of free port on the development of foreign trade and the
merchant marine.—The geographical position of Fiume as the natural
outlet to the Hungarian and Croatian hinterland has necessitated
since the early seventeenth century the enfranchisement of this port.
A closed customs barrier would have impeded any trade advancement
 owing to the competition of Trieste, the Danube River, and the
Black Sea ports. The agricultural and industrial progress of Huncary
 and its mercantile development, especially after the grant of home
rule by the Austro-Hungarian Emperor, gave an unprecedented
impulse to the traffic of Fiume, which was politically Hungarian.
The influence of the free zone in this port was enormous, and can
be proved by the increase of the total imports and exports by sea
in the years 1911 to 1913 and 1922 to 1926. Since the war the Italian
Government has been constantly occupied in its attempts to regain
Fiume’s erstwhile position of predominance in the eastern Adriatic
coast by a series of treaties with the chief countries in the Balkans.
The only impediment lies in political divergencies with Yugoslavia
and the totally altered economic condition of Hungary, which was
bereft by the peace treaty of over 30 per cent of its best agricultural
and mining territory.
There are no statistics available for the years before 1911, but the
sable given below clearly reveals the traffic conditions of the port.

Imports and exports by sea and rail

311
¥5
210
U2
3, 387
iY

il
+ 024

me

0

~nf

ANY

Bysea |

By rail

91

Tons Tons
,654,350 | |, 592,890
, 971, 282 *.846, 938
. 258,501 |, 838,400
{ 90, 160
(7 | 146, 740
122.126 178,734

~ a

1 Including Porto Baross, now Yugoslavian,
! No figures available,
47068°~29——16

V any

i A —
Ao
FoI
ea
97 LTT

By sea

Tons
209, 060
102, 438
716, 869
744, 802
795, 724

By rail

Tons
218, 922
693, 012
653, 750
806, 628
811, 509