FREE PORT OF SALONIKI 275 
Until the present negotiations are completed and the various plans 
fully considered and discussed and adopted, nothing definitive may 
be said in regard to the free port of Venice. 
Venice has in its past history already been a free port, in most of 
its history after 1661, up until the time of the Risorgimento and the 
founding of the Kingdom of Italy. 
By the present royal decree, of December 22, 1927, known as the 
Decree for the Institution of Free Ports, the free-port franchise is to 
run for a period of 30 years. The exercising of free-port privileges 
is defined somewhat in the royal decree of January 16, 1896 (No. 20), 
and also to a certain extent in the royal decree of December 22, 1927 
{No. 2395). 
THE FREE ZONES AT THE PORT OF SALONIKI, GREECE 
[From Consul Charles T'. Pisar, Saloniki, Greece] 
HISTORY OTF THE CITY 
The city of Saloniki and its port date from ancient times. It was 
originally known as Thessalonica, and since the days of Philip of 
Macedonia and his son, Alexander the Great, it has been occupied in 
turn by the Illyrians, Romans, Byzantines, Slavs, Venetians, and 
Turks. The latter controlled the city for nearly 500 years prior to 
1912. During the Middle Ages Saloniki became a great and pros- 
porous trading center. . 
It has long been a “coveted city’ and in modern times many of 
the Balkan States as well as some central European States have 
endeavored to obtain control of it. It was the chief prize in the 
Balkan Wars of 1912-13 when Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece allied 
themselves against Turkey. After the defeat of Turkey in the first 
Balkan War all three allies made an attempt to be first in the city. 
It fell, however, into the hands of the Greeks who have since held it 
together with the immediate hinterland now known as the Provinces 
of Greek Macedonia and Thrace. 
The city was partly destroyed by fire in 1890 and again in 1917. 
Since then it has been rebuilt on modern lines. . 
In 1922 the population of Saloniki was 170,000. In the autumn 
of that year there was a large influx of Greek refugees into the city 
from Asia Minor, and since then the population has been estimated 
to be as high as 450,000. The latest census, however, gives the 
number of inhabitants as 251.000. 
* 
THE FREE ZONES OF THE PORT OF SALONIKI 
There are at the present time two free zones in the port of Saloniki, 
namely, a Greek free zone and Yugoslav free zone. In order that