272 FOREIGN TRADE ZONES 
tons, or 15 per cent, with North and South American cargoes. In 
1927 the proportion of these two companies was 38.5 per cent and 
15.3 per cent, respectively. 
Government subsidies to the Lloyd Triestino enabled this company 
to predominate in the Adriatic homeward and outward trade to the 
Levant, India, and the Far East, and undoubtedly the existence of 
the free zone is vital to these shipping concerns, as they could not 
thrive without a regular flow of traffic sufficient to maintain the lines 
in operation. 
Merchant shipping in tramp trading can not be said to have been 
influenced by the free zone directly, because Trieste and Fiume them- 
selves offered comparatively little support with outward cargoes. 
Before the war the growth of the harbor organizations and traffic 
volume was responsible for an increasing demand of coal from the 
United ‘Kingdom, and tramp owners were encouraged to employ 
vessels with coals from that country to Trieste and Fiume, thence 
proceeded in ballast to the Black Sea and the Danube to load cereals 
for the Continent, and thence to the United Kingdom for coal again. 
The situation has changed considerably since the war and tramp 
steamers apparently no longer have a regular part in the develop- 
ment of the port of Trieste. 
THE FREE PORT OF VENICE, ITALY 
[From Consul James B. Young, Venice, Italy] 
Free-port facilities not yet effective.—Venice, Italy, was declared a 
free port by royal decree of December 22, 1927, No. 2395 (published 
in the Gazzetta Ufficiale, Rome, December 28, 1927, No. 300) to be 
effective January 1, 1928, the date set by the royal decree, but so far 
this decree has not become effective and its date of becoming effective 
has been indefinitely postponed. 
Free-port regulations under negotiation.— The entire question of free 
ports and the carrying into effect of the royal decree of December 
22, 1927, and especially of* the regulations governing free ports in 
Italy are all the subject of present negotiations. These questions 
are being discussed by the national commissione dei porti franchi 
(free-port committee) in Rome. This committee met recently (Feb- 
ruary 23, 1928) in Rome at the Ministry of Communications, In 
addition to officials of the respective ministries interested (finance, 
communications, national economy, etc.), there were also represen- 
tatives of the various Italian ports which have been decreed free 
ports. The object of this conference was to discuss and formulate 
provisions for carrying into effect a definite national plan and of 
defining the free-port zones and regulations in the case of each port. 
The results of this conference are still incomplete.