FRANCE: PARIS. 
23 
days that the goods lie in warehouse. Other goods are delivered 
within a reasonable time. 
HANDLING OF GOODS. 
Tn addition to the mechanical appliances mentioned in the descrip 
tion of buildings above, the free port has, for discharging grain, 3 
electric ship elevators of 120, 150, and 200 tons capacity, respectively, 
per hour; 21 electric quay cranes, of which 7 have a lifting capacity 
of 3,307 pounds and 14 a lifting capacity of 5,512 pounds; 3 steam 
traveling cranes of 11,023 pounds lifting capacity, and 3 locomotives 
for switching railway trucks. A private company owns a 20-ton elec 
tric crane, which is at the disposition of the public. There is a large 
coal-discharging plant, consisting of 6 Hunt’s coal-discharging towers, 
and a smaller plant with 2 others, being the property of a private 
company and of the municipality, respectively. 
CUSTOMS SUPERVISION. 
Customs officials have no supervision of the goods resting in the 
warehouses of the Copenhagen free port, and they only assume re 
sponsibility at the boundary of the port, i. e., at the exits, where clear 
ances take place. It is to be understood, however, that arrangements 
may readily be made with the customs authorities whereby clearances 
may be made in the free port itself. 
Raymond R. Frazier, Consul. 
Copenhagen, Denmark, July 12,190b. 
FRANCE. 
PARIS. 
(From United States Consul General Gotcdy, Paris, France.) 
OWNERSHIP AND HISTORY OF WAREHOUSES. 
. The bonded and free warehouses of Paris are owned by a corpora 
tion known as the Compagnie des Entrepôts et Magasins Généraux 
de Paris, with a capital of 30,000,000 francs ($5,790,000), the regis 
tered office being at No. 11 Rue Croix des Petits Champs. These 
buildings permit merchants to buy considerable quantities of goods 
^nd have them stored at a slight expense in the vast sheds in the 
interior of the city, or near the rail or canal depots, the goods being 
taken out as required. Moreover, a merchant is able to realize imme 
diately a loan on his goods up to about 60 per cent of the value, for 
certain banks will advance money on the receipts furnished by the 
said Compagnie des Entrepôts for the deposit of the goods. 
The working of the system dates from 1833, when the first 
bonded warehouses were established in Paris—one at the Marais and 
another on the Isle des Cygnes. Three years afterwards the two were 
united and transferred to La Vil let te, and the resulting establish 
ment still exists and is known as the Entrepôt de la Rotonde. By