HAID TO HANDLE RELIEF WORK
Need for Making Fiume International Port Is Shown.
TRIEST, Nov. 25.—-If any further
proof than that already presented of the need of Fiume as an international port were needed it has come in
the difficulties encountered by the
interallied relief commission to
get its materials quickly in-
terior since the occupation of Fiume by D'Annunzio.
Since September 12 the commission has been endeavoring tofind some outlet from the sea into the back country, and it has finally fallen back on Triest as a port of entry for material consigned for Jugo-Slavia, after having tried in succession Ragusa, Buccari and finally Salonkiki.
Ports Present Difficulties.
All three of these ports present
difficulties to rapid and easy transport of goods from the coast into the
hinterland, which have been pointed
out often by President Wilson's colleagues in their argument for Fiume
as an international port, and which,
when tested under practical working
conditions, have been found almost
insurmountable.
Ragusa was the first port tried and there the necessity of transshipping from the Ragusa railroad to the broad gage line at Brod have proved too expensive. Then the ships were directed to Buccari. At Buccari the railroad is high above the bay, and it is necessary to haul all goods from the ship up a heat-breaking grade six miles to the railroad.
Remains Only Triest.
The fact that Saloniki is such a great distance from Croatia and the northern portions of the Jugo-Slav empire and that the port is in Greek hands has made it inpracticable. There remained, then only the port of Triest through which to ship into Croatia, German Austria, Hungary and Czecho-Slovakia. But Triest is under Italian control and is being conducted on such lines as to raise protests from every shipping man here. Dockago charges are excessive, and despite the fact that the wharves are almost empty difficulties are often experienced in obtaining unloading berths. A flat rate of 1000 lira a day is charged for dock privileges, in addition to transport charges.