CO-OPERATION, AGRICULTURAL

the develop- ment of agriculturalco-operation has taken widely different courses in various countries according to their specific needs. the main difference to be observed is between countries which are primarily producers of agricultural commodities for export, and those which produce mainly for home consumption. in the former, the co-operative movement has chieily concentrated upon the organisation of marketing; in the latter—apart from the develop- ment of rural credit and insurance—mainly upon the purchase of farm requisites, or the formation of co-operative dairy, bacon, or other producing societics. although this broad distinction holds good, it is nevertheless true that practically all types of co-operation are to be found to a greater or lesser extent in the principal agricultural countries. co-operation in europe in western europe, where the majority of countries are im- porters of food or are approximately self-supporting, the growth of co-operation has been mainly in the direction of developing rural credit societies (see agriculture: economics) or of socie- ties for the purchase of agricultural requisites, though often com- bining these functions with that of the sale of produce. but even here, denmark, conducting a considerable export trade, has developed its marketing organisations on co-operative lines in addition to its highly organised system of supply societies; indeed it has been the model upon which many of the marketing organ- isations in the newer countries have been based. leadership in agricultural co-operation belongs to germany ‘and denmark. of the 38,000 agricultural co-operative societies in germany in 1924, there were 19,000 rural banks, 4,700 pur- . chase and sale societies, 3,500 dairies and 10,000 societies for other purposes, together with 98 “ central” societies. in 1920, denmark possessed more than 5,000 co-operative associations, including over 1,600 consumers’ societics, 1,100 creameries, 40 bacon factories, besides a number of central associations, export associations and co-operative bodics for various minor purposes. a general characteristic of the european co-operative move- ment is that both in its origin and subsequent development there has been a certain idealism which has given it a special vitality. thus, in denmark, the movement was associated with a moral educational revival accompanied with the development of the people's high schools; in belgium the co-operative organisation co-operation, agricultural had a basis of religious and social culture; in germany the birth of the co-operative credit movement was largely a question of the social regeneration of the rural population. in most of these cases.it started with the clubbing together of a small number of villagers to carry out a common object, whether it was the pur- chase or sale of produce, or the provision of credit. but, although built up upon this small foundation, the movement has gradu- ally assumed a different character through the consolidation of the small units into large federated organisations, the gradual] centralisation of control, and the development of many of the features of big-scale enterprises. indeed, fedcration describes ina word the modern development of the co-operative movement in most agricultural countries. the newer countries, taking advantage of the early experience of europe, have extended co-operative organisations on a very large scale in connection with the special problems of marketing and export. it is shown particularly in the large co-operative marketing enterprises in the united states of america and in the development of wheat “ pools” and other similar organisations in canada and australasia. the main divisions of the co-operative movement in europe are: supply, production, marketing, credit and insurance. other minor, but important branches, are the co-operative use of farm machinery, cattle breeding, the supply of electric light and power, the manufacture of potato meal and potato alcohol, forestry and fishing. supply and production are dealt with here; the other matters are discussed under agriculture; marketing. supply societies —these have aimed at purchasing agricul- tural requisites in bulk at wholesale prices and delivering them to members at cost. they have been widely developed upon “ rochdale ” principles, the goods being delivered to members at certain fixed prices and the profits of the societies being dis- tributed amongst its members as a “ dividend ” 1n proportion to the gross amount of their purchases. this principle applies in many european countries, though an exception is to be found in france, where the profits of the “syndicats ” go to the for- mation of a reserve fund which belongs to the members equally, irrespective of the amount of their purchases. the recent ten- dency in the development of these societies is to fedcrate the local distributive societies to central wholesale socicties on the general plan of the british distributive movement. in the coun- tries where agricultural co-operation was adopted comparatively early, such as germany, denmark and switzerland, great prog- ress has been made in this direction, resulting in a very large amount of farm requisites—and often houschold requisites in addition—being supplied through co-operative channels. cer- tain countries have adopted the principle under which members bind themselves by contract to purchase the whole of their requirements through their society. in germany, the pioncer socicty in the movement towards wholesale federation was the haas socicty at insterburg, founded in 1871. this example was subsequently followed by the rest of germany, membership of the provincial wholesales being usually confined to the local distributive societies. the first permanent successful federation amongst consumers’ stores in denmark started in 1884 with the formation of the co-operative wholesale society of denmark amongst the societies on the island of zealand, for the supply of farm requisites as well as ordinary household requisites. four years later a similar whole- sale society was started in the jutland peninsula, and in 1806 these two were amalgamated into one organisation— the co- operative wholesale socicty of denmark. since then it has made remarkable growth, the number of consumers’ socicties which were members of the wholesale having risen from 310 jn 1896 to 1,259 in 1910 and to 1,805 in 1922. the co-operative wholesale society is a member of the scandinavian co-operative wholesale society, which is a joint buying organisation for the wholesale societies of denmark, norway and sweden. although the co-operative wholesale society of denmark initiated the first efforts towards the co-operative buying of farm supplies, subsequent developments in danish co-operation have led to specialisation, resulting in the formation of independent pur- co-operation, chasing associations, each to buy and distribute one particular kind of farm supply. in switzerland, very similar progress has been made. the ver- band - ost -schweizerischer -landwirtschaftlicher -genossenschaf- ten was formed as a central society. the business was divided into two departments—the agricultural, dealing with seeds, manures, cattle food, etc., and the store department dealing with household requisites. the organisation has also undertaken the sale of members’ produce, though its supply side remains its more important function. in france, the local, and more particularly the communal, ““ syndicats agricoles ’’ have united in departmental unions, and these unions have formed the starting point of larger organisa- tions—the unions regionales. the growth of the movement in france may be judged from the fact that the number of syndi- cats rose from 39 in 1885 to 4,948 in 1910, and to 6,667 in 1914. in the latter year the total membership exceeded 1,000,000 persons. in great britain, agriculturists have taken little part in the british consumers’ co-operative movement except in so far as they may have been co-operators for the purchase of ordinary household requirements. attempts to develop supply societies independently have been carried on particularly by the agri- cultural organisation society (founded in 1901; came to an end in 1924), but in spite of some progress in this direction in 1923 the total number of farmers’ supply societies was only 347, with a total membership of approximately 73,000. a central wholesale society known as the agricultural wholesale society was founded in 1918, but failed in 1924 and went into liquidation. the impor- tant movement in ireland is separately dealt with (see ireland). production societies —probably the most successful branch of productive co-operation is to be found in the dairy societies existing in large numbers in all countries in which agricultural co-operation is firmly established. leadership again belongs to germany and denmark, the former having as many as 3,491 co-operative dairies in 1924, while the latter had some 1,118 at the outbreak of the world war. switzerland, france, holland, belgium and some of the countries of south-eastern europe have also made considerable progress in recent years. ireland, one of the most successful countries in developing co-operative creameries, had, in 1921, 336 of these societies. in great britain, the number of dairies in 1923 was 94, with a membership of approximately 13,000. mention should also be made of the bacon factories and egg and poultry societies, the former of which have been brought to a high degree of efficiency in denmark. in 1922 there were 40 bacon factories, dealing with 2,215,000 pigs per annum. these are factories requiring a considerable amount of capital and pro- vided with subsidiary plants for the disposal of by-products. they are usually financed by loans jointly and severally guar- anteed by the members, and receive the pigs from members under contracts binding them to supply their whole output for a period of years. the individual bacon factories are federated in the national federation of danish co-operative bacon factories, with head offices in copenhagen. one of the most remarkable achievements of this co-operative organisation is the improve- ment of breed which it has enabled producers to bring about. a close study of the requirements of the british market (the princi- pal export market) combined with scientific pig breeding under the supervision of the govt. and the national federation of co-operative bacon factories, has led during the last 30 years to an improvement in quality, without parallel in other countries. to denmark also belongs the credit of laying the foundations of co-operative marketing which has lately been developed on an enormous scale in the newer countries. the tendency is to estab- lish strong central selling or export agencies of which local pro- ductive societies are members. the need for co-operation amongst the local co-operative societies gave the impulse towards the centralisation of marketing, and the formation of provincial and ultimately national associations, but many difficulties were experienced before the structural development of the marketing organisations was complete. the turning point was reached agricultural 729 when the principle of binding contracts for the supply of produce was adopted. under this system the members of a local co- operative marketing association undertook to supply the whole of their produce to their society for a term of years. the term ranges from one to as many as 20 years. on this firm foundation it has been found possible to build up the modern organisation which markets the greater part of danish agricultural produce. the local units, having a democratic membership control, are usually federated to the central society on ‘‘ commodity ”’ lines, that is to say, the federation of local societies is usually concerned with one agricultural commodity or commodities of closely allied character. members are paid for produce by an advance at the time of delivery followed by a distribution of the profits at cer- tain intervals. the produce thus delivered is classified and graded at the headquarters of the association, and the initial pay- ment is made on the basis of this classification. for the purpose of marketing, the produce is “ pooled.”” these principles—con- tracts, commodity organisation and pooling—form the basis upon which a great part of danish co-operative marketing is conducted, and have been widely copied in america, canada, australia and elsewhere. . | the benefits which agriculture has derived from the european co-operative system—apart from social amelioration which in many cases was the original aim—are many. by the centralisa- tion of purchase and of sale, considerable economies have been effected not merely in consequence of the elimination of the middleman, and of bulk handling of the produce, but by the removal of the powers of exploitation which buyers and sellers of agricultural commodities not infrequently exercised over un- organised farmers. in organised marketing, large scale handling has enabled scientific grading and standardisation to be carried out, which in turn has led to the production of standard grades of produce and standard breeds of live stock on the farms. this again, as in the case of bacon, has led to a general improvement in the quality of farm produce, and has greatly added to the competitive strength of the central export associations in foreign markets. their products have earned a reputation for uniform- ity and high quality against which unorganised farmers have found it increasingly difficult to compete. agricultural co-operation outside europe the most rapid advance in co-operation of recent years, par- ticularly since the world war, has been made in connection with marketing in the newer countries of the world—the united states, canada, australia, new zealand and others. it forms by far the most remarkable development of co-operative enterprise of the present century; indeed, there is little similarity between the small village co-operative societies in europe of the ’eighties and ’nineties, and the vast organisations that have sprung up on the continent of north america for handling some of the pri- mary farm crops. united states.—in its recent developments co-operation in the united states has been associated with the achievement of cer- tain economic purposes which never entered into the schemes of the earlier pioneers of co-operative marketing. one is known as the “‘ orderly marketing ” of agricultural produce, another is the realisation of a high degree of monopolistic control by the cen- tral marketing association over the movement to market the crop or crops with which it is concerned. in some cases, not only in america but elsewhere, monopoly appears also to have been sought with the direct object of raising prices, but owing to the impossibility of limiting production this has usually ended in failure. profiting by the previous experience of denmark, the united states have developed and extended the danish practice, with the result that certain working principles, applicable to some types of co-operative marketing organisation, may be said to have been established which may be summarised as follows: (1) the organisation must be on a ‘‘ commodity basis,” that is to say, a single co-operative organisation must deal with only one com- modity or with commodities closely allied to each other. (2) the local co-operative associations must be federated to a central association in order to concentrate in a central authority the control of a sufficiently large volume of produce. 730 co-operation, (3) members must bind themselves under contract to supply the whole, or a definite proportion, of their produce prepared for market to the society of which they are members, american co-operative marketing has not always been devel- oped upon this pattern, but generally speaking it is the case that the aim has been to centralise in the hands of single authorities the control of the marketing of a large volume of produce in order that it may be able toexert an effective influence upon the amount of produce delivered to the markets. a full account of the vari- ous american co-operative marketing organisations is given under farmers’ organisations. how far the co-operative organisation will go towards solving the problem of “ orderly marketing ”’ it is still too early to say. some critics are sceptical, and many of the newer organisations are still of an experimental character. canadian wheat pools canada affords some remarkable examples of the development of large scale co-operative market- ing enterprise, of which the wheat organisation is the most sig- nificant. the saskatchewan co-operative elevator co. (which handled in 1922-3 about one-fifth of the grain produced in the province, amounting to over 40,000,000 bu.) originated in the widespread discontent which was felt by farmers at the growing powers of the elevator companies. with financial assistance from the govt. it acquired a number of elevators of its own situated at suitable centres for the collection of members’ grain. in 1924, it owned 425 country elevators, and as development took place it was found necessary for the institution to own terminal elevators and “ hospital ” elevators for treating damaged grain, and they have at the present time over 6,500,000 bu. of capacity in terminal and hospital storage. alberta followed the lead of saskatchewan by setting up the alberta farmers’ co-operative elevator co. in 1913, and four years later this company was taken over by the united grain growers, limited. in the last year or two the movement towards centralised marketing has undergone further important developments. for the purpose of selling, an organisation known as the saskatchewan co-operative wheat producers, limited, was formed, with headquarters at regina. members of the company, who already form a substantial proportion of the wheat growers in the province, enter into a five years’ contract to sell the wheat through the company. very similar arrangements have been made in manitoba and alberta, the respective organisations being the manitoba co-operative wheat producers, ltd., with headquarters at winnipeg, and the alberta co-operative wheat producers, ltd., with headquarters at calgary. to complete the system of centralisation only one step remained, namely, to unite the three provincial pools into one organisation. this step has now been taken. the canadian co-operative wheat pro- ducers, ltd., with headquarters at winnipeg, has been formed as the central selling agency for the above three producers’ pools, and operated for the first time in respect of the 1924-5 crop. the handling of milk, butter and cheese; the marketing of wool, live stock, poultry and eggs, fruit and other produce by co- operative enterprise has also made considerable advance in canada since the world war. australian wheat pools——the co-operative wheat pools of australia are an example of a somewhat different character, since they came into being as the result of direct state action in order to meet the abnormal conditions during the war. they have brought about a fundamental change in the system of marketing wheat in that country. the original scheme was com- pulsory. it was entered into by the governments of the common- wealth, the states of new south wales, victoria, south australia and western australia for the purpose of realising to the best advantige the wheat harvests of the respective states, and for making advances to farmers pending the realisation. the scheme was first applied to the 19rs—6 crop, and it was subsequently decided to deal with the succeeding crops on the same principle. this actually took place in respect of each crop up to that of 1920-1. the duty of realising the crop was placed in the hands of the australian wheat board, consisting of ministerial repre- sentatives of the governments of the commonwealth and the agricultural respective states, and one representative of the growers from each state. the board was assisted by an advisory board, consisting of well-known wheat shippers, and the distribution of freights amongst the respective states was undertaken by the wheat board. as the united kingdom was the chief export market for australian wheat, and london the chief port, a london wheat committee, consisting of the high commissioner, and the agents general of the states concerned, acting with the advice of the london representatives of the wheat shippers, arranged the overseas sale. in each state a local board or commission controlled the opera- tions of the scheme within its area, and the local board effected all local sales, including sales to millers. under arrangements with the australian banks made by the commonwealth and state governments, advances were made to farmers upon delivery of their wheat at railway stations to the appointed representa- tives. the proceeds of the wheat sales were applied, as realised, in reduction of the bank overdrafts which had been used for the payment of advances and expenses. in 1922 the compulsory pooling of wheat was abandoned, but the principle of pooling the exportable surplus was continued on a voluntary basis under the respective slate governments. under this scheme, as in the case of the compulsory scheme, each state ultimately receives, in respect of the grain actually shipped, the average net profit from the overseas realisations, which, after paying expenses, is distributed pro rata amongst the growers... this system of pooling remains in operation (though some doubt has been expressed as to its future), and the grain exported to the united kingdom is distributed in the united kingdom, through the “ australian wheat pools agency,” consisting of two firms, which receive and market the whole of the wheat exported by the respective wheat pools (with the exception of victoria, which sells independently) operating upon the british corn exchanges, mostly in london. other british dominions —in most provinces of canada and in the states of australia and new zealand and south africa (and the u. s. a.) special legislation has been enacted to en- able co-operative associations to function on the general lines which have been indicated above. the case of queensland provides what is perhaps the most remarkable example of the degree to which legislative support of co-operative marketing has been carried. queensland not only permits, but in certain circumstances compels, producers to market through a co- operative association. under the primary products pools act, 1922, provision is made for the constitution of a compulsory pool for any agricultural commodity at the request of a specified number of growers of such commodity, with provision also for a pool to be taken on the question if such is demanded. under this act, pools have been constituted for the marketing of eggs, cheese, maize and pigs. mention must also be made of the rapid growth of agricultural co-operation in india, which has mainly taken place during the present century. indian co-operation bears a much closer resem- blance to european than to the american or australian systems. as in germany, it has been developed largely to provide credit (and insurance) facilities and to a limited extent for the purchase of requisites, and the sale of produce. its remarkable growth may be judged from the figures. the total number of co-operative societies in 1907 was 149; in 1914 it was 15,673; at the end of the war 26,465; and in 1922 it had reached 52,000. of this total, 46,700 are agricultural societies; 3,600 are non-agricultural; 1,200 are supervising and guaranteeing unions; and 480 are central socicties, including provincial and central banks, and banking unions. of the agricultural societies all except 1,165 are credit societies. production is represented by 302 societies, the remainder being organised for purchase and sale. bibliography.—a griculinral organisation society, annual re- ports; irish agricultural organisation soctety, annual reports; c. r. fay, co-operation at home and abroad (1908); f. a. pratt, agricultural organisation (1912); h. w. wolff, co-operation in agriculture (1912); j. r. ‘cahell, an enquiry inte agricultural credit and agricultural co-operation in germany (1913); c. f. strick- land, siudzes in european co-operation (1922); w. h. warman, co-partnership agricultural co-operation (1922); international review of agricultural econontics, various numbers (rome, 1923-5); o. b. jesness, co-operative marketing of farm produce (1923); llerman steen, co-operative amlarkeling: the golden rule in agriculture (1923); agricultural tribunal of investigation, final report (h.m.5.o., 1924); the horace plunkett foundation, a survey of agricultural co-operation in the empire (1924); ministry of agriculture and fisheries, co-operative marketing of agricultural produce in eng- land and wales (1925); ministry ot agriculture and fisheries, co- operative purchase of agricultural requisites in england and wales (1925); ministry of agriculture and fisheries, report on large scale co-operative marketing in the united states of america une) co-partnership.—by co-partnership, or labour co-partner- ship, is now generally understood a definite arrangement whereby capital and labour may co-operate in the same business under- taking on terms which give labour not merely a share in the net profits, but also a share in the control of, and responsibility for, the undertaking. thus it is now more usual to associate co- partnership with profit-sharing than with producers’ co-opera- tion (see co-operation, 7.85). but while co-partnership neces- sarily implies profit-sharing, the latter does not necessarily imply the former. the labour co-partnership association (the chief prop- agandist body in the united kingdom) only recognises a scheme as a co-partnership (a) where the workers receive a share in the final profits additional to their trade union or standard wage, (b) where in virtue of their position as working shareholders the workers have a share in the management, and (c) where the arrangement is a matter of fixed rules. in 1919 the labour co- partnership association further defined, these conditions by adopting the principle that: | the worker should acquire some share of the control of the business in the two following ways: (a) by acquiring share capital and thus gaining the ordinary rights and responsibilities of a shareholder. (b) by the formation of a co-partnership committee of workers having a voice in the internal management. this principle has been applied in the well-known scheme of the south metropolitan gas company which in 1889 adopted the plan of paying a bonus on wages varying in inverse ratio with the price charged for gas and set up a standing co-partner- ship committee, representing in equal numbers the officials and employees of the company. since 1898 the employees have acquired the further right of representation on the board of directors. | with the publication of the first report of the whitley committee (see industrial relations) in 1917 the idea of co-partnership received an emphatic, if somewhat vague, blessing: we are convinced, moreover, that permanent improvement in the relations between employers and employed must be founded upon something other than a cash basis. what is wanted is that the work-people should have a greater opportunity of participating in the discussion about and adjustment of those parts of industry by which they are most affected. in the report of the conference of operatives and manufacturers in the pottery industry the claim of the operatives to be re- garded not as “‘ hands ”’ but as “ partners in an important social task ’’ was set forth. how far the whitley scheme in its applica- tion to some 70 industries has succeeded in }mplementing this aspiration is a matter of opinion. in a report on profit-sharing and labour co-partnership issucd by the committee on industry and trade in its survey of in- dustrial relations (1926) the ministry of labour had to record that by the end of 1924 some 230 firms exclusive of co-operative societies had in operation 242 profit-sharing schemes in which some 172,000 employces participated. these schemes were the survivals of 493 known to have been started, and only a proportion of them embraced an element of co-partnership as well as of profit-sharing. on the whole this report, like the more detailed report issued in 1920 (cmd. 544), does not encourage optimism in regard to the practical success of co-partnership up to the present. there has been a marked falling off since 1921 in the number of new profit-sharing schemes started, and the average duration of the schemes abandoned during the past 50 years is stated to be not more than 8} years. this comparative 731 failure is largely attributable to the attitude of organised labour, which is described as “ either unfavourable or, at best, indifferent.”’ the following resolution agreed to at the trades union congress of 1923 is significant:— that this congress, believing that capitalist attempts to introduce forms of co-partnership are designed to mislead the workers and to prevent trade union solidarity, instructs the general council to explore all working of the various labour co-partnership and profit- sharing concerns in the kingdom with a view to reporting upon their advantages or disadvantages to the next trades union congress. no report however appears yet to have been issued. mr. g.r. stirling (2 jour. soc. comp. leg. 3rd series, 1920) after a careful survey concludes that ‘‘ there seem to be no important industrial - businesses in this country where the workers have any control which is effective against the general body of shareholders.” as far as company law is concerned there is indeed nothing to prevent a company from adopting in its articles a scheme for ensuring a full measure of co-operation by employee share- holders. and in legislating for private companies parliament has given at least negative encouragement to co-partnership by suspending any limitation to the number of shareholders in the case of employee or ex-employee shareholders. the movement outside the united kingdom.—in the united states, in spite of the fact that several large corporations have encouraged stock holding by their employees, it appears that the success of definite co-partnership arrangements has been no greater than in the united kingdom. and this comparative failure contrasts with the rapid extension of. the producers’ co-operative movement among farmers. (see muintstry of agriculture and fisheries, economic series, no. 4, 1925.) one of the most interesting and successful attempts to effect a gradual transfer of control over a business from the outside share- holders to those actively engaged init, has been that made by the dennison manufacturing company in massachusetts. in rgr1 after a long period of successful trading it was decided (a) to limit to ordinary interest rates the return of those connected with the business solely as investors; (b) to put back into the business all profits beyond this return and to issue against them partnership stock to the managerial employees; and (c) to trans- fer to the partnership stock as soon as it reached the sum of $1,000,000 all voting power in the company. in 1921 the further step was taken of issuing partnership stock also to the non-managerial employees, but this stock was to be non-voting. the effect of these arrangements has been (a) that the original shareholders have received in place of their stock taken at the current market valuation 8% 1st cumulative preference stock; (b) that the managerial employees (numbering about 370) have now the legal control of the company subject to the right of the first preference stock-holders to recover their control if their dividends are in arrears for more than a certain length of time; (c) that the non-managerial employees have through their works committee a limited participation in the management and through their stock a share in the profits equal pro rata to that taken by the managerial employees; and (d) that all partnership stock is non-assignable, and the holders must, on leaving the company’s employ exchange their stock for 7% 2nd cumulative preference stock (see calvert magruder ‘‘ labour co-partnership in industry,” mzarvard law review, vol. 35, pp. g10-25). in france a noticeable attempt in 1917 to make labour co- partnership compulsory on joint stock companies (societes anonymes) resulted in the passing of a permissive act (sur les societes anonymes 4 participation ouvricre). if a company decides to adopt the form “ a participation ouvrie¢re ” it must divide its shares into (a) capital shares and (b) labour shares (actions de travail), which latter then become the collective property of the employees over 21 who have served the company for at least one year. these employees are incorporated in a societe commerciale co-operative de main-d’ceuvre, which is rep- resented at the general meetings of the company and on its managing committee in proportion to the ratio borne by capital shares to labour shares. (a. l. d.) 132 copenhagen, denmark (see 7.96), had a population in 1921 of 561,344, or, with suburbs, of 700,610. the city has expanded greatly since 1910 and numerous new quarters have appeared. north and east voldgade have been levelled and laid out as a boulevard. many of the wooden houses erected during the world war to meet the housing shortage were still in use in 1925. new public buildings include the technological institute on a large site in the aborrepark, the andelsbank (1920), the stu- dents’ union building and that of the danish people’s insur- ance company. the christianborg, on the site of the old castle, has been occupied since 1918 by parliament, the supreme court and the foreign office. during building operations fresh ruins of -the old castle were found. the hirschsprung museum, with works by danish artists, was opened in 1911; and since 1924 the danish museum of applied art has been housed in the old frederiks hospital. <a large state hospital has been built in faelled park; in front of it isa monument to finsen. the finsen institute has been state controlled since 1916. in 1919-20 the arsenal was repaired and restored. the land and artillery de- fences, prepared during the war, were abolished in 1920. the royal porcelain factory, which employs about 1,000 hands, was enlarged in 1920, and a contract for an electric power plant placed by the municipality in 1924. between 1915 and 1919 the free port was enlarged from an area of §9°3 ac., with 4,116 yd. of wharfage, to 81-5 ac. with 5,217 yd. of wharfage. the equip- ment has been much increased, and the construction of a basin at the north end of the harbour was begun in 1920. a promenade, ending in a pier with a lighthouse and restaurant, has been laid out on the east mole.