gos, are expressly reserved to vessels of the Portuguese flag. It was the primary object of the control established by the Government to avoid competition in rates among Portuguese shipping companies on these routes. The decree stated, however, that the rates established by foreign ships from Portugal could not be lower than those established by Portuguese ships (through the Council), and this provision removed rate competition between foreign and national ships carrying cargo from Portuguese ports to such ports as Hamburg, Rotterdam, and Antwerp.

Decree No. 29,962 of October 9, 1939, grouped all shipowners and charterers within one corporative organization and formed the National Board of the Mercantile Marine, which assumed the powers previously authorized to the Councils on Tariffs. This measure aimed at obtaining the greatest possible efficiency for the merchant fleet with respect to importation and exportation of merchandise of interest to the country, and the following functions, among others, were authorized to the Board:

1. To study and establish, under the guidance of the president, plans for the most efficient utilization of the fleet, and to supervise this utilization in supervenient cases.

2. To fix the number of vessels for each route and to exercise regulatory action on itineraries, stops, dates of arrival and departure, freights and passages on national ships; decisions which alter freight rates will depend for approval on the Ministry of Marine.

3. To fix conditions for the distribution of cargoes among Portuguese ships, respecting as much as possible pre-established situations.

4. To raise, in case of necessity, the rates charged by foreign vessels.

5. To provide in the sense of ensuring to the national merchant marine a supply of fuels and provisions.

Since the outbreak of the European war in 1939, the trend in Portugal has been toward relaxing the limited state control of rates theretofore effective. Control of freight rates applying to services between Portugal and the northern European ports on Portuguese or other vessels has been removed, and no control on the occasional voyages of Portuguese vessels to South and North America during the war has been imposed. The exclusive Portuguese shipping services to the colonies and adjacent islands, however, are still subject to rate control for the purpose of preventing undue competition among national lines.

SWEDEN

At the outbreak of the war in the autumn of 1939, the Swedish Government adopted measures of an emergency character affecting shipping. In order to control shipping, a State Shipping Board was formed in accordance with instructions issued on September 6, 1939. The board was authorized to decide questions in regard to exemptions from the laws prohibiting transferring and chartering, as well as engaging in the foreign carrying trade by Swedish ships. In addition, the Board was empowered to approve freights for shipment to Sweden in collaboration with one of the following crisis institutions: National Commission for Economic Defense Preparedness, State Coal Board, State Oil Board. Below are free translations of specimen circulars issued by the Shipping Board listing permissible freight rates and terms applicable thereto.

In regard to coal and coke freights, the State Shipping Board issued, on January 12, 1940, circular No. 9, of which the following is a free translation:

The State Shipping Board has this day decided that until further notice it will grant licenses for ships' voyages to Sweden with coal and/or coke from British, Dutch, and Belgian ports only under supposition of the application of rates and on the terms mentioned below:

Rates and Terms, Voyages to Sweden with Coal and Coke

At the following ports deductions from or additions to the aforementioned freights apply as follows:

Goteborg: deduction of 1 crown per ton.

Trelleborg Stockholm: addition of 7 crowns per ton in the groups 1,2512,500 tons, 6 crowns in the groups 2,501-3,750 tons, and 5 crowns in the groups 3,751 and over.

For ports north of Stockholm to and including Hudiksvall customs district: an addition in the above-mentioned groups of 9 crowns, 8 crowns, and 7 crowns per ton, respectively

For ports north of Hudiksvall customs district: additions in the same groups of 10 crowns, 9 crowns, and 8 crowns per ton, respectively.

For Lake Malar ports: addition in the mentioned groups of 7 crowns, 6 crowns, and 5 crowns per ton, respectively, discharging costs on the consignee's account, canal dues for ship and cargo for the ship's account.

For Lake Vaner ports: addition of 4 crowns per ton with discharging costs for the ship's account, canal dues for ship and cargo for the ship's account.

For coke cargoes, an addition of 7 crowns, 6 crowns, and 5 crowns per ton, respectively, is added to the before-mentioned coal freights in the respective groups. For cargoes from the Netherlands and Belgium, 2 crowns and 1 crown, respectively, per ton is deducted from the above freights.

For cargoes from the west coast of Great Britain, an addition of 5 crowns, 4 crowns, and 3 crowns per ton, respectively, is added to the before-mentioned freights in the respective group.

For each one-quarter percent increase over 1 percent of the war-risk-insurance premium for ships, which the owner has to pay, the freight for coal is increased by 1 crown per ton and for coke by 1.25 crowns per ton in the groups 1,251-2,500 tons, by 0.60 crown and 1 crown, respectively, per ton in the groups 2,501-3,750 tons, and by 0.60 crown and 0.80 crown, respectively, per ton in groups 3,751 tons and over. For each one-quarter percent decrease below 1 percent in these premiums, a corresponding decrease of the freights shall be made.

Freights for ships up to and including 1,250 tons cargo are fixed in each case.

SPECIAL REGULATIONS

Chartering is to be made through a broker who also is an authorized chartering agent. The above-mentioned freights are based on a chartering commission which in no case exceeds one and one-quarter percent. No return commission or other compensation to the charterer is allowed.

Usual charter-party forms shall be used and the freight be paid after discharging. The shipowner shall grant the charterer a respite of at least 72 hours for receiving

export license and stem. ing clauses:

In addition, charter party shall also contain the follow

1. Charterers guarantee that export license and stem are in order

2. Notwithstanding any stipulations in this charter. charterers are to pay demurrage as per scale for all delay to the ship in loading beyond the running hours as per scale-Sundays and holidays before said running hours have expired always excepted.

3. Bill of lading to be issued to named receiver with the addition "Not to order." 4. Steamer has liberty to call anywhere en route for bunkering and owners are not to be responsible for any delay, consequences of delay, expenses, damage to, or claims from cargo, in case they are unable to obtain bunkers on terms acceptable to them, or if ship's hands refuse to sail or make sailing conditional upon demands. As regards costs for such lighterage of part of the cargo as may be required for the ship's passage through Oresund and the passage outside Falsterbo, the owner may receive compensation, corresponding to the real cost in the special case. At this time the discharging period shall be calculated from the arrival until the lighterage has been completed and taken as a whole for eventual demurrage calculation to be included in the ship's discharging period. In such a special case, the owner or the captain is bound to secure instructions from the Shipping Board regarding suitable port for lighterage in good time before estimated arrival.

Finally, the owner or the captain of a ship with coal or coke cargo for Sweden is required to secure instructions from the Shipping Board, in good time before expected arrival, regarding suitable port for discharging in cases where, in consideration of the final destination of the cargo, option of several discharging ports can be considered.

On January 15, 1940, the State Shipping Board issued Circular No. 10, listing the "permissible" ocean freight rates for grain and the other commodities specified. A free translation follows:

The State Shipping Board has this day decided that until further notice it will grant license for a ship to journey to Swedish west-coast ports north of MalmoLimhamn with full cargoes of the following kinds of goods from trans-ocean ports, only on the understanding that the following freights will prevail and on the terms mentioned below:

NOTE.-If more than one loading or discharging port is called at, an addition of 1 crown per ton is made to

the above-mentioned freights.

Rates from Argentina and Uruguay are based on loading in Buenos Aires, La Plata, or Montevideo. For loading up river to and including Rosario, an addition of 1.50 crowns per metric ton is made, and for loading above Rosario an addition of 3 crowns per metric ton. The freights are further based on berth terms. When chartering on Centrocon charter party with 4 percent address commission, an addition of 4 crowns per ton is made.

For each one-fourth percent increase over 1 percent of the war-risk-insurance premium for ships payable by the owner, the rate is increased by 1 crown per ton. For each one-fourth percent decrease below 1 percent of these premiums a corresponding decrease of the freight shall be made.

Demurrage at loading as well as discharging is 1,500 crowns per day for cargoes up to 5,000 metric tons and 2,000 crowns for cargoes of 5,000 tons and over, or pro rata for part of a day.

SPECIAL REGULATIONS

Chartering shall be made through a broker who also is an authorized chartering agent.

The rates listed are based on a chartering commission which may in no case exceed 14 percent. No return commission or other compensation to charterer may be made.

Úsual charter-party stipulations shall apply, provided that those agree with the above regulations, and the freight shall be paid in advance in Sweden, after the cargo has been loaded and the bills of lading have been signed.

In addition, the charter party shall also contain the following clauses:

1. Charterers guarantee that export license is in order.

2. Bill of lading to be issued to named receiver with the addition "Not to order."

3. Steamer is at liberty to call anywhere en route for bunkering, and owners are not to be responsible for any delay, consequences of delay, expenses, damage to, or claims from, cargo, in case they are unable to bunker on terms acceptable to them, or if ship's hands refuse to sail or make sailing conditional upon demands. Finally, the owner or the captain of a ship with cargo, as mentioned above, is required to secure instructions from the Shipping Board, in good time before expected arrival, regarding suitable port for discharging, in cases when port of discharge may be optional.

The stipulations in this circular shall be valid for all freight agreements which are concluded after January 16, 1940.

In the State Shipping Board's circular No. 11, dated February 29, 1940, the following changes in the maximum freights for coal and coke cargoes as per circular No. 9 were made:

The basic freights may be increased by 25 and 50 percent, respectively, in cases where the ship has left a Swedish port in ballast.

Demurrage amounts to 1,400 crowns per day for cargoes between 4,501 and 5,000 metric tons and to 1,500 crowns per day for cargoes of more than 5,000 tons. The above-mentioned demurrage may be increased by 50 percent if demurrage occurs at a port in Great Britain.

Compensation will be paid for extra costs caused by ice conditions; this compensation will be fixed in each special case after the Shipping Board has made an investigation.

So far as concerns ships coming from the north in ballast for loading in Humber, an additional charge of 2 crowns per ton for coal and 2.50 crowns per ton for coke is made.

The additional charges fixed in the above-mentioned circular may be increased by 2 crowns per ton for coal.

The freight rate may be increased by 30 percent for each one-fourth percent increase of the war-risk-insurance premium for ships, which has to be paid by the owner.

TANKERS

The stipulations fixed by the International Tanker Pool are still in effect, even though they are not applied under present conditions. According to the State Shipping Board, freights for tankers are fixed by the board in collaboration with the Oil Board in each special case.

TURKEY

Shortly after the outbreak of the war in Europe in 1939, the rates of conference lines as well as nonconference lines were increased by from 50 to 100 percent. The Turkish Government, according to the information given by the local agencies of foreign shipping lines, did not assume any authority over rates. The agencies of the lines, as before the war, had to submit copies of their tariffs to the Turkofis (the Turkish Foreign Trade Department), the Government office interested in ocean freight rates, but the Turkish Government did not alter the conference rates, at least up to the end of February 1940.

UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA

ESTABLISHMENT OF MERCHANT SHIPPING CONTROL COMMITTEE

The only change in Government control as affecting shipping, since the beginning of the European war in 1939, was the creation of a Merchant Shipping Control Committee within the Ministry of Commerce and Industries, to cooperate, when necessary, with the representative in the Union of the Ministry of Shipping in England. The proclamation establishing this committee was published in Government Gazette No. 2708, of December 8, 1939, and reads as follows: 33. (1) The Minister of Commerce and Industries shall establish a Merchant Shipping Control Committee, hereinafter referred to as "the committee.'

(2) The committee shall consist of: The Secretary for Commerce and Industries; the chairman of the South African Shipping Board; the chief traffic manager of the South African Railways and Harbors Administration; the Commissioner of Customs and Excise; the secretary to the South African Shipping Board.

(3) The committee shall cooperate, when necessary, with the representative in the Union of the Ministry of Shipping in England, and shall, subject to the instructions of the Minister of Commcree and Industries, have the power to prohibit, control, or regulate—

(a) The supply of coal or oil which is intended for use in vessels as fuel; (b) The use of facilities for the docking and repairing of vessels;

(c) The supply of ships' stores; and

In exercising such powers it may impose in connection with all vessels or in connection with any particular vessel such conditions as it may think fit to impose.

(4) The committee may appoint such advisers and other officers as may be necessary to assist it to carry out its duties.

(5) The committee may require any customs officer to make available to it any information which he is entitled to obtain under the laws relating to the management of customs in the Union.

(6) Three members of the committee shall form a quorum at a meeting of the committee, and a decision of a majority of the members of the committee, or a decision of the majority of the members of the committee who are present at a meeting thereof, shall be deemed to be a decision of the committee, provided that in the event of an equality of votes at a meeting of the committee the chairman shall have a casting vote.

The fact that the committee was made a division of the Ministry of Commerce and Industries rather than the Department of Railways and Harbors appears to be due to the necessity of coordinating actions with relation to conservation of resources rather than a freight-ratecontrol measure.

GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS SHIPPING BOARD

In the past, the Government itself has been a party to rate contracts on exports to Europe. Inasmuch, however, as most exports to Europe have been carried in British vessels, and the British Government early in 1940 took over these vessels, the matter of rates then