Paimpol, and Dunkirk; third class, at St. Brieuc, Brest, Lorient, Agde, Toulon, St. Tropez, and Bastia; fourth class, at Granville and Boulogne; and, last, a high school of marine navigation, preparing students exclusively for the high brevet of seafaring captain, is operated in Paris.

Candidates to any school of hydrography must be at least 13 years old and undergo an examination before a commission presided over by the superintendent of the school. Their names must be on the records of marine inscription; that is, they must already have gone to sea. Other students, not having yet gone to sea, will only be admitted in case there are still places to be filled after all students already having practical sea experience have been taken care of.

Admission to the Paris High School of Navigation takes place only through competition. The course at this school lasts 2 years; at the other schools it lasts only 10 months. It is free. Students come to the school only at class time and must live outside.

The curriculum includes arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry, theory of navigation, the use of nautical instruments, and the calculation of observations; also the French and English languages, geography, practical sailing, marine hygiene, marine legislation, etc.

SECTIONS FOR MERCHANT-MARINE ENGINEERS.

At the schools of hydrography of Dunkirk, Havre, Granville, Nantes, Bordeaux, and Marseille special sections have been created where special teaching is given to candidates for brevets as merchantmarine engineers. Such brevets are awarded at the end of the course, through an examination, and are signed by the Minister of Commerce and the Minister of Marine.

NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS.

National professional schools were established first in 1880, as manual schools for apprentices, under the joint control of the Departments of Public Instruction and Commerce. Since 1900 they have been under the control of the Minister of Commerce and Industry. Their object is to train and turn out educated and skilled workingmen, able to become foremen and shop managers. They also prepare candidates for competition to the schools of arts and crafts and other technical schools of the same order.

The teaching course comprises both theory and practice. The theory includes moral and civic instruction, handwriting, French, history, geography, principles of hygiene, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, bookkeeping, general and industrial physics, general and industrial chemistry, mechanics, technology, ornamental. drawing, industrial and geometrical drawing, and foreign languages. The practical course covers iron and wood working, and also special branches according to the requirements of local industry. The regular course lasts four years, or only three years for students who propose to leave the school to enter another higher technical school. There exist four of these professional schools, at Armentieres (Nord), Nantes (Loire-Inferieure), Vierzon (Cher), and Voiron (Izere).

WATCH AND CLOCK MAKING SCHOOLS.

The national watch and clock making school at Cluses (HauteSavoie) was established in 1848, to turn out skilled and educated workingmen for the manufacture of time-keeping devices of all kinds and of all other classes of instruments of precision for the uses of arts and sciences. It also aims at giving the necessary general instruction to young men intending to become manufacturers or foremen.

The course includes theory and practice. Theory covers French, arithmetic, elementary algebra, geometry, trigonometry, mechanics, cosmography, physics, and especially electricity, chemistry, drawing, and a full theory of watches and clocks. The practical teaching, given in three model shops, covers the manufacture of blanks and pinions, the finishing of the same, gear cutting, winding-up devices, chronographical devices, all the various kinds of escape, stone chasing, casing, work on faces, and all repair work on clocks and watches. A fourth shop is a training school for students paying special attention to the construction of electrical apparatus, telegraphic instruments and telephones, and electric clocks. The regular course lasts three years.

Another national watch and clockmaking school has existed at Besancon since 1862, first as a municipal school, then, since 1891, as a national school. Its object is to give professional instruction to young men who intend to go into the watchmaking industry, and to turn out the most skilled men in that industry, such as examiners, fitters of complex mechanisms, etc., and foremen and mechanics in the line of instruments of precision. The theoretical course is on the same lines as at Cluses, with a more complete course in mechanics, especially as regards applications of mechanics to watchmaking. The practical course includes, besides the Cluses course, training in the decoration of watchcases. Moreover, a special class exists for students considered able to become watchmakers of superior skill. The course includes higher mathematics and mechanics. The course lasts three years.

PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS OF THE CITY OF PARIS.

These schools, first established in 1880 as manual schools for apprentices were reorganized in 1900, under the control of the Minister of Commerce. There exist at present 15 such schools, 7 for young men and 8 for girls.

The schools for boys are respectively devoted, one to the book industry, two to the iron and woodworking indusries, one to furniture, two to industrial and ornamental drawing, and one to industrial physics and chemistry.

The schools for girls are devoted to women's trades, the manufacture of clothing, dressmaking, millinery, corsets, linen work, embroidery, flowers, feathers, etc.

Three of these schools also include a commercial department. The object of all is to train skilled working men and women, and even industrial artists, while the school of physics and chemistry even aims at training electrical engineers and chemists. Together with the full training given in a trade, students are also given general instruction.

PRACTICAL SCHOOLS OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY.

These practical schools, established in 1892, aim at training skilled workingmen and competent employees for the various branches of industry and commerce. They should be able to enter employment in shops or commercial firms from the day they leave school.

There exist at present: For boys, 37 such practical schools of commerce and industry, 16 practical schools of industry only, and 1 practical school of commerce only; for girls, 12 practical schools of commerce and industry. They are distributed all over the country.

The course includes elementary sciences, history, and geography. The industrial course also includes practical shop training, while the commercial course comprises foreign languages, bookkeeping, stenography, and typewriting. The regular course lasts three years.

COMMERCIAL MUSEUMS OF FRANCE AND ALGERIA.

The object of these museums is 'to supply French commerce with all information regarding articles of foreign manufacture which meet with favor on foreign markets, thus enabling French manufacturers successfully to compete with their foreign competitors by acquainting them with the tastes and requirements of foreign consumers. exist 23 such museums, distributed all over the territory.

CONSULTING CHAMBERS OF ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.

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These chambers, established in 1801, are intended to make the public authorities acquainted with the requirements of arts and crafts and of the manufacturing industry and to suggest improvements to existing legislation. They have no other power or duties.

Each consulting chamber has a membership of 12 members, elected for six years, one-third of the members going out every two years. Conditions for voting rights and eligibility are the same as for membership in the chambers of commerce. There exist 43 of these consulting chambers, mostly located in the western and southern regions, where industrial activity is small; they play in these localities the part generally filled by chambers of commerce in more active districts.

COURTS OF COMMERCE.

The courts of commerce were established to settle all differences in connection with obligations or agreements between merchants and bankers and also between all kinds of parties in consequence of commercial acts as defined by the Code of Commerce. They also have to settle all contests and differences arising from failures.

They are composed of judges and substitute judges, elected by resident merchants of the city where the court is located. Each court includes a president and not less than 2 or more than 14 judges. In towns where no court of commerce exists its place is taken by the civil court. Conditions for vote and eligibility are the same as for chambers of commerce. The membership is considered a distinction, and therefore the judges serve without compensation. There exist at present 230 courts of commerce in continental France and Corsica.

COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES.

Commercial exchanges, which are placed under the high control of the Minister of Commerce, are directly controlled and managed by the local chamber of commerce, An exception is made for the Paris Stock Exchange, which is under the direct control of the Minister of Finance. There exist 76 commercial exchanges in France and Algeria, of which 42 only are at present in operation.

GENERAL BONDED WAREHOUSES.

These establishments are placed under the direct control of the local chamber of commerce and the high control of the Department of Commerce. Authority to open a bonded warehouse has to be given by the prefect of the Department, upon a favorable opinion from the chamber of commerce.

Owners of a bonded warehouse have to deposit a cash security ranging from 20,000 to 100,000 francs ($3,860 to $19,300), according to the importance of their establishments. They are authorized to loan on the security of goods on deposit and to buy or sell warrants representing such goods.

Auction rooms for selling goods at wholesale have likewise to be authorized by the prefect of the Department, upon a favorable advice from the local chamber of commerce and court of commerce. Owners of such rooms have to deposit an adequate cash security fixed by the court.

PUBLIC CONDITIONING OFFICES FOR TEXTILES.

Public conditioning and rating offices are established with the object of making an official estimate of the hygrometric degree of all classes of textile fibers in deliveries from sellers to buyers. They are also empowered to rate silk and other yarns and to state officially the standard or number thereof; that is, the ratio between the weight and length of yarns.

These bureaus are established pursuant to decrees rendered by the Council of State upon a report of the Minister of Commerce, such decrees fixing the tax that can be collected for the various operations performed. The use of these bureaus by merchants is not compulsory, but the estimates given are considered authentic and official.

There exist 10 bureaus for silk only, at Privas, Aubenas, Marseille, Valence, St. Etienne, Fourmies, Calais, Lyon, Paris, and Avignon; two for wool only, at Reims and Mazamet; and five for silk, wool, and cotton, at Roanne, Le Cateau, Roubaix, Tourcoing, and Amiens.

TESTING OFFICES FOR FIREARMS.

Public testing offices, intended to test the strength of all firearms before they can be placed on the market, are established in virtue of decrees rendered by the Council of State and fixing the tax to be collected for the service.

Recourse to these testing offices used to be compulsory, but is no longer so, the law of 1885 having established the complete freedom of the manufacture and trade in all kinds of commercial arms. Two testing offices are at present in existence, at Paris and at St. Etienne. Both are controlled and operated by the local chambers of commerce.

PROFESSIONS UNDER MINISTER OF COMMERCE.

EMIGRATION AGENTS.

No emigration agency can be established without authority from the Minister of Commerce. Operations of agents are strictly under the control of the Department.

Only 14 emigration agencies are at present authorized in France, four of them being operated by the three leading French steamship companies (Chargeurs Réunis, Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, and Société Générale des Transports Maritimes à Vapeur) and by the Holland-America Steamship Co. Four other agencies exist in Paris, two in Marseille and one each at Bordeaux, Modane, Havre, and La Rochelle.

Special police officers, designated as special commissaries of commerce, are located at Havre and Marseille, their duties including the control of the local emigration agencies, as well as supervision of the bonded warehouses at these ports.

LICENSED BROKERS AND STOCKBROKERS.

All stockbrokers, marine brokers, and ship brokers have to be appointed by a decree of the President of the Republic, upon nomination by the Minister of Commerce. Exception is made for stockbrokers on the Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Lille, Toulouse, and Nantes stock exchanges, who are appointed upon nomination by the Minister of Finance.

Stockbrokers have the exclusive privilege of dealing in all classes of securities and public papers on which a quotation can be made. Insurance brokers are the only persons licensed, together with notaries, to draw up insurance policies or contracts and to certify to the contents thereof and the amount of premium paid.

Marine brokers and ship brokers are the only persons licensed to deal in charters and to translate charter parties, bills of lading, and the statements of captains or shipowners or other parties before the competent courts, and generally to act as interpreters for foreigners in all legal affairs and in relations with the public authorities. They are also the sole parties licensed to state freight rates officially.

All stock or ship brokers have to furnish a cash security. Brokers of all classes, if they retire (or their widows, children, or heirs, in case of death), are authorized to present a successor to the office, provided this successor fulfills the requirements prescribed by law, these offices being limited in number and passed on for a money compensation. The profession of general merchandise broker is free and under no special control and not limited in number.

The broker service organization in Algeria is different from that of continental France, ship brokers there being appointed by the General Governor of Algeria, and the office not being transferable from the owner to his successor for a compensation or otherwise. Neither is the number of offices limited.

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