Further Report On The Free Port Of Copenhagen

2 DENMARK. Report on the New Free Port of Copenhagen. Abstract of Contents. PAGE General remarks : Advantages and aims of the Free Port.. .. .. 2 Cost: How raised and how to be repaid .. .. .. .. .. 4 Description of the port and its principal buildings .. .. .. .. 6 Table of Danish weights and measures .. .. .. .. .. 10 Appendices— I. Tariff of charges .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 11 II. Free Port regulations .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 25 III. Free Port Warrant Act (Section 2) .. .. .. .. .. 29 IV. Pro formå account for ship entering the Port of Copenhagen .. 30 V. Ministerial decree abolishing port dues in Denmark and substi- tuting a uniform tax on goods .. .. .. .. .. 31 Its ad- vantages. Rbasons for its 1: tublishment. Supposed dangers of The opening of the Free Port of Copenhagen on November 9, 1894, has placed at the disposal of international commerce a new harbour, admirably situated, at the mouth of the Baltic, and by its geographical position the natural entrepôt for the whole Scan- dinavian and Baltic trade. The new port is easy of access in all weathers, and is furnished with every appliance that scientific ingenuity has been able to devise. That a nation with a popula- tion of little over 2,000,000, and a budget of no more than 3,000,000/. sterling, should have attempted so important a venture is a credit alike to the energy and patriotism of the Danes. Opinions differ as to the measure of success awaiting the under- taking, and it would require a knowledge far greater than mine accurately to estimate in what degree it will be of benefit to British commerce ; but there can be no difference of opinion as to the example of pluck and enterprise which its establishment has given to the world, an example which, at a time when foreign competition is becoming increasingly keen, may well be laid to heart by other nations. Though much has been written to the contrary, it would be a mistake to look upon the Copenhagen Free Port as intended merely as a countermove on the part of Denmark to the creation by Germany of the Holstein Canal. The Danes are, doubtless, ready to profit by the example of commercial energy which has been set by Germany, but, while the new canal may well add to the prosperity of Hamburg, there is no reason, I think, to fear that it will have a detrimental effect on that of Denmark. Canals at best are but an unsatisfactory method of communication, and there is no reason that there should be any appreciable diminution, except in small German ships of the traffic round the Skaw. The canal dues and fees for pilotage will, in all reasonable proba- bility, more than outbalance the saving of 10 hours which would be gained by a ship from Dover bound for a Baltic port—ships from ports north of Dover would, of course, profit still less, and in the case of the Scotch ports the passage round the north of Denmark is an actual saving of time. A good deal lias been made of the dangers of the Skaw passage, but Her Majesty’s Vice-Consul at Lemvig, Mr. Andersen, who is 5