• under the old regime; the variations of crops are mainly dependent on the season and the rains ; and if politics are to be brought in, the crop of the Bolshevist year 1920-21 was 52½ million quintals or almost as much as the Fascists' crop ! Fascism has even claimed credit for the increase in the traffic of the port of Genoa. But (a) the traffic increased 13 per cent. in 1922 as compared with 1921; (b) the increase in 1923, the Fascist year, was mainly due to arrivals of British coal, through the falling off of reparation coal from the Ruhr, and to increased imports of grain to make good the poor harvest of 1922. And, on the other hand, the taxes of ·Genoa have been increased. For instance, the tax on lighters has been increased from 5-20 to 30-100 lire. And the decree of September 15, 1923, has imposed the following fresh taxes: an additional 5 centesimi per ton on arrivals, with a further 5 centesimi for anchorage ; 50 lire per metric ton taken in or discharged ; 2 lire per railway wagon; 1 to 40 lire for ·every passenger. There is a charge of 2,400,000 lire per annum for the Fascist Militia now policing the port, and virtually employed on purely political duties. There has been a certain recrudescence of thefts. With Fascism there returned to the port the "Confidente" or "intermediario" or "sub-contractor," a parasitic figure whom the port organisations had succeeded in putting to flight. There are more dockworkers than formerly. And the '' Autonomous Port Consortium'' has been for more than a year under the control of a Royal Commissioner. 8. Public Debt. The public debt has, naturally, also been a refractory subject for the magic wand. Although the exceptional war expenditure has definitely come to an end, the debt has continued to increase, as is shown by the following table, from which the debt on account of fiduciary circulation, already dealt with (section 3) , has been excluded. ·to Biblioteca Gino Bianco
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