mployed who have displayed
especial efficiency and good conduct. The rates of wages are determined
semi-annually by a board of officers, who ascertain the wages paid by
private establishments in the vicinity of the navy yard. Eight hours
constitute the legal work day. When emergencies necessitate longer hours
the workmen are paid at the ordinary rate plus 50%.

The nature and extent of work to be performed upon naval vessels is
determined by the secretary of the navy; the commandant then issues the
necessary orders. The material required is obtained by a system of
requisitions, which provide for the purchase from the lowest bidder
after open competition. Heads of departments initiate the purchase of
materials which are peculiar to their own work; ordinary commercial
articles, however, are usually carried in a special stock called the
"Naval Supply Fund," which may be drawn upon by any head of department.
All materials are inspected, both as to quantity and quality, by a board
of inspectors consisting of three officers.

_France._--The French coast is divided into five naval
arrondissements, which have their headquarters at the five naval ports
of which Cherbourg, Brest and Toulon are the most important, Lorient
and Rochefort being of lesser degree. All are building and fitting-out
yards. Corsica, which has naval stations at Ajaccio, Porto Vecchio,
Bonifacio and other places, is a dependency of the arsenal at Toulon.
On the African coast there are docking facilities in Algeria. Bizerta,
the Tunisian port, has been made a naval base by the deepening and
fortifying of the canal which is the approach to the inner lake. There
are arsenals also at Saigon and Hai-phong, and an establishment at
Diego Suarez.

The subsidiary establishments in France are the gun foundry at Ruelle;
the steel and iron works at Guerigny, where anchors, chains and
armour-plate are made; and the works at Indret, on an island in the
lower Loire, where machinery is constructed. There are many private
shipbuilding establishments in the country, the most important being
the Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranee at La Seyne, on the lesser
roadstead at Toulon where many French and foreign warships of the
largest classes have been built. The same company has a building yard
at Havre. Other establishments are the Ateliers et Chantiers de la
Loire, at Saint Nazaire; the Normand Yard, at Havre; and the Chantiers
d