The harbour of La Plata, 3 miles from the town, contains about 2700 yards of quays and immense warehouses, capable of storing 600,000 sacks of grain. It is the terminus of the lines of railway serving the richest districts of the Province of Buenos Ayres, and is destined to undergo further developments, as the provincial Government intends to connect it with the agricultural centres by a network of light railways. This is the principal port to-day for the exportation of the agricultural products of the central Pampa. On account of the economic importance of this port, the State has taken it over from the provincial Government, in consideration of a price of £2,360,000, with a view to nationalising it and exploiting it for the benefit of the Argentine State. This measure will allow of the organisation and the improvements which may be necessitated by the increase of its traffic. On the other hand, there is constant talk of connecting the port with that of Buenos Ayres by a canal some 29 miles long, which would form an artificial extension of both harbours. Rosario holds second place in the Argentine, both in the matter of population and in the extent of its trade. It is the true agricultural capital of the Republic, and the principal outlet of eight Provinces, which use the Parana as their waterway. In his little book on the port of Rosario, M. G. Hersent speaks of the advantages of its situation in the following terms:—— “Situated in the very centre of an immense tract of country which is extremely rich and fertile, which to-day furnishes more than half the cereals exported by the whole Republic, Rosario is the necessary outlet of the harvests of nearly the whole Province of Santa Fé of the whole of Córdoba, and of a portion of Entre Rios; three provinces, whose area is almost equal to that of France. It is the market for the sugars and alcohols of Tucuman, the timber of Catamarca, and the minerals of Rioja and Chaco, which are so far exploited only in a rudimentary fashion. “In order to fulfil this economic need of vital importance to the country, Rosario enjoys the most complete and efficacious means of access and penetration. Five great railroads converge upon it, bringing to it all the products of the interior, especially grain and cattle. This network of lines, whose rapid creation has been one of the most powerful factors of the development of Rosario, already contains more than 2700 miles of permanent way; in 1899 the traffic in the Rosario district already amounted to 3,400,000 tons of merchandise, consisting chiefly of the produce of the soil. The extension of this railway system is proceeded with in a more or less continuous manner, so as to increase the value and the opening up of new countries. Very shortly the line to Bolivia will have its terminus in Rosario.