Petrović, Nikola: Hajózás és gazdálkodás a Közép-Duna-Medencében a merkantilizmus korában (Vajdasági Tudományos és Művészeti Akadémia, Novi Sad - Történelmi Intézet, Beograd, 1982)
Summary
brewery in Apatin and a distillery in Kula. It was developing steep farming too. But all these ventures were in a bad state by 1826. Generally, it strived to invest as little and get out as much as possible. There were constant clashes between it and the peasants, over the taxes in kind and labour. Some examples of these are given. The overlapping of the two different economic orders within the same enterprise was inevitably leading to complications. There was also many conflicts between the Hungarian Chamber and the company. For example, in 1816 and 1817, contrary to the contract, the company refused to give help to the peasants of seven villages in western Baőka who had been badly hit by a poor crops and drought. On the other hand, it claimed that it „generously supported other institutions", e.g. by contributing some 12 000 forints to the building of the „Ludovica" military academy. Although without the company archives, which have disappeared for good, no reconstruction of its business affairs can be made, it may nevertheless be concluded that it was concerned above all to pay high dividents to its shareholders, but neglected the canal and the estates and badly exploited the peasants. When the lease and the concession expired, in 1826, and negotiations for their renewal began, the state's first request was that in the future the two matters should be treated separately. As the company had refused to sign such a contract, the Hungarian Chamber took over the management of the estates again, in November 1826. Thereupon, the company refused to extend the contract« for the canal and threatened to go into liquidation! The problem was discussed at the shareholders' annual meeting in February, 1827, without Aponyi, who had died in 1817. The company representatives announced that they would leave the Danube—Tisa canal to its fate, in spite of the thousands of bushels of wheat waiting along its banks to be transported to Vienna. By that time the canal was already playing an important role in the economic life of the Habsburg empire. The emperor ordered that a joint commission be formed by the Regent Council and the Hungarian Chamber. This commission the provincial authorites and came to unambigous conclusion that the maintenance of the canal was definite by in the interest of all branches of the economy in the central Danube Basin. But the commission was unreservedly against the state's taking over the management of the canal. In November, 1827, the company again refused to run the canal without the estates. Moreover, it was prepared to hand it over to the state for nothing. The canal was already in a bad state. 511
