rice plantations. Under an Act of 1944 "certain other kinds of rural workers were extended benefits previously granted urban employees." In addition, an Agricultural Workers’ Code, which was enacted in October 1946, south to provide "general coverage to rural workers on such matters as wages, housing, weekly rest and annual holidays, unfair dismissal, etc." Wage councils were set up by a law of November 1943, while systematic legislation for dealing with compensation for dismissal was adopted in 1944. The coverage of family allowances and unemployment subsidies was also extended, while a number of other labor laws were carried out, concerning such matters as vacations, working hours and health insurance. World War II Admiral Graf Spee On 13 December 1939, the Battle of the River Plate was fought a day's sailing northeast of Uruguay between three British cruisers and the German "pocket battleship" . After a three-day layover in the port of Montevideo, the captain of Admiral Graf Spee, believing he was hopelessly outnumbered, ordered the ship scuttled on 17 December. Most of the surviving crew of 1,150 were interned in Uruguay and Argentina and many remained after the war. A German Embassy official in Uruguay has said that his government sent an official letter claiming ownership of the vessel. Any German claim would be invalid because, early in 1940, the Nazi government sold salvaging rights of the vessel to a Uruguayan businessman who was acting on behalf of the British government, and any salvaging rights would have expired under Uruguayan law. In June 1940, Germany threatened to break off diplomatic relations with Uruguay. In December, Germany protested that Uruguay gave safe harbor to after it was attacked by a Nazi raider. The ship was repaired with steel plate reportedly salvaged from Admiral Graf Spee. International relations On 25 January 1942, Uruguay terminated its diplomatic relations with Nazi Germany, as did 21 other Latin American nations (Argentina did not). In February 1945, Uruguay signed the Declaration by United Nations and subsequently declared war on the Axis powers but did not participate in any actual fighting. Collapse of the Uruguayan miracle Uruguay reached the peak of its economic prosperity thanks to the Second World War and the Korean War, when it reached the highest per capita income in Latin America. The country supplied beef, wool, and leather to the Allied armies. In 1946, a Batlle loyalist, Tomás Berreta, was elected to Presidency,