that the free port was economically non-viable: he said it could have been made competitive only with lower operating costs. This was not the case; the port of Fiume prospered only because it was generously subsidised by the Hungarian government and this would end if it gained independence. Fiume needed a state prepared to invest in the city economy concerning the port. In his reply to Ossoinack, Wilson proposed that Fiume had to be proclaimed a Free State, as a new solution. When the British delegate Balfour refused the project of annexing Fiume, the Italian delegation of Orlando and Sonnino left the conference in protest on 24 April 1919. References Ossoinack, Andrea. Perché Fiume dev’essere italiana, Fiume, 1919. Ossoinack, Andrea. Perché Fiume deve essere Porto Franco, Fiume, 1922. Further reading 1876 births 1965 deaths Politicians from Rijeka Hungarian politicians