The war minister is the head of the army. In war the Govern ment appoints a commander-in-chief to control operations and command the troops under the war ministry. There is a supreme council for national defence, of which either the President or the prime minister acts as chairman, a chief of the army staff, and inspectorates of the various arms.
In addition to the Central Schools mentioned above, there is a military college, military school and schools for all arms of the service, for motor drivers and for military administration. Certain ports in the Azores have been classed as fortresses, but Lisbon is the only one that is provided with any modern defences. The army air force is being reorganized in one offensive and defensive group, one bombing group, and one observation group, each of 2 squadrons; and a train and depot squadron. The air service in cludes a command headquarters and inspectorate, aeroplane and balloon departments, anti-aircraft defence, and flying schools. There are 59 instructional machines of various types ; 14 bombing machines of which 12 are Breguet 14 A2 type; 14 scouts of which 10 are of Vickers-Valparaiso type ; and 14 fighters, of "Squad VII." type.
See also League of Nations Armaments Year-book (Geneva 1928). (G. G. A.) Navy.—The fleet of Portugal consists (1928) of two old cruisers, the "Vasco da Gama" (1876, reconstructed 1902), the "Adamaston" (1896, refitted 1919-22) ; two sloops (ex-British fleet sweeping vessels) ; five destroyers; five torpedo boats; four submarines; and 18 miscellaneous craft. The personnel consists
of 725 officers and 4,445 men. There is a minister of marine, who is a member of the Council for National Defence. (E. A.) Agriculture.—Portugal is primarily an agricultural country, 6o% of the population being engaged in agricultural pursuits, though there are signs that the country, like so many Continental states, is becoming industrialized. The land is exceedingly fertile owing to its sunny and moist climate ; yet more than a third of the land awaits exploitation. The principal handicap to agricultural development is the lack of adequate transport facilities. The roads have not been adequately repaired for 15 or 20 years, and their condition is estimated to have doubled the cost of transport.
The state railways have also fallen into a serious state of dis repair and consequently it has been found cheaper to import wheat direct from the Argentine than to send supplies to the north of Portugal from the Alentejo. Lack of fertilizers is another serious handicap. The most valuable crop is wheat, the harvest averag ing 230,000 tons annually. The country, however, is compelled to import between Ioo,000 to 150,000 tons of wheat annually, despite the efforts of successive Governments to encourage wheat growing.
Wine is the principal product of Portugal, accounting for 50% of its exports; for the first six months of 1927 over one million pounds' worth of port wine was shipped to Great Britain. Table wines are produced all over the country, and are exported to Brazil and also to France.
Portugal is the third olive-producing country in the world, her olive-trees occupying an acreage of 750,000 and giving 12,760,000 gal. of oil. Other crops grown on a large scale are maize, rye, oats and barley. About 200,000 tons of potatoes are produced and there is a large export trade in fruit, mainly to England. Livestock is about equal in number to the population and an im portant industry is the production of corks which reaches about 70,000 tons annually.