BONDS MAY BE GIVEN BY AN IMPORTER TO AN INTERIOR PORT. It is stated in the Union, on the authority of the United States Treasury Department, that in order to facilitate the transmission of merchandise in bond from a port of entry to any interior port of delivery, under the act of 28th March, 1854, the importer of any goods, wares, or merchandise, residing at an interior port of delivery, and desiring to have the merchandise transported in bond, can produce his invoice to the surveyor or designated collector of the interior port, take the oath or oaths required by law, and execute the transportation bond according to the prescribed form, with proper sureties, before the surveyor or collector of the port, who is required to certify on said bond a sufficiency of the sureties, and transmit the bond to the collector of the port of importation; and the bond so taken is as valid and binding as though executed in the office of the collector where the entry is made. The invoice, with the oath attached, can be transmitted by the importer to his agent or attorney at the port where the goods are expected to arrive; who, upon their arrival, is to present the transportation entry, with bill or bills of lading therefor, in the form and setting forth the particulars required; after which, the same proceedings are to be had as in other entries for transportation under bond from one port to another in the United States. PORTS WHERE SUCH BONDS CAN BE EXECUTED. The interior ports of delivery at which bonds can be so executed, and goods transported under them, are Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Cincinnati, Ohio; Louisville and Paducah, Kentucky; Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville, Tennessee; St. Louis, Missouri; Wheeling, Virginia; Evansville, Jeffersonville, and New Albany, Indiana; Alton, Cairo, Galena, and Quincy, Illinois; Burlington, Keokuk, and Dubuque, Iowa; and Tuscumbia, Alabama. TIME OF TRANSPORTATION BOND IN UNITED STATES. If the port to which the merchandise is to be transported be not more than one hundred miles distant by the route proposed, the time inserted in the bond shall be twenty days; if over one hundred, and less than two hundred and fifty miles, thirty days; if over two hundred and fifty, and less than five hundred miles, sixty days; and if over five hundred miles, ninety days; but if the distance be over two hundred and fifty miles, the collector may, at the instance of the party, allow thirty additional days. Nine months will be allowed for transportation of merchandise in bond between the Atlantic and Pacific ports of the United States around Cape Horn, and four months by other routes between these ports. If the transportation within the time prescribed is retarded by accident or other unavoidable cause, on regular protest and due proof of the accident or other unavoidable cause, the collector may receive the goods, or any part thereof, within a reasonable time thereafter. THE STOREKEEPER OF A PORT IN THE UNITED STATES. The deputy collector is the ex officio storekeeper of the port, and has the general superintendence of the warehouse business. The warehouse superintendent and storekeeper at the several stores, with the clerks employed on the store accounts, and on the warehouse business generally, are under his immediate direction, subject, however, to the control and supervision of the collector of the port. In order to enforce a proper responsibility on the part of collectors for merchandise in bond, these officers are required to account for the duties arising on merchandise entered at their respective districts for warehousing or re-warehousing with the same particularity as to details as they are now required to account for the duties on goods entered for consumption. REGULATIONS AT FRONTIER PORTS OF THE UNITED STATES. On the arrival of merchandise at a frontier port, and the due delivery of the manifest or manifests by the master or conductor, the collector or other proper officer of the customs is required immediately, if the goods be forwarded under locks, to remove such lock or locks from the car or cars, and carefully inspect and examine the packages by the manifest or manifests, to ascertain whether they agree with the description contained therein, and whether they have been in any way violated. The same comparison and examination will also be required of the cording, sealing, and branding, to see that no alteration or fabrication of the seals or brands has taken place. Should the goods be found not to agree with the manifest, or should there be any reason to believe that any violation, alteration, or fabrication has occurred, the collector must take immediate possession of the goods, and send a statement of the case to the department, at the same time notifying the collector of the port from which the goods were forwarded. If the packages, however, be found to agree in all respects with the manifests, the cords, seals, and brands unbroken and intact, the collector or other officer will permit the same to be sent forward without detention to their destination in the province designated. Should the merchandise arrive at the frontier port before the receipt of the triplicate entry, it will not be detained there for that reason, but will be inspected and checked by the manifest. When the entry shall have been received it will be compared with the manifest or manifests, and if it shall appear that all the packages described therein have passed inspection, and been duly delivered to be forwarded to their final destination, the collector shall furnish to the exporter or his agent a certificate of the same. TRANSPORTATION ROUTES FOR MERCHANDISE IN BOND. The following routes for the transportation of merchandise in bond from one port of entry to another port of entry, or delivery, have been authorized by the Treasury Department:-From the ports of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, to Pittsburg, Wheeling, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, Nashville, Natchez, Evansville, New Albany, Burlington, (Vermont,) Sackett's Harbor, Rochester, Oswego, Lewiston, Buffalo, Ogdensburg, Plattsburg, Cape Vincent, Erie, Toledo, Sandusky, Cleveland, Detroit, Michilimackinac, Chicago, and Milwaukie, by canal, railroad, river, or lake, wholly or in part, as the party may select in his entry. Also, from a port or ports on the Atlantic to any other port on the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, or the Pacific, or vice versa, by such route or conveyance as the party in his entry may select. Also, from the port of New Orleans to any port of entry or delivery on the Mississippi and its tributaries, and by such conveyance and route as the party selects in his entry. Also, from the ports of Charleston and Savannah to the ports of Knoxvlile, Nashville, and Memphis, by such conveyance and route as may be designated on the entry. Whatever mode of transportation may be adopted, whether by land or water, or partly by land and partly by water, the route is required to be set forth and particularly described in the entry. RATES OF LABOR AND STORAGE IN THE PUBLIC STORES. The charge for storing goods deposited in the public stores must be at the usual rate at that port, and the charge for labor at these stores must be at a rate that will remunerate the government. If collectors fail to demand and receive the amounts due for the storage and labor accruing in public stores, or the pay of an officer required in private stores, they will be charged with such sums in their quarterly accounts by the commissioner of customs. PACKING AND REPACKING MERCHANDISE. All merchandise in public or private bonded warehouses in the United States may be examined at any time during the business hours of the port by the importer, consignee, or agent, who shall have liberty to take samples of his goods in quantities according to the usage of the port; make all needful repairs of packages, and to repack the same, provided the original contents are placed in the new package, and the original marks and numbers placed thereon, in the mode prescribed in the seventy-fifth section of the act of 2d March, 1799, and thirty-second section of the act of 1st March, 1823; provided that no samples shall be taken, nor shall any goods be exhibited or examined, unless under the immediate supervision of an inspector of the customs, and by order of the importer, owner, or consignee, at his expense; nor shall any package be repaired, or goods repacked, without a written order from the collector of the port. PENALTY. The penalty for failure to transport and deliver bonded merchandise, withdrawn from warehouse for transportation in the United States, within the time limited in the transportation bond provided for by the sixth section of the act of 28th March, 1854, is deemed and taken to be an additional duty of 100 per cent on the invoice or appraised value of the merchandise so withdrawn. Thus, if the value of the merchandise be $400, and the rate of duty 25 per cent, the duty to be secured by the bond will be $100, and the additional duty of 100 per cent, $400-making the sum of $500 to be collected in case of non-compliance with the condition of the obligation in the bond. PENALTIES IF GOODS ARE RELANDED IN THE UNITED STATES. By the fourth section of the act of August 80, 1852, authorizing the exportation of merchandise in bond by certain routes to Mexico, it is provided that no goods, wares, or merchandise exported out of the limits of the United States, according to the provisions of that act, shall be voluntarily landed and brought into the United States; and that if landed or brought into the United States, they shall be forfeited, and the same proceedings will be had for their condemnation and the distribution of the proceeds as in other cases of forfeiture of goods illegally imported; and all persons concerned in the voluntary landing or bringing such goods into the United States, shall be liable to a penalty of $400. It will be necessary to maintain a great vigilance along the frontier of the Rio Grande to prevent the illegal introduction of merchandise into the United States. In all cases of this description that are discovered, the full penalties of the law will be rigorously enforced. EXPORTS TO CANADA AND OTHER BRITISH PROVINCES. Merchandise intended for exportation to the adjacent British provinces can be forwarded from the ports of importation in the United States by way of any of the following designated ports :-Rouse's Point, Ogdensburg, Cape Vincent, Suspension Bridge, Lewiston, Buffalo, Oswego, Rochester, Dunkirk, and Plattsburg, New York; Burlington, Swanton, Alburg, and Island Pond, Vermont; Detroit, Michigan; Eastport, Maine; and Pembina, Minnesota. WAREHOUSE AND TRANSPORTATION ENTRY. The Union states, on the authority of the Treasury Department, that on the arrival from any foreign port of goods destined for immediate transportation to other ports of the United States, the warehousing and transportation may be combined in one entry; the oaths to be the same as prescribed in the warehouse entry. CARTAGE, DRAYAGE, OR LIGHTERAGE OF GOODS IN BOND. All goods in bond, whether passing from the vessel or other conveyance in which imported to the warehouse, or from one vessel or conveyance to another vessel or conveyance, or from the warehouse, on permits of transportation or exportation, all unclaimed goods, and all goods ordered to the appraiser's store for examination, are carted, drayed, or lightered, by the custom-house cartmen, draymen, or lightermen unemployed, and at all ports by persons specially authorized by the collector or other chief revenue officer. The intention is, that bonded goods shall at all times be in the custody of the officers of the customs, or their authorized agents. Such persons are subject to the orders of the collector, and are held to a strict compliance with all the warehouse rules and regulations. The officers are in all cases required, whether at the vessel or warehouse, to give the cartmen, &c., a ticket descriptive of the merchandise delivered to them, and designating the store, vessel, or other place to which it is to be taken, which ticket is to be returned to the officer from whom the merchandise was received, duly receipted by the officer to whom the merchandise was delivered. The cartmen, draymen, and lightermen are held responsible for the safe conveyance of all merchandise delivered to them, and for the good condition of all delivered by them. If they neglect or refuse to convey all merchandise required of them to the public stores or elsewhere as soon as it is ready, on report to the collector, they are subject to dismissal from further employment. ENTRY OF MERCHANDISE FOR CONSUMPTION. The entry for consumption must state in full all the particulars required, together with the invoice and bill of lading, and must be presented at the collector's office to the clerks charged with the duty of examining it. When examined, if found correct, it is the duty of the clerks to estimate the duties on the invoice value and quantity, certify to the invoice, and make out a permit in the form prescribed in the act of 1799. The entry and accompanying papers are then taken to the naval officer, who makes a like examination, and if it is found to be correct, checks the entry, invoice, and permit. The papers are then taken to a deputy collector, who administers the oath, designates the package or packages to be sent to the appraiser's store for examination, marking the same on the invoice, entry, and permit. If the importer desires to avail himself of the privilege given by the act of May 28, 1880, and obtain possession of his goods by giving the bond required by the fourth section of that act, he must give this bond, pay the duties as estimated, and send his permit to the vessel in which his goods were imported; but if he prefers to await the examination by the appraisers, it is the duty of the collector, after having administered the oath and directed what packages are to be examined, to issue an order to the officer on board the vessel, and send the invoice by a messenger to the appraiser's store. IMPORTERS' BOND FOR MERCHANDISE. Merchants receiving frequent importations may, to obviate inconveniences which would be felt in giving the penal bond prescribed in the fourth section of the act of the 28th of May, 1830, for each importation, give one in lieu thereof running for a period not exceeding six months. In each case it is the duty of the collector to see that the security provided by the bond is substantial with regard to the pecuniary ability of the obligors. Great care is required to be taken by the collectors and other officers of the customs in the proceedings in the importations, so as to insure beyond doubt the sufficiency of the bond should the United States be compelled to resort to it. THE RETURN OF CUSTOM-HOUSE APPRAISERS. The appraisers, in every case, are required to make their report or return of appraisement in writing, and to sign the same, not by the initials of their names, but in full. The report or return is to be written on the invoice, if practicable. If not, on a separate paper to be permanently attached to the invoice. The return of the appraisers is to describe, in all cases, the character or class of the merchandise, as nearly as possible, in the terms of the tariff, and state under what schedule, in their opinion, it falls, for the information of the collector or naval officer. POSTAL DEPARTMENT. MODIFICATION OF PRUSSIAN-AMERICAN POSTAL TREATY. The rates of postage for the correspondence between the United States and foreign countries, passing through the German Postal Union, under the Prussian-American Postal Convention, have undergone some slight modification since the publication of the foreign postage table of March 1, 1855, and the following list embraces all the countries and places to which letters and newspapers may be forwarded in said closed mail, with the necessary alterations. Postmasters should compare this with, and note the alterations upon, the postage table above referred to. PREPAYMENT OPTIONAL. German-Austrian Postal Union, States of, viz. :-Prussia, all other German ..cents 30 China, except Hong Kong, via Trieste...... ...cents East Indies, English possessions in, via Trieste... 38 38 Egypt, except Alexandria.. 38 62 70 Turkey, Wallachia, Moldavia, Servia, Levante, and Turkish Islands in the Med- 30 |