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3. NEW BRITISH LIGHT-DUES ACT.

Following are the essential provisions of the British act ("Mercantile marine fund," 61 and 62 Victoria) changing the method of imposing light dues in Great Britain and Ireland, which took effect April 1, 1899:

(1) On and after the commencement of this act the general light-house authorities shall levy light dues with respect to the voyages made by ships or by way of periodical payment, and not with respect to the lights which a ship passes or from which it derives benefit, and the dues so levied shall take the place of the dues now levied by those authorities.

(2) The scale and rules set out in the second schedule of this act shall have effect for the purpose of the levying of light dues in pursuance of this act; but Her Majesty may, by order in council, alter either generally or with respect to particular classes of cases the scale or rules and the exemptions therefrom.

(3) Before any order in council is made under this section, the draft thereof shall be laid before each house of Parliament for not less than thirty days on which the house is sitting, and if either house, before the expiration of the thirty days during which the draft has been laid before it, presents an address to Her Majesty against the draft, or any part thereof, no further proceedings shall be taken thereon; but this shall be without prejudice to the making of any new draft order.

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(6) On proof to the satisfaction of the board of trade that a British ship has during any financial year carried, in accordance with the scale and regulations to be made by the board of trade, with the concurrence of the treasury, boys between the ages of fifteen and nineteen, there shall be paid to the owner of the ship, out of moneys provided by Parliament, an allowance not exceeding one-fifth of the light dues paid during that year in respect of that ship: Provided, That no such payment shall be made in respect of any boy unless he has enrolled himself in the royal naval reserve and entered into an obligation to present himself for service when called upon, in accordance with rules to be issued by the admiralty. The scale and regulations aforesaid may be modified from time to time by the board of trade, with the concurrence of the treasury.

This section shall continue in force until the thirty-first day of March, one thousand nine hundred and five, and no longer, unless Parliament otherwise enact.

LIGHT DUES.

Scale of payments.

1. One penny per ton per voyage for home-trade sailing ships.

2. Two pence farthing per ton per voyage for foreign-going sailing ships.

3. One penny half penny per ton per voyage for home trade steamers.

4. Two pence three farthings per ton per voyage for foreign-going steamers.

5. An annual payment in the place of the payments per voyage of one shilling per ton for tugs and pleasure yachts.

Rules.

(1) A ship shall not in any year be required to make payments on account of light dues

(a) If the ship is a home-trade ship, for more than ten voyages; and
(b) If the ship is a foreign-going ship, for more than six voyages; and

(c) If the ship makes voyages during the year both as a home-trade and as a foreign-going ship, for more than ten voyages, counting each voyage made as a foreign-going ship as a voyage and a half: Provided, That no steamer shall be required to pay more than one shilling and four pence half-penny per ton, and that no sailing vessel shall be required to pay more than one shilling and a penny halfpenny per ton in any year.

(2) A ship shall not pay dues both as a home-trade ship and as a foreign-going ship for the same voyage, but a ship trading from a port outside home-trade limits, and discharging cargo or landing passengers or mails at any port within home-trade limits, shall be deemed to be on one voyage as a foreign-going ship until she has arrived at the last port of discharge of cargo or passengers brought from beyond home-trade limits; and a ship trading to à port outside home-trade limits, and loading cargo or receiving passengers or mails at any port within home-trade limits, shall be deemed to be on one voyage as a foreign-going ship from the time she starts from the first port of loading cargo or passengers destined for a port beyond home-trade limits.

(3) The voyage of a home-trade ship shall be reckoned from port to port, but a home-trade ship shall not be required to pay dues for more than three voyages in one month.

(4) The voyage of a foreign-going ship trading outwards shall be reckoned from the first port of lading in the United Kingdom or the Isle of Man of cargo destined for a port outside home-trade limits.

(5) The voyage of a foreign-going ship trading inwards shall be reckoned from her last port of lading outside home-trade limits to the last port in the United Kingdom or the Isle of Man at which any cargo laden outside those limits is discharged.

(6) Dues payable per voyage under this act shall be payable and collected only at ports where a ship loads or discharges cargo or passengers or mail.

(7) The annual payments shall be payable at the commencement of the year in respect of which they are made, provided that a new vessel shall pay only one penny per ton for each month after the commencement of her first voyage till the first of April following.

(8) For the purposes of these rules

(a) A ship's tonnage shall be reckoned as under the merchant-shipping act, 1894, for dues payable on a ship's tonnage, with the addition required in section eightyfive of that act with respect to the deck cargo, or in the case of an unregistered vessel, in accordance with the Thames measurement adopted by Lloyd's Register. (b) A year shall be reckoned from the day of the month on which this act

commences.

EXEMPTIONS.

There shall be exempted from dues under this schedule

Her Majesty's ships.

Ships belonging to foreign governments.

Sailing ships (not being pleasure yachts) of less than one hundred tons and all ships (not being pleasure yachts) of less than twenty tons.

Vessels (other than tugs or pleasure yachts) when navigated wholly and bona fide in ballast, on which no freight is earned and without any passenger.

Ships putting in for bunker coal, stores, or provisions for their own use on board. Vessels for the time being employed in sea fishing or in sea-fishing service, exclusive of vessels used for catching fish otherwise than for profit.

Ships putting in from stress of weather, or for the purpose of repairing, or because of damage, provided they do not discharge or load cargo other than cargo discharged with a view to such repairs, and afterwards reshipped.

Yachts and pleasure boats of under five-tons registered shipping tonnage.

4. FRENCH TONNAGE TAXES.

Following is the complete text of the French law imposing tonnage taxes, which went into effect on January 1, 1898:

ARTICLE 1. Vessels of any nationality, laden wholly or partly, arriving from a foreign country or a French colony other than Algeria, will pay quay dues in the ports of France and Algeria, according to the following scale:

One franc per ton of the net tonnage if the total number of metric tons of 1,000 kilograms of merchandise landed or shipped exceeds one-half the net tonnage of the ship.

Fifty centimes per ton if the merchandise landed or shipped is less than one-half and more than one-fourth of the total net tonnage.

Twenty-five centimes per ton if the quantity is less than a fourth and more than a tenth of the net tonnage.

Ten centimes per ton if the quantity is one-tenth of the net tonnage or less.

The quay dues are reduced one-half for vessels landing merchandise when the vessels have arrived from a port within the limits of international coasting trade as defined by the law of January 30, 1893 (ports of Europe and the Mediterranean), and also for vessels loading merchandise for a port situated within the same limits.

Vessels performing in the same port operations of discharging and loading will be charged separately for each operation according to the above tariff.

ART. 2. In case of successive calls in different ports, the quay dues will be levied in each port in accordance with the rules laid down in article 1, but in no case can the total dues on the voyage exceed 1 franc per ton on the net tonnage. The rate is reduced to 50 centimes per ton for vessels in the case provided for by paragraph 6 of article 1.

ART. 3. In calculating the tonnage of the operations each passenger shipped or landed shall be considered as the equivalent of a ton of merchandise; also each head of large cattle, horse, or mule. Each head of small animals shall be counted as a quarter of a ton. Passengers' luggage and the small provisions they may have with them for the voyage shall not be included in the quantity of merchandise landed or taken on board.

ART. 4. The quay dues in the preceding articles shall be levied in Algeria only on the merchandise, passengers, animals, and vehicles landed.

ART. 5. Victualing and coaling shall not be considered as commercial operations. ART. 6. Article 6 of the law of January 30, 1872, article 7 of the financial law of July 29, 1881, paragraph 1 of article 14 of the financial law of December 28, 1895, are repealed.

5. GERMAN TONNAGE AND LIGHT DUES.

Following are the laws imposing tonnage and light dues at Hamburg and at Bremen, Germany. These taxes are not imposed on shipping by the Imperial Government but by the government of each maritime state of the Empire. As the trade between the United States and Germany is almost exclusively with Hamburg and Bremen, it is not deemed necessary to consider here the tonnage and light dues imposed at minor German ports.

6. TONNAGE DUES AT HAMBURG, GERMANY.

In conjunction with the burgerschaft the senate has decreed, and hereby publishes as law, the following:

SECTION 1. The tonnage dues for seagoing vessels arriving here is to be paid on their net tonnage and shall amount to 10 pfennigs per cubic meter.

SEC. 2. The foregoing regulation is subject to the following modifications and exceptions:

I. Half of the tonnage dues, i. e., 5 pfennigs per cubic meter, shall be paid(1) By arriving seagoing vessels, the cargoes of which consist of nothing but coal, cinders, coke, patent fuel, lumber, empty bottles, kindling wood, cement, cement stones, chickory root, roofing tiles, ice, oak bark, oak tan bark, earth, slabs, gypsum, broken glass, herrings, charcoal, lime, limestone, clinkers, bone scum, bone black, chalk, empty jugs, bricks, kitchen and sea salt, sand, slate, cattle for slaughtering purposes, staves, stones, tarras, clay, ordinary earthenware, peet, trass stones, tufa stones, sugar scum.

(2) By all seagoing vessels of a smaller tonnage than 120 cubic meters.

(3) By all vessels arriving here, but not from the sea, that leave seaward with a cargo.

(4) By all vessels coming from sea, carrying nothing but ballast, provided they leave again with cargo.

II. Entirely exempt from the payment of tonnage dues are

(1) All vessels carrying nothing but ballast, provided they leave nere in ballast. (2) Vessels newly and entirely built on Hamburg territory but only for their direct return to this port from the port of destination of their first voyage outward. (3) The Hamburg whaling and sealing vessels, provided that on their outward voyage they are only equipped for the catch and it is proven that the incoming cargo consists only of products of their own catch.

(4) Seagoing vessels which only enter this port for the purpose of repairs in Hamburg yards, provided they at once leave the port without cargo after the completion of the repairs. Yachts, whether belonging to yacht clubs or private individuals, provided they arrive and depart without cargo.

(5) Seagoing vessels which return to this port on account of drift ice, storm, or average, after they have already paid the tonnage dues for this voyage, provided they again leave with the same cargo.

(6) Vessels arriving from sea with fish, oysters, lobsters, etc., as well as vessels for the transportation of passengers to and from Helgoland, Fohr, and Norderney, as long and as far as they only serve this purpose.

SEC. 3. The care for the collection and control of the tonnage dues belongs to the department of indirect taxes.

Every abridgment of the dues or evasion of the prescribed controls is punishable by fines of from 1 to 50 marks.

Given in the meeting of the senate, Hamburg, March 28, 1881.

Notice regarding the increasing of tonnage dues and of the tonnage tax for the quays.

In conjunction with the burgerschaft the senate has decreed, and hereby publishes as law, the following:

(1) From July 1 of this year the tonnage dues for seagoing vessels arriving here are to be 12 pfennigs and 6 pfennigs, respectively, per cubic meter net register, and sections 1 and 2 of the revised regulations, regarding the collection of tonnage dues of March 28, 1881, altered accordingly.

(2) The tonnage tax for the use of the quays and quay sheds from July 1 of this year, shall be 174 pfennigs, 3 pfennigs, and 12 pfennigs, respectively, per cubic meter net register, and Nos. Ia, Ib, and III of section 22 of the administration and tariff regulations of the quays of December 22, 1893, changed accordingly.

(3) The amounts of tonnage dues according to the tariff, of 10 and 5 pfennigs and the amounts of tonnage taxes for the quays of 15, 3, and 10 pfennigs, heretofore collected, shall in future also be paid by those vessels, which present a register issued before July 1, 1895, in accordance with German usage, and which is valid according to the provisions of section 39 of the regulations for the measuring of vessels of March 1, 1895.

Given in the meeting of the senate, Hamburg, July 12, 1895.

Notice regarding tonnage dues for vessels from German seaports.

In conjunction with the burgerschaft the senate has decreed, and hereby publishes as law, that there be added to section 2 of the revised regulations regarding the collection of tonnage dues, dated March 28, 1881, as No. 5 under I.

For all vessels arriving from sea which bring a cargo taken aboard entirely in German ports.

Given in the meeting of the senate, Hamburg, December 30, 1895.

7. TONNAGE AND LIGHT DUES AT BREMEN, GERMANY.

According to an agreement between the governments of Prussia, Oldenburg, and Bremen to amend the tariff published on June 2, 1877 (Journal, p. 45 ff), for the imposition of light and beacon dues on the river Weser, the amended tariff is hereby added to that which goes into effect on July 1 of this year.

Agreed to at Bremen in the meeting of the senate on the 25th and published on the 28th of June, 1895.

Tariff for the imposition of light and beacon dues on the river Weser.

For light and beacon dues on vessels of over 200 cubic meters net tonnage, 10 pfennigs per cubic meter, amended on account of a regulation published by the Government March 1, 1895, concerning the admeasurement of vessels (order on June 20, 1888) so that on the new measurement certificates issued for light and beacon dues for steamers of over 200 cubic meters net tonnage, 11 pfennigs for each cubic meter shall be charged.

Additional regulations.

(1) The dues for each entrance into the Weser are to be paid but once, and that at the port of the province where, after entrance, the cargo is discharged or where the first anchorage is made.

(2) Empty vessels or those in ballast and without passengers which have entered and which go out again empty or in ballast, without passengers, shall have returned to them one-half of the light and beacon dues paid by them.

(3) In the assessment of dues on measurement, one-half cubic meter or over is counted as 1 cubic meter. Smaller spaces are exempted.

Exemptions from the payment of light and beacon dues are as follows:

(1) Vessels and water craft of the Imperial German marine and such of the war vessels of foreign states which, according to regulation and in fact, practice reciprocity.

(2) Vessels which are the property of one of the interested states and which are used in improvements of the river or harbor.

(3) Vessels which enter on account of accident at sea or other misfortune, account of storms or stress of weather, and which clear without discharging or loading or without transferring the cargo in part or whole and leave again.

(4) Vessels which enter on account of having assisted stranded or wrecked vessels or which return therefrom, if they are not used exclusively for the storage of salvage.

(5) Lighters, when the lighter vessel or vessel loaded by lighters has paid the light and beacon dues.

(6) Tugs and towboats, when they are used strictly in the capacity for which they are intended.

(7) Vessels which are used for coastwise fishing.

8. ITALIAN TONNAGE-TAX LAW.

Following is a translation of the essential provisions of the Italian law, No. 318, of July 23, 1896, so far as tonnage or anchorage taxes are concerned:

ANCHORAGE TAXES.

ART. 20. Italian steam vessels and foreign steam vessels assimilated by treaty to Italian vessels, arriving at a port and engaged in commerce, shall pay an anchorage tax as follows:

(a) One and forty one-hundredths lira per net ton, if from a foreign port. (b) Fifty one-hundredths lira, if exclusively, engaged in the coasting trade. The anchorage taxes above can be commuted for a period of twelve months by paying three times the tax, respectively, imposed by paragraphs (a) and (b).

ART. 21. Italian sailing vessels and foreign sailing vessels assimilated by treaty to Italian vessels, coming from ports beyond the Mediterranean and engaged in commerce, shall pay the following anchorage taxes:

(a) Fifty one-hundredths lira per net ton, if the tonnage is 100 tons or less.

(b) Eighty one-hundredths lira per ton on each ton in excess of the first 100 tons. This tax shall hold good for all entries during the year.

ART. 22. Italian sailing vessels and foreign sailing vessels assimilated by treaty with Italian sailing vessels, entering solely from Mediterranean ports between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal, the Black Sea, the Sea of Marmora, and the Sea of Azoff, will pay the following anchorage taxes:

(a) Twenty one-hundredths lira per net ton on tonnage between 20 and 50 tons. (b) Forty one-hundredths lira on each ton between 50 and 100 tons.

(c) Sixty one-hundredths lira on each ton in excess of the first 100 tons.

This tax shall hold good for all entries during the year. Sailing vessels under 20 tons are exempt from anchorage tax.

ART. 23. Steam and sail vessels lading or discharging tons of merchandise not exceeding one-fifth or one-tenth of the net tonnage of the vessel shall pay, respectively, one-half or one-fourth of the anchorage tax.

Vessels lading or discharging a number of tons of merchandise not exceeding onetwentieth of the net tonnage of the vessel shall pay for each ton of merchandise discharged or laden a tax of 5 lire.

Vessels discharging or taking on cabin passengers solely, in lieu of anchorage tax shall pay a tax of 14 lire for each passenger disembarked or embarked.

[Minor provisions in detail.]

ART. 24. Italian vessels engaged in towing in an Italian port shall pay an annual anchorage tax of 0.50 lira for each indicated horsepower.

ART. 25. Following are exempt from anchorage taxes:

(a) All vessels of the Italian navy.

(b) All Government vessels of whatever nationality.

(c) All fishing vessels and small vessels carrying passengers or freight from one place to another in an Italian State, and certain small Italian licensed vessels. (d) Yachts.

9. MEXICAN TONNAGE-TAX LAW.

Following is a translation of the new Mexican tonnage-tax law, which went into effect October 1, 1898:

Porfirio Diaz, President of the United Mexican States, to the inhabitants thereof, know ye:

That in exercise of the power granted to the executive by article 2 of the budget law now in force, and issued on June 2 of last year, and considering:

First. That it is necessary to bring the old-fashioned legislation in the matter of taxes and dues of different kinds on ships arriving in Mexican ports into harmony with the present needs of foreign commerce.

Second. That the present light-house dues do not repose on an equitable basis, seeing that they are applied alike to all ships, irrespective of their capacity and with no other distinction than that between steamers and sailing vessels, thus occasioning an unjustifiable inequality in the tax to the benefit of vessels of large capacity, both steamers and sailing vessels.

Third. That the port-captaincy dues have no reason for existing, seeing that the captaincies themselves have been abolished, and that the special dues on the tonnage and draft of vessels, created by decree of May 28, 1881, to meet the expenditure occasioned by harbor improvements, are so defective as to call for immediate replacement by others, which shall be proportional to the benefits derived by commerce and navigation from improvements in the ports.

Fourth. That the tonnage dues collectible under articles 18 to 20 of the customhouse regulations upon shipping have to be borne wholly by sailing vessels, thus

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