creating between the latter and steamships a discrimination, which, if it ever had any justification, ought not now to be preserved, considering the conditions of our foreign shipping interests.

Fifth. That the fact of the last-named dues being collected only on foreign vessels gives rise in other countries to the collection of differential duties on our ships and the merchandise carried by them, involving for our merchant marine a disadvantage that is not compensated by the exemption from these tonnage dues in home ports by reason of their sailing under the Mexican flag.

Sixth. That the difference between available cargo capacity of steamships and sailing vessels demands that in imposing a tax based on tonnage it shall be less in a suitable proportion on the former than on the latter.

Seventh. That it is preferable to take as a basis of the tax the gross capacity of vessels instead of the net capacity, owing to the drawbacks of the latter, the chief of which is that nearly all nations calculate said net capacity in different ways, in some cases with a tendency to underestimate it very considerably, and that if we do not accept the method of calculation adopted by each country it will be necessary for our custom-houses to measure the capacity of all foreign vessels arriving at our ports, undergoing all the difficulties and delays inseparable from such an undertaking. Eighth. That the steamers of lines having a fixed itinerary, and which are under the obligation of making regular and well-defined trips, afford obvious advantages to the trade of the country, and often even to the Government, owing to their carrying correspondence or performing some other public service, and that therefore they ought not to be on the same footing as other ships with respect to a tax of a general character on shipping trade.

Ninth. That foreign vessels, when engaged in the coastwise trade in the exceptional cases in which our laws countenance their doing such trade, have an advantage over Mexican vessels engaged in the same trade, both on account of the special facilities which they enjoy for such trade and on account of being exempt from the taxes to which native ships and the articles which they consume have to pay. I have seen fit to decree the following:

ARTICLE 1. The following taxes are hereby repealed:

I. The light-house dues payable under article 17 of the general custom-house regulations (la ordenanza general de aduanas).

II. The port captaincy due payable in accordance with the regulations of April 22, 1851, and referred to by the decree of September 4 and October 15, 1895.

III. The port dues created by Sections B and C, article 4, of the decree of May 28, 1881.

ART. 2. Articles 16, 18, 19, and 20 of the general custom-house regulations, with regard to tonnage dues, are also repealed, and said dues shall in future be collected in accordance with the provisions of the present decree.

ART. 3. Said tonnage dues shall be collected on every merchant vessel, Mexican or foreign, laden or in ballast, arriving at any port of the Republic. This due shall be paid on the basis of the gross tonnage of vessels, and shall be collected only when they arrive direct from some foreign port or locality. Its amount shall be as follows: I. For sailing vessels, ten cents per ton.

II. For steamships, six cents per ton.

ART. 4. Steamers belonging to international lines making regular trips to Mexican ports, under a fixed itinerary and with given days of departure, may enjoy in said ports included in their itinerary, a reduction of the tonnage dues in the following cases and conditions:

I. On the Pacific coast the reduction may be as high as seventy-five per cent for ships carrying the mails in the Mexican postal service, without receiving pecuniary remuneration from the Government of Mexico for said service or enjoying exemption from other dues; and as high as twenty-five per cent for vessels not engaged in the postal service or performing it in return for pecuniary compensation from the Government or exemption from some other tax or taxes.

II. On the Atlantic coast the reduction may be as high as fifty per cent, and shall be enjoyed only by vessels engaged in the mail service without compensation from the Mexican Government on that account or any other; that are not in receipt of a subsidy; and that do not enjoy exemption from any other tax or taxes.

In order to obtain the benefit of the reductions mentioned in the foregoing sections, the company desiring them must make a petition for them to the department of communications and public works, and said department shall determine the amount of the reduction to be granted, which shall be embodied in the company's charter or concession, the reduction being proportional not only to the services rendered by the line to commercial interests, but to the other obligations assumed by the company both with regard to the Government and the public in general. The company must also, in order to obtain the reduction, present its itinerary in due time to the department, which shall give to it its approval, if it is in accordance with the requirements of the charter or concession.

ART. 5. All the steamers of a line entitled to the reductions mentioned in the foregoing article, touching at a Mexican Atlantic port not included in the line's itinerary, shall pay the full tonnage dues, if said port is the first in this country at which the vessel touches in its trip; and if the vessel, after having enjoyed the benefit of the reduction from having called first at a Mexican port included in its itinerary, should afterwards call at some other port not included in said itinerary, it shall pay in the latter, as tonnage dues, the difference between the full dues and the sum it paid at the first port at which it touched.

The provisions of this article shall be complied with even though the vessel may make its extra call with the special authorization of the Government.

ART. 6. Mexican and foreign vessels, whether steam or sailing, shall not be subject to the tonnage dues mentioned in article 3, when they come under any one of the following descriptions:

I. Vessels coming direct from a Mexican port, in any other case than that mentioned in the foregoing article.

II. Ships engaged exclusively in fishing.

III. War ships.

IV. Vessels engaged exclusively in the postal, light-house, or other similar mission, either on behalf of the Government of the Republic or a foreign government, and not doing any commercial business either in freight or passengers.

V. Vessels arriving in distress.

VI. Pleasure craft or yachts doing no commercial business.

VII. Small vessels engaged in international trade between towns situated on the banks of rivers that form the boundary line of the Republic.

ART. 7. The gross tonnage of a vessel calculated at 2.83 cubic meters (or 100 English feet) per ton, and serving as the basis for the collection of port dues, shall be set forth in the general manifest of the vessel, or, in the absence of manifest, shall be declared by the captain when the official visit is made to the ship on its entering the port. The accuracy of the information must be proved by the presentation to the custom-house employees of the original registry of the ship or some document equally authentic, showing its capacity.

The custom-house authorities, however, shall be entitled to have the dimensions of the vessel taken when the statement as to its capacity does not satisfy them; and the process of measurement shall in such cases be subject to the rules laid down by the regulation force.

ART. 8. When a vessel comes from abroad destined for two or more Mexican ports, the custom-house which collects the tonnage due shall, in addition to an ordinary receipt, provide the captain with a certificate of payment, to serve as a protection to him in the other custom-houses. If said document is not presented, the tax must be paid over again; only on it being proved to the department of finance that payment has been made twice, shall said department authorize the return of the amount paid in excess.

ART. 9. In ports where either there have been or there are in course of execution harbor improvements giving shelter to or facilitating the entrance or loading or unloading of ships, in addition to the tonnage due payable under article 3, every merchant vessel, whether Mexican or foreign, whether engaged in the trade of the high seas or the coast, as well as its cargo, shall be subject to the following taxes: I. An additional tonnage due, payable by ships arriving at the improved port, regardless of whence they come and of whether they are native or foreign. This due shall be collected on the same basis as the tonnage due mentioned in article 3, regardless of whether the ship is subject to said due wholly or in part, or whether it is not subject to it at all. The additional tonnage due shall be determined by the Executive in the case of each improved port, but its amount shall never be in excess of fifty per cent of the rates mentioned in said article 3 for the regular tonnage due; in no case, however, shall this additional due be subject to the reductions referred to in article 4, nor to any other reduction that may be allowed in the regular tonnage due.

II. A due for loading and unloading, which shall be paid on all merchandise, whether in the import, export, or coastwise trade, taken on board or discharged at an improved port, whatever may be the place or form in which either of those operations is performed, and although the wharf or place where they are effected does not belong to the Federal Government. This tax shall also be paid without any reduction and in the following proportions:

A. Products and manufactures for exportation, national or nationalized goods carried in the coastwise trade, whether clearing or entering, mineral coal, construction woods, and other materials or articles which the Executive, by means of regulations or enactments, shall place under this head, shall be subject to this due at the rate of fifty cents for each ton of one thousand kilograms, gross weight.

B. All other goods not included in the foregoing section shall be subject to this due at the rate of one dollar for each ton of one thousand kilograms, gross weight.

C. Merchandise transshipped from one vessel to another in port and which is destined from some other port, as also merchandise that is wholly laden or unladen by means of lighters, shall be subject to half of the duties mentioned in Sections A

and B.

ART. 10. Ships and merchandise shall not be subject to the dues mentioned in the foregoing article in the following cases:

I. The additional tonnage due shall not be paid by the following ships, whether they be Mexican or foreign, steam or sailing:

A. Warships.

B. Ships engaged exclusively in fishing.

C. Ships having a capacity of less than ten tons, gross.

D. Ships arriving in distress.

II. The due for loading and unloading shall not be paid on the following:

A. Passenger's baggage.

B. Samples not subject to import duties.

C. Postal packages.

D. Packages unloaded by mistake and which are taken on board again to be carried to their destination.

E. Fishing products unloaded by vessels engaged in that industry.

F. Provisions, water, supplies, and fuel taken on board for their own use by ships in port.

G. Articles imported for the Federal or State governments and which are exempt from duty under article 2 of the decree of June 6th, 1898.

H. In the coast wise trade, articles intended for the use of the Federal Government. ART. 11. The Executive will determine with at least two months' anticipation, and by formal decree, in what ports and at what date shall be collected the dues referred to in article 9; taking into account the contracts which may have been made or which may be made in the future for the execution of the works, and the benefits that, in virtue of the advance of said works, shall accrue to commerce and navigation.

ART. 12. For each port in which shall be made port improvements the Executive shall fix the tariffs for dues for wharfage, anchorage at buoys, dikage, or other places for the loading and discharging of cargo in the ports; for watering; for deposits of coal; for the carrying of cargo over the wharfs in vehicles; or for passage over, or in dikes or warehouses; for storage in the warehouses and from all the other services in the said ports.

ART. 13. Foreign vessels which, in accord with the regulations, authorizations, or especial contracts, shall bring merchandise from one port of the Republic destined to another port or place in the country--if it be directly, or passing the merchandise in transit through a foreign country-shall pay a duty called "duty of interior maritime traffic," on which shall be collected the following tariff for each ton of one thousand kilograms brought by the said foreign vessels:

I. Between ports distant from each other 60 marine miles..
II. Between those which are distant more than 60 and up to 360 marine
miles
III. Between those distant more than 360 marine miles

The same duty and under the same rules shall be assessed on foreign vessels which may obtain permission to discharge their cargo in a coasting port where there is no custom-house (puerto de cabotaje), or in other place which shall not be a customs port; computing the duty on the weight of the merchandise in the permit, and the distance between the place where the cargo is discharged and the port where is the custom-house.

ART. 14. The tax referred to in the foregoing article shall be paid before the vessel's departure, and shall be handed in to the custom-house which authorizes the operation necessitating the payment, the amount being determined by such customhouse in view of the weight of the goods declared by the shippers in the customhouse shipping bills, with the ratification of the captain or of the vessel's consignee; and the custom-house officials shall set forth the amount payable in the papers in question. The custom-house receiving the goods shall collect from the consignees the taxes due for coastwise maritime traffic that have failed to be paid at the custom-house by which the vessel was cleared, either through inaccurate statements on the part of the shippers, or through any other cause, together with a fine equivalent to twice the amount of the unpaid taxes, when the cause of the nonpayment has been a false declaration on the part of the shipper, without prejudice, in the latter case, to the other penalties to which the guilty party may be liable according

to law.

The Executive shall have the power to reduce or abrogate the duties on coastwise maritime traffic when, owing to a public calamity, it is desirable, in the opinion of the finance department, to afford greater facilities to coastwise traffic for the carriage of provisions or other forms of relief.

ART. 15. The sanitary and pilotage dues shall continue to be collected in accordance with existing laws and regulations. In the collection of the sanitary dues the registered tonnage referred to in the enactments on the subject shall be estimated for the purpose of assessing the tax by deducting thirty-five per cent of the gross tonnage for steamers and five per cent for sailing vessels.

ART. 16. Shipping companies which, under their concessions from the Government, at present enjoy exemption from the light-house due as compensation for the carriage of the mails or the performance of some other public service may apply to the department of communications and public works, if they so desire, so that their contracts may be either rescinded or amended, subject to the provisions of article 4 of this decree.

ART. 17. Contractors having port works in hand and who, under their contracts with the Government, receive the proceeds of the dues created by sections B and C, article 4, of the decree of May 28th, 1881, now repealed, shall be entitled to receive from the Government every month henceforth a sum equivalent to what those dues would have produced if they had not been repealed, unless such contractors enter into new arrangements with the department having jurisdiction in such matters.

TRANSIENT.

This decree shall begin to take effect on October 1 next.

I therefore order that it be printed, published, circulated, and obeyed.
Done in the executive palace in Mexico on July 1, 1898.

PORFIRIO DIAZ.

To the minister of finance and public credit, Lic. Jose Ives Limantour.

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY AND PUBLIC CREDIT.

[Mexico. Section 1.]

The President of the Republic has communicated to me the following decrees: Porfirio Diaz, constitutional President of the United States of Mexico, to the inhabitants thereof, know ye:

That, in conformity with the provisions of the decree regarding port dues, issuęd the 1st instant, I decree the following:

ARTICLE 1. From the 1st of October proximo there shall be collected by the respective custom-houses in the ports of Vera Cruz, Progreso, Frontera, and Laguna (Islade Carmen) the additional tonnage dues established by Clause I, article 9, of the said decree, dated the 1st instant.

ART. 2. Additional tonnage dues at the rate of five cents per ton for sailing vessels and three cents per ton for steamers shall be collected in said ports, and vessels arriving at the said ports from 1st October proximo, though previously touching at another Mexican port, shall pay these dues.

ART. 3. Likewise from 1st October proximo the custom-house at Vera Cruz shall collect the loading and discharge dues created by the same decree of the 1st instant, Clause II, article 9; merchandise discharged from vessels arriving under the conditions stated in the latter part of the preceding article, as well as merchandise loaded on boats beginning to load after September 30, proximo, whatever may be the date of the arrival of the vessel, shall be subject to the payment of these dues. ART. 4. National or foreign merchandise carried in vessels arriving at the port of Vera Cruz from the said date of October 1 proximo, shall cease to pay the dues for sheds on the mole imposed by the respective ordinance dated July 10, 1895. Therefore I order that it be printed, published, circulated, and complied with. Done at the palace of the federal executive power at Mexico, July 27, 1898.

PORFIRIO DIAZ.

10. TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO TONNAGE-TAX LAW.

[No. 7.-April 25, 1898.]

[An ordinance to amend "The Port of Spain harbour dues ordinance, 1896."]

Be it enacted by the governor of Trinidad and Tobago, with the advice and consent of the legislative council thereof, as follows:

1. This ordinance may be cited as "The harbour dues ordinance, 1898," and shall be read as one with "The Port of Spain harbour dues ordinance, 1896," hereinafter

called the "Principal ordinance," and may be cited therewith as "The harbour dues ordinances, 1886 and 1898."

2. Section 2 of the principal ordinance is hereby repealed, and from and after the first day of July, 1898, the following harbour improvement dues shall be levied and paid on the cargo landed at or shipped from any port or place in this colony—that is to say:

Ships over sixty tons register (British measurement) to pay four pence per ton, to be computed on the weight or measurement of goods landed, transhipped, or shipped, as shown by the bills of lading or otherwise to the satisfaction of the collector of

customs.

Provided, That every ship entering any harbor in the colony shall pay a minimum due of ten shillings, if of sixty tons register or over.

Such ships arriving in ballast to load shall be charged at the rates hereby prescribed on the cargo shipped.

Provided, also, That ships not exceeding ten tons shall be free from payment of such dues.

3. Ships of over ten tons and not exceeding sixty tons, shall pay a commuted fee in respect of both the inward and outward cargo at the time of entry, according to the following scale:

Ships ten tons and not exceeding twenty tons burden, to pay six shillings.
Ships over twenty and not exceeding thirty tons burden, to pay eight shillings.
Ships over thirty and not exceeding forty tons, to pay ten shillings.
Ships over forty and not exceeding fifty tons, to pay twelve shillings.
Ships over fifty and not exceeding sixty tons, to pay sixteen shillings.

4. There shall be paid to the collector or subcollector of customs, as the case may be, for the certificate mentioned in section 3 of "The droghers ordinance, 1871,” a sum amounting to a rate of three shillings and four pence per ton burden for each drogher of ten tons and upwards, according to the measurement thereof by the proper officer. The forms in the schedule to this ordinance may be used for the declaration of ownership in respect of droghers sought to be certified, and shall be endorsed in the case of every applicant for such certificate with a statement of the names and respective tonnage of the droughers that such applicants require any certificate for, and payment of the dues in respect thereof shall be computed and made and receipted on such endorsement.

5. It shall be lawful for the governor from time to time by proclamation to order and prescribe the rate of charge to be paid by vessels coming alongside or using any jetty, quay, or any fixed buoy, at Port-of-Spain, and for berthing and mooring such vessels at or to such quay or buoy.

Passed in council this twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight.

11. JAPAN.

The following is the tonnage-tax law of Japan, which went into effect on August 4, 1899:

TONNAGE-DUES LAW.

ARTICLE I. When vessels going to and from foreign countries for the purpose of foreign trade enter open ports, tonnage dues of 5 sen (2 cents) will be charged for each registered tonnage, or for every 10 koku (four twenty-sevenths of a ton) of burden each time they enter; provided that if dues at the rate of 15 sen (7 cents) for each ton of registered tonnage or for every 10 koku are paid at once, no dues shall be required to be paid for one year at the port where such dues are paid.

The registered tonnage of vessels of a country which has a mode of measurement different from the Empire shall be converted in accordance with the metric system fixed in the Empire.

ART. II. Tonnage dues shall be paid to the custom-house by masters of vessels when such vessels enter ports.

ART. III. No tonnage dues shall be imposed on vessels which have entered ports on account of maritime disasters or other unavoidable causes, provided that this shall not apply to cases where the loading or discharging of cargo is done without being necessitated by any of the causes referred to in this article.

ART. IV. The superintendent of customs may, if he considers it necessary, take measurements of any vessel.

ART. V. When a vessel has cleared with the intention of avoiding tonnage dues or without paying them, the master of the vessel shall be punished with a fine corresponding to three times the amount of the dues not paid or which it was intended to avoid.