Accounts and Returns.

QUARTERLY ACCOUNTS.

Account current.-To be accompanied by vouchers and certificates, as per Forms Nos. 88, 89, 90, 18, and 105...

Salary account, with certificate of non-absence and vouchers, in case of sale of draft, as per Forms Nos. 106, 85, and 86....

Form No. 93.

Form No. 105.

or

Form No. 109.

ARTICLE XXIV.

Consular Reports.

REPORTS TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

380..To enable the Secretary of State to make the Reports upon the Commercial Relations of the United States which the laws authorize him to make, Consular Officers will procure and transmit to the Department of State full and authentic commercial information respecting the communities in which they reside.

381..They will transmit, as soon as they are published, statements of all changes in the commercial systems of the governments to which they are accredited, copies of all commercial treaties, regulations, light-house notices, revenue laws, acts and regulations respecting warehouses, tonnage duties, and port dues; all tariffs and modifications thereof, and all enactments, decrees, royal orders, or proclamations which in any manner affect the commercial, agricultural, mining, or other important interests of the United States. All dispatches communicating information of this character must be indorsed "commercial information," and be strictly confined to this subject. If the information is contained in printed newspapers, circulars, pamphlets, or public documents, two copies must be sent. 382..All Consular Officers will forward to the Department of State, at the close of each year, ending September 30, so that the information can be communicated to Congress at its session immediately thereafter, a report on the trade of the Consular districts in which they respectively reside during the preceding year, specifying the articles of import and export, the countries which supply the former and receive the latter, the comparative increase or decrease

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in the amounts of the same, and the causes in both cases for either the general regulations of trade and their effects, the average market prices within the year of the staples of export and import, and the average rates of freight to the United States. They will also designate articles prohibited to be imported into their Consular districts, whether from the place of their growth or production or from other places, specifying what changes have occurred since their last reports; and also all privileges of importation or restrictions thereon, if such there be, and to what vessels they apply, and all differences in duties on articles imported in foreign or national vessels; all tonnage duties and other port dues, and all warehouse and sanitary regulations, and those relating to entry or clearance, where such exist and have been subjected to modification since their last reports. They will also communicate detailed information touching the employment, in their Consular districts, of the capital of our citizens, whether employed in industrial, agricultural, scientific, or commercial pursuits; they will transmit, in like manner, tabular or other statements touching the consumption of the staple products of the United States as well as of other countries, the amount of those articles imported into such districts in American vessels, and the amount of foreign tonnage employed in such trade.

383..It is desirable that, accompanying the quarterly reports of the arrivals at and departures of American vessels, there should also be forwarded a recapitulation of the said reports, in which should be stated the number of vessels that came from each port and the ports for which they cleared, with the description, quantities, and values of the inward and outward cargoes opposite, so far as they can be obtained; also the total number of vessels, the total values of inward and outward cargoes, the number of each class of vessels entered and cleared, and the aggregate tonnage entered.

384..If a vessel is in port at the first of the quarter, state the port where bound and the outward cargo, and write "in port" under "WHERE FROM."

385..State the total number of vessels from each port, and the port or ports from which they clear, and the inward and outward cargoes opposite. If two or more vessels clear for the same port,

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give their number and the description and aggregate values of their inward and outward cargoes opposite.

386..If a cargo is composed of one or two leading articles, it might be well to give their quantities; but where it is composed of a miscellaneous assortment, a general description and aggregate value is all that is necessary.

387..If a vessel does not clear during the quarter, state the port where from and the inward cargo, and write "in port" under 66 WHERE BOUND," and vessel "in port" under " OUTWARD CARGO." 388..If a vessel enter and clear carrying the same cargo, state the port where from, the port where bound, and, if possible, the description and value of the inward cargo, and under "OUTWARD CARGO" write "inward cargo," and value; and also state whether such vessel called "for orders," "supplies," "repairs," or "in distress," as the case may be. If a vessel land part of her cargo and carry out the remainder, state the description and total value of the inward cargo, and the description and value of the "part of inward" which she carries out.

389..If a vessel, while in port, be sold to foreigners, write "sold" under " WHERE BOUND," and under "OUTWARD CARGO" "vessel sold and took [here give the name of the country flag."]

390..If a vessel be condemned as unseaworthy, 66 write condemned" under "WHERE BOUND," and "vessel condemned" under "OUTWARD CARGO."

REPORTS TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

391..It is the duty of every Consular Officer to furnish to the Secretary of the Treasury, as often as shall be required, the prices current of all articles of merchandise usually exported to the United States from the port or place in which he shall be located.

392..Consular Officers are also requested to transmit, at least once a month, if opportunity offers, to the Secretary of State and to the Comptroller of the Treasury, the rates of exchange, and also a statement of the rates at which any depreciated currency of the country in which they reside is computed in United States or Spanish dollars, or in silver or gold coins of other countries, observing in all cases of an estimate of the value of the currency in such

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foreign coins that their weight and standard should be made known to the Department.

393.. Consular Officers will also report monthly to the Treasury Department the rates of exchange prevailing between the ports or places at which they reside, and the following places, to wit: London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Hamburg; also New York, and other principal ports in the United States; and they will keep the Department regularly and fully advised of the course and progress of trade from the several ports of their Consulates to the United States.

394..Consular Officers will transmit, quarterly, information on the following points to the Secretary of the Treasury, not only in reference to the trade of the place of their residence, but that of the neighboring country or towns with which it may be connected commercially, or through which their merchandise may be shipped to the United States: 1st. The usual terms on which merchandise is bought and sold, whether on credit or for cash. The usual discounts allowed, either from custom or in consideration of cash payment, or from other cause; whether such discounts are uniform, and, if not, whether they vary in the same, or only on different descriptions of merchandise; and whether such discounts, or any of them, are regarded as a bonus or gratuity to the buyer for his benefit; whether he purchases for himself or ships merchandise to order and for account of others. 2d. The bounties allowed on articles exported, and for what reason, and under what circumstances; whether they are the same on exports by national or foreign vessels; if not, the difference; the rates of such bounties, and how estimated, whether on weight, measure, gauge, price, or value. 3d. The customary charge of commissions for purchasing and shipping goods of different descriptions; the usual brokerage on the purchase or sale of merchandise; whether it is paid by the buyer or seller, or by both. 4th. The usual and customary expenses in detail attending the purchase and shipment of merchandise, including commissions, brokerage, export duty, dock, trade, or city dues, lighterage, porterage, labor, cost of packages, covering or embaling, cooperage, gauging, weighing, wharfage, and local imposts or taxes of any kind; which of the foregoing, or other items, are usually included in the price of the article, or become a separate charge to be paid by the shipper or purchaser.

Reports.

395..In the case of merchandise purchased at the interior places, or in other countries having no shipping ports of their own, for shipment to foreign countries, through the ports of the Consulate, the customary expenses attending the transportation from such interior places or countries to the port of shipment, including all transits, exports, or import frontier duty, and every other charge up to the arrival at such port, and the ordinary expenses attending the shipment thereof.

396..Consular Officers will forward regularly, and as often as practicable, to the general appraisers residing at New York, Boston, and San Francisco, such prices current, manufacturers' statements of prices, or merchants' printed circulars of prices, and such other general information as may be useful to appraisers in the discharge of their duties. These reports will be transmitted, under cover, to the Department of State.

397..Consular Officers will include in their several reports, in detail, information on any other points which they may think proper, in order to an ascertainment of the value of merchandise forwarded to the United States, and the assessment of the legal duties, forwarding any printed or other documents which they may think desirable that the Department should possess.

ARTICLE XXV.

Record Books and Archives.

398..The following record books are to be kept at all inland Consulates of the United States:

399..A dispatch book, into which are to be copied all official communications written by the Consular Officer to the Department of State. Press copy books are not to be considered as permanent records.

400..A letter book, into which are to be copied all other official communications written by the Consular Officer.

401..A fee book, in which the Consular Officer shall register all fees received by him in the order in which they shall be received specifying in such register or fee book each item of service; the amount received therefor; from whom and the date when received; and indicating what items and amounts are embraced in each