or indirectly accruing to the officer making the expenditure and accounting therefor, or to any person other than the one signing the receipt.-R. S., secs. 3490, 5421, 5438, 5483.

Any officer so charged with the expenditure of an appropriation or an allowance who shall require any clerk or employee to receipt or give a voucher for an amount greater than that actually received by him for the official service he performs is liable to a charge of embezzlement.

514. No commissions allowed. No consular officer is permitted to receive any additional compensation, directly or indirectly, by way of commission or otherwise, for receiving or disbursing the wages or extra wages of seamen, or for advances made to them; nor is he allowed to derive any profit from, or be interested in, the supplies of any kind furnished to seamen, or in the compensation allowed for their transportation to the United States. In the latter case, however, if a consular officer is the owner of, or is otherwise interested in, the vessel bringing the seamen home, he is not prohibited from receiving such reasonable compensation as may be provided by law for the transportation.-R. S., sec. 1719. (Paragraph 275.)

515. No extra compensation. The compensation provided by law for the several grades of consular officers is in full for all services they may be required to perform, and for all personal expenses that may be incurred under whatever law, treaty, or instructions the services may be performed.-R. S., sec. 1743.

516. Fees applicable to salaries.-Consuls who are compensated by salaries appropriated annually by Congress are authorized to pay themselves from the fees they may collect if these shall be sufficient for the purpose. If not sufficient, a draft may be drawn at the end of each quarter for the deficiency, or for the whole quarter's salary, as the case may be. In all cases drafts for salary of consuls should be drawn upon the Secretary of the Treasury. (Paragraph 566.)

Drafts for salary and for all other accounts must be drawn only at the end of each quarter, and for amounts then due, and must be preceded or accompanied by the corresponding accounts and vouchers. But in case of need salary may be drawn before the end of the quarter, provided a certificate be attached to the draft of the amount of fees received up to the time of drawing. Only the difference between the amount of such receipt from fees and the amount of salary accrued to the date of draft must in any case be drawn for. (Paragraph 581.)

517. Fees applicable to salaries of subordinate officers. It is the custom for the principal officer to pay the salaries of consular clerks, marshals, and interpreters from the fees at the post at which they may be stationed. If these are not sufficient, a draft may be drawn by the principal officer as for other salaries (paragraph 555) to complete the payment of the marshal or interpreter; but a consular clerk shall draw for his own salary, or for such part as may not be paid out of the accumulated fees. (Paragraph 577.)

ARTICLE XXVI.

CONSULAR FEES.

518. President to prescribe fees for official services.-The President is authorized to prescribe from time to time the rates or tariffs of fees to be charged for official services, and to designate what shall be regarded as official services, besides such as are expressly declared by law, in the business of the several consulates and commercial agencies, and to adapt the same, by such differences as may be necessary or proper, to each consulate or commercial agency; and it is the duty of all officers and persons connected with such consulates or commercial agencies to collect for such official services such and only such fees as may be prescribed for their

respective consulates and commercial agencies, and such rates or tariffs are required to be reported annually to Congress.-R. S., sec. 1745; 133 U. S., 273; 31 Fed. Rep., 697; 33 Id.,

572.

519. Services official unless otherwise prescribed. All acts or services for which a fee is prescribed in the tariff of fees (paragraph 533) are to be regarded as official services, and the fees charged and received therefor are to be reported and accounted for to the Treasury of the United States except when otherwise expressly stated therein. The tariff of official fees must be kept posted in a conspicuous place in the consular office for the information of persons desiring official services. 520. American vessels not required to pay.-By law no fees named in the tariff of consular fees prescribed by order of the President can be collected by consular officers from regularly documented American vessels and seamen for official services to them. (Paragraph 182.) Consular officers, however, who are compensated by fees must furnish the master of every such vessel with an itemized statement of such services performed on account of said vessel, with the fee so prescribed for each service, and also make a detailed report to the Secretary of the Treasury of such services and fees, under such regulations as the Secretary of State may prescribe; and the Secretary of the Treasury shall allow consular officers who are paid in whole or in part by fees such compensation for said services as they would have received prior to the passage of said law. Such services will not be compensated, unless, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury, they have been necessarily rendered. For full instructions in regard to accounts for services, see paragraph 575.-23 Stat. L., 56, sec. 12; 18 Op. Att. Gen., 111, 234.

521. Effects of deceased citizens.-Consular courts.-The fee (No. 15 of the tariff of official fees) for taking into possession and settling estates of citizens of the United States dying abroad

(Article XXIII) and transmitting the proceeds is official and must be paid into the Treasury; consular court fees are likewise official and must be accounted for. (Article XXX.)

522 No additional charges allowed. When a fee is fixed in the tariff of fees for any particular act or service, no addıtional fee is to be demanded for signature, attestation, or affixing the seal of office; nor may any subordinate in the consulate charge a fee for a service rendered by him in connection with any service, official or unofficial, performed by the principal officer and for which the latter has charged a fee. In regard to the verification of invoices, a penalty is provided for charging for blank forms, advice, or for clerical services in the preparation of the declaration or certificate, or for receiving any fee greater than that authorized by law; and if a consular officer collects or knowingly allows to be collected any other or greater fees than are allowed by law for any service, he is liable in treble the amount of the unlawful charge besides the liability to refund it. The practice of charging a personal fee for preparing an invoice is forbidden. In such case the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to retain the amount of the overcharge out of the compensation of the consular officer.-R. S., secs. 1716, 1723. Provision has been made by law for the refundment at the Treasury of fees and charges erroneously collected by consular officers from the regularly documented vessels of the United States when the claim shall have been made within one year from the date of collection.-23 Stat. L., 59, sec. 26.

523 Consul liable for fees nct collected. If a consular officer who receives a salary omits to collect any fees which he is required to collect for any official service, he is liable to the United States therefor as if he had collected them, unless they shall be remitted, on good cause shown, by the Secretary of the Treasury. Receipts must be furnished by all consular officers, salaried or unsalaried, to owners, agents,

consignees, masters, or commanders of all vessels from whom official fees or charges or extra or arrears of wages of seamen shall be collected.-R. S., secs. 1724, 4213. (Paragraph 183.)

524. Tonnage fees.-The tonnage fees provided for in fees 106 and 107 of the tariff and fees for granting Forms Nos. 13 and 14 are not charged by feed officers against the Treasury for American vessels running regularly, by weekly or monthly trips or otherwise, to or between foreign ports for more than four trips in a year. These fees are chargeable for each vessel on the first four trips in each calendar year. They are chargeable by the consular officer at the foreign port where the principal offices of the steamship company or owners are located. They are not to be charged at other consular offices on the route, whether within or without the same allegiance. Consular fees other than tonnage fees are chargeable for official services performed for such vessels; and when a vessel makes a special trip to a foreign port other than that to which she runs on her regular trips, the consul at the port thus visited is entitled to receive tonnage fees for the special trip, and the vessels are not exempt from the requirement to deposit the ship's papers at each port where an arrival is made.-R. S., sec. 1720; 1 Comp. Dec., 374.

525. Tonnage fees in Canada.-No consul, vice-consul, or consular agent in the Dominion of Canada is allowed tonnage fees for any services, actual or constructive, rendered any vessel owned and registered in the United States that touches at a Canadian port. The word "touches" in this statute means that a vessel may enter a port, if such entry is connected with the purposes of her voyage.-R. S., sec. 1722; 8 Saw., 350. If consistent with such purposes, taken in conjunction with the customs of the particular trade, she may land or load cargo there. Nor are these fees to be charged for such vessels touching at or near ports in Canada on their regular voyages from one port to another within the United