Vict. c. 45 to guarantee the payment of a portion The Public Works Loan Commissioners are I.-Statement of the Value of the Total Exports, including Bullion and Specie, from each of the II.-Account of the Value of the Total Imports, including Bullion and Specie, into each of the British [See also EAST INDIES.] COMFITS. The duty on these was fixed in the Tariff of 1870 at 4s. 8d. per cwt., and the duty was abolished in 1874. COMPANIES. The 32 & 33 Vict. c. 19, passed 1869, regulates partnerships for working mines in the stannaries of Devon and Cornwall. [PARTNERSHIPS; RAILWAYS; STOCKS.] The Joint Stock Companies Arrangement Act of 1870, 33 & 34 Vict. c. 194, empowers the Court of Chancery to order a meeting of the creditors of any joint stock or other company in liquidation, to decide as to any compromise or arrangement that may have been proposed between the company and its creditors. CONFECTIONERY. The duty on confectionery not otherwise enumerated was set down in the Tariff of 1870 at 4s. 8d. per cwt., but it was abolished in 1871. CONSTANTINOPLE. The following regulations for the navigation by night of the Straits of the Dardanelles and Bosphorus by merchantvessels outward bound, were published in the 'London Gazette' in May 1870. Art. 1. By virtue of an Imperial Iradé, on and after the May next, all merchant-vessels, whether sailing or steam, national, tributary, or foreign, leaving Constantinople on a voyage to the Black Sea or the Mediterranean, will be allowed to pass through the Straits of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles at all hours of the night, under the following conditions:: Art. 2. The above-mentioned vessels, on passing through the Straits, will be required to give up their firmans (firman de passage), as is done in the daytime, a night service being established for this purpose. Art. 3. No vessel will be allowed to pass, whether by day or night, without giving up the firman. Art. 4. The firmans will henceforth be issued directly by the Office of Firmans at the Sublime Porte, in the case of foreign ships, upon receipt of a written application from the Embassy or Legation to which the vessel belongs, or, in the case of national ships, from the LimanOdassy. Art. 5. A sum of sixty-five silver piastres will be charged at the Firman Office for each firman. Ships will have no charge to pay on giving up the firmans at the Straits. Mail steamers will be charged thirty-seven and a half silver piastres for each firman, without distinction as to flag. Art. 6. In conformity with the established regulations vessels will not be permitted, between sunset and sunrise, under any consideration whatever, to load or discharge cargo, nor to embark or land passengers, at the port of Constantinople, in the Bosphorus, or along the Straits of the Dardanelles. The Ottoman Government having declared the passage of the Straits of the Dardanelles and Bosphorus free from December 13, 1871, the following notice of the British Consul-General, embodying the necessary instructions for shipmasters, was published in the London Gazette' : 'British Consulate-General, Constantinople, 'December 12, 1871. All vessels may henceforth pass through the Straits of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles at any hour of the day or night. To prevent vessels stopping to get their firmans at Constantinople, on their passage down from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, shipmasters may provide themselves on their arrival from the Mediterranean with the two necessary firmans, i.e., the one for the Bosphorus, and the one for the Dardanelles. 'These firmans must henceforth be delivered by vessels sailing for the Mediterranean on board a ship of war (formerly) stationed at Galata Point, opposite Gallipoli, now (1872) anchored off Lampsacus. In order that shipmasters may avail themselves of the privilege of not being delayed on their passage home, they must take not only their Bosphorus and Dardanelles firmans at the same time, but must then pay all necessary dues and fees, and take their receipts at Constantinople previous to their passing up to the Black Sea. In this way they will avoid the necessity of stopping at the Bosphorus, on their return from the Black Sea, except at Cavak or Buyukdere to take pratique.' The value of British exports to European Turkey in 1873 was 8,120,2467., and to Asiatic Turkey 5,249,1231., being both almost exclusively the produce and manufactures of the United Kingdom, while the imports into the United Kingdom from European Turkey in the same year were valued at 3,469,7771., and those from Asiatic Turkey at 2,599,1487. CONTRACT NOTES. [BROKERS AND FUNDS.] CONTRACTS. The Coinage Act of 1870, 33 Vict. c. 10 s. 6, provides as follows: COPYRIGHT. See PATENTS. CORK. See account of its dock in article DOCKS in the Dictionary, last edition, sub-head Cork. The value of the exports from this port in 1874 of the produce of the United Kingdom was only 20,3891. Her chief imports were corn, wine, and spirits. In 1874 there entered this port from foreign countries, British possessions, and coastwise, 2,593 vessels, of 594,187 tons, In 1871 the population of Cork city was 78,382. CORN. The customs duties on corn imported into the Isle of Man were repealed by 33 Vict. c. 12. The total quantity of corn and flour imported into the United Kingdom in 1874 was 92,997,836 cwt., valued at 51,070,102/., and came chiefly from the United States, British North tural Returns for 1874, it is shown that there America, Russia, and Germany. In the Agriculwere under corn crops in the United Kingdom in that year 11,364,834 statute acres. [GRAIN.] CORN LAWS AND CORN TRADE. Mr.Lowe his intention referred to underWHEAT, TARIFF, &c. (while Chancellor of the Exchequer) carried out in this Dictionary, and on June 1, 1869, by 32 & 33 Vict. c. 14, the customs' duties ceased on the import of corn, grain, meal and flour, and articles of the like character, viz., Indian corn, buck wheat, bear or bigg, wheat meal Wheat, barley, oats, rye, pease, beans, maize or and flour, barley meal, oat meal and groats, rye meal and flour, pea meal, bean meal, maize or Indian corn meal, buckwheat meal, meal not otherwise enumerated or described, arrowroot, barley, pearled, biscuit and bread, cassava powder, maccaroni, mandioca flour, manna croup, potato flour, powder, viz. hair, powder perfumed, powder not otherwise enumerated or described, that will serve the same purpose as starch, rice dust and meal, sago, semolina, starch, starch gum of, torrified or calcined, tapioca, vermicelli. COTTON. The total quantity of cotton wool imported into the United Kingdom in 1874 was 50,666,4967., the chief sources of the supplies 1,566,864,432 lbs., or 13,989,861 cwt., valued at being the United States, British India, Egypt, and Brazil, and our exports of raw cotton in 1874 were 2,312,211 cwts., valued at 6,833,6167. COTTON MANUFACTURES. The total United Kingdom in 1874 was 220,682,919 lbs., quantity of cotton yarn exported from the of the value of 14,517,425l., and the total quantity of cotton piece goods exported in the same year was 5,606,639,044 yards, of the value of Contracts, &c. to be made in currency.-Every but a decrease in value when compared with the 59,730,2007., showing an increase in quantity, contract, sale, payment, bill, note, instrument, two preceding years 1872 and 1873. The very and security for money, and every transaction, interesting monthly reports of Messrs. Du Fay dealing, matter, and thing whatever relating to and Co. of Manchester afford a great fund of money, or involving the payment of or the liability information, inter alia, as to the prices of raw cotto pay any money, which is made, executed, ton, the state of the markets, exports of manuor entered into, done or had, shall be made, exe-factured cotton goods, their prices, &c. [FACTOcuted, entered into, done and had according to the coins which are current and legal tender in pursuance of this Act, and not otherwise, unless the same be made, executed, entered into, done or had according to the currency of some British possession or some foreign state. COPPER. The value of the copper imported into the United Kingdom in 1874 was as follows:Copper Ore and Regulus Copper Unwrought, and part Wrought, and £ 1,798,973 3,213,943 5,012,916 RIES.] COUNTY COURTS. [ADMIRALTY.] CUBA. The following translation of Rules drawn up by the Spanish Government for the guidance of captains and supercargoes of vessels, Spanish or belonging to other nations, engaged in the import trade from foreign ports to the ports of Cuba and Puerto Rico, were published in the London Gazette' on Feb. 21, 1873 : 1. The captains of vessels going from foreign ports to those of Cuba and Puerto Rico, shall present to the Spanish Consul or Vice-Consul a loadas against 5,071,2827. in the previous year. [See ing note (johordo), in duplicate and without PYRITES.] emendation, setting forth : 1st. The class, nationality, and name of the vessel, and the exact number of Spanish tons she measures. In the first voyage made by each vessel to those islands, the number of tons she measures according to the building measurement shall be declared, even though those tons be not Spanish; and in following voyages they shall be obliged to show a certificate of the measurement made on first arrival by order of the Administration of Customs for the exaction of tonnage dues. 2nd. The name of the captain or master. 3rd. The port or ports from which they came. 4th. The names of the shippers and of the owners or consignees to whom the cargo is addressed. 5th. The bundles, packages, barrels, boxes, &c., with their corresponding marks and numbers, setting forth in figures and words the number of each kind. 6th. The generic nomenclature of the goods or of the contents of the packages, and their gross weight. The words merchandise,' 'victuals,' 'provisions,' or others of the same vague nature, will not be allowed as generic nomenclature. 7th. The same account of goods intended for deposit or transit. 8th. The note shall conclude by stating that the vessel carries no other goods. 2. If the whole or part of the cargo be iron in bars or plates, metals in pigs (en galápagos o' lingotes), wood, salt beef (tasajo), salt, cocoa, or other effects that go unpacked, they shall be set forth in decimal weight or measure, according to their class, in the aforesaid duplicate loading note. 3. The loading notes shall be certified by the Spanish Consul or Vice-Consul, who shall hand one copy to the captain of the vessel, keeping back the other, which he shall send directly to the Intendente' of the island to which the vessel is going, to serve as a voucher in the examination of the cargo by the respective Custom-house. 4. The captain, on concluding his voyage, shall place a note on his copy of the loading note, stating: 1st. The goods carried by the crew, and not noted in the document, up to the value of 200 escudos per individual. 2nd. The unconsumed ship's provisions. 3rd. The provisions of war and spare stores, and the coal for the ship's consumption, if she be a steamer. 5. The captain, on arrival at the port of destination, shall, when the health visit is being made, hand the loading note certified by the Consul and the general manifest of the cargo to the Chief of the Custom-house men or of the Coast Guard. 6. Should a vessel sail in ballast, the Captain shall present to the Consul or Vice-Consul a duplicate note stating that fact; and the same form shall be gone through as with the loading note, i.e. the Consul shall certify both documents, handing one copy to the captain, and keeping the other to send to the 'Intendente' of the island to which the ship is going. 7. Should the captain or supercargo not present the loading or ballast note when the visit is being made, which act will be performed on the vessel's casting anchor in the port of her destination, they shall be subject to a fine of 400 escudos for the want of that document; should the note not contain the Consular certificate or attestation, they shall be fined 200 escudos; and should it not be drawn up according to Rule I. they shall be fined 50 escudos for each circumstance omitted or falsely expressed, in which case the total amount of the fines shall not exceed 400 escudos. The captain or supercargo who, on being asked by the Chief of the Coast Guard or his representative, does not present, when the visit is being made, the loading note and manifest of the cargo, shall be liable to a fine of 1,000 escudos, unless accidents at sea shall have obliged him suddenly to come into port, which fact shall be justified by an Informacion Sumaria.' 8. Should emendation or alteration be observed in the said documents, the captains or masters shall be liable to be tried for falsification, and their responsibility shall be the same whether the vessels come in ballast or with cargo. 9. The presentation of the loading note shall be obligatory, and shall take place in all the ports, bays, and anchorage ground of the island to which the vessels may come, even, although by reason of force majeure,' the administrators keeping a copy and returning the original to the captain, that he may hand it over at the port of his destination. 10. The Coast Guard Vessels may demand the loading note of the captain or master within 23 kilomètres of the port of destination. 11. The captains themselves are obliged to present to the Spanish Consul or Vice-Consul at the starting-point a note of the approximate value of the cargo, to serve as data for the commercial statistics to be drawn up by those officers. 12. A captain not declaring the exact number of Spanish tons that the vessel measures, shall pay the expenses of measurement, if the excess should turn out to be more than 10 per cent. 13. Captains who, forced by bad weather, or any other fortuitous circumstances, may throw into the sea part of the cargo, shall also note the fact in the manifest, stating, even although en gros, the quantities, packages, and class of the goods; and they shall be obliged to make the proper declaration at the Custom-house, and to exhibit the log-book in proof of their assertions. If 14. Passengers' luggage shall be presented at the Customs Warehouse for examination. there should be found, in the same, trade goods up to the value of 200 escudos. they shall pay the tariff duty, in view of the note or minute list which the parties interested shall present to the Administrator of the Custom-house. If the value of the goods should exceed 200 escudos and not exceed 400, they shall pay double duty; but, should they be worth more, they shall be liable to confiscation, except in either case the parties shall have previously presented a note of the goods, for then they shall only be subject to the payment of the consumption dues set forth in the tariff. 15. Any improvement of, addition to, or alteration in the manifest or loading note and the statements to order (manifestaciones a' la orden) is absolutely prohibited, the differences which may result between (entre) those documents being furnished according to the instructions. 16. When cargoes come from a port where there is no Consul nor Vice-Consuls, and those agents reside at a distance exceeding 30 kilomètres from the place of embarkation, the captains and supercargoes may be excused from the formality of the loading notes; but in order to enjoy this exemption the cargo must be all of the same nature, and necessarily composed, in its entirety, of any of the following effects: hides, timber, staves for casks, wood for dyeing, coal, or bullocks' horns, with the understanding that those articles be the produce of the country of the national startingpoint of the vessel, that the voyage be direct, and that the payment of duty be made for the whole of the goods. 17. All packages omitted from the loading note or manifest shall be liable to confiscation, and the captain shall also be fined to the amount of the value thereof (otro tanto de su valor), if the amount of the duty on the goods does not exceed 800 escudos; for should it exceed that sum, and should the articles belong or be consigned to the owner, captain, or supercargo of the vessel, the fine shall not be levied, and in place thereof the vessel shall be confiscated with her freights and every other profit. 18. If on the conclusion of the unloading of the vessel, any manifested package or packages should be wanting, without due presentation of the invoice of the contents, it shall be understood that the captain or supercargo has committed a fraud against the revenue, and he shall be fined 400 escudos for every package missing. 19. Should the owner or consignee of goods not manifested by the captain, present to the administration within forty-eight hours the invoice thereof, no accusation shall be made against him, and the effects shall be handed over to him, but in such a case the captain or supercargo shall be liable to a fine equal to the total value of the goods or effects not manifested. 20. Without permission of the administrator and examination of the Chief of the Coast Guard nothing can be landed. For the mere fact of landing articles, even if of small importance or free of duty, the captain or supercargo shall pay a fine of 2,000 escudos, and all the effects taken, and the boat carrying them, shall be confiscated if the sum to be paid on such effects does not exceed 400 escudos, for if it exceeds that sum the fine shall not be levied, and the ship shall be confiscated. loading note registered by the Spanish Consul at the ports from which they come shall be obligatory; and in this case the captains or supercargoes may be permitted to manifest as much as six tons more without the consular requirement; should it exceed this amount the manifest shall be considered as not having been presented, and the proceedings to be adopted shall be in conformity with these rules. 29. The masters of fishing vessels which, coming from the neighbouring coasts, enter with fish (dead or alive) or in ballast the ports of the Antilles, are excused from presenting the consular certificates. MOSQUERA. (Signed) Madrid, December 26, 1872. CURRANTS. The value of the currants imported into the United Kingdom (chiefly from Greece) in 1874 was 1,290,5747., as against 1,275,4457. in the previous year, and 852,8634. in 1860. The weight of the 1874 crop of currants in Greece is estimated by the agents of Messrs. Fels & Co. at 76,660 tons. See circular of Messrs. Horsley, Kebble & Co., of August 3, 1875. CUSTOMS. The 32 & 33 Vict. c. 103 empowers the Commissioners of Customs to dispense with the attendance of the master of a vessel at the Custom-house to verify the contents of his ship, and to accept a like declaration from any person authorised by the master, in writing under his hand, to make it on his behalf. See TARIFF for list of duties abolished and altered. Sec. 58 of the Stamp Act of 1870, 33 and 34 Vict. c. 97, provides Bonds not to include goods, &c. belonging to more than one person. Penalty 501.-If any per21. Nor can effects be transhipped in bay in son required by any Act of Parliament, or by the large or small quantities without the require-direction of the Commissioners of Customs or ments of the instructions; if this be done, the captains or supercargoes shall be liable to the punishments established in those instructions. 22. Should effects of much or little importance be unloaded in a part not habilitated, the vessel bringing them shall be confiscated with all her fittings. 23. If in consequence of the visit (visita de fondco) which is made to every vessel before issuing to her the register with which she is to sail, excess should appear in the cargo, the excess shall be confiscated and the captain shall pay a fine equal to the value thereof. 24. Seizures of goods, produce, or effects attempted to be fraudulently embarked are subject to the confiscation and fine mentioned in the previous article. 25. Should captains and supercargoes not have wherewith to pay their fines, the ships they command shall be used for the payment thereof, and of the costs, unless their consigneee voluntarily come forward to pay. 26. No translation and despatch of manifest or loading note shall be proceeded to until the captain or consignee of the vessel shall have presented at the Custom-house the corresponding bill of health. 27. The captains or supercargoes of steam mail packets (in which class will be included only those which, besides carrying correspondence with a patent from their Government, have periodically fixed days of sailing from the respective ports) may bring as much as ten tons of cargo without the requirements of the consular certificate, but they are, notwithstanding, obliged to present a manifest of the cargo in the time and form laid down in these rules. 28. Should the cargo brought by steam mail packets exceed ten tons, the presentation of a Inland Revenue, or any of their officers, to give or enter into any bond for or in respect of any duties of customs or excise, or for preventing frauds or evasions thereof, or for any matter or thing relating thereto, includes in one and the same bond any goods or things belonging to more persons than one, not being co-partners or joint tenants, or tenants in common, he shall for every such offence forfeit the sum of 501. The following definitions of 'Delivery Order,' and Warrants for Goods,' are given in secs. 87 and 88 of the same Act: Interpretation of Term.-The term delivery order means any document or writing entitling, or intended to entitle, any person therein named, or his assigns, or the holder thereof, to the delivery of any goods, wares, or merchandise of the value of 40s. or upwards lying in any dock or port, or in any warehouse in which goods are stored or deposited on rent or hire, or upon any wharf, such document or writing being signed by or on behalf of the owner of such goods, wares, or merchandise, upon the sale or transfer of the property therein. Interpretation of Term.-The term warrant for goods means any document or writing, being evidence of the title of any person therein named, or his assigns, or the holder thereof, to the property in any goods, wares, or merchandise lying in any warehouse or dock, or upon any wharf, and signed or certified by or on behalf of the person having the custody of such goods, wares, or merchandise. The duty on either of these documents (1d. in the case of a 'delivery order,' and 3d. on a 'warrant for goods') may be denoted by an adhesive stamp, and anyone who makes, executes, or issues, or receives, or uses, either of these documents except duly stamped, shall forfeit 207. (Secs. 89-92.) |