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TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

Office of the Secretary,

Washington, D. C., January 1, 1891.

The foregoing estimate, by the Director of the Mint, of the values of foreign coins, I hereby proclaim to be the values of such coins in terms of the money of account of the United States, to be followed in estimating the value of all foreign merchandise imported on or after January 1, 1891, expressed in any of such metallic currencies.

WILLIAM WINDOM,

Secretary of the Treasury.

(10576.)

Circular.-Joint license for pilot and engineer of open steam launches.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

Office of the Inspector-General of Steam Vessels,

Washington, D. C., January 2, 1891.

To the Supervising and Local Inspectors of Steam Vessels:

Your attention is called to the following amendment to section 4426, Revised Statutes of the United States, approved December 22, 1890:

[PUBLIC NO. 12.]

AN ACT to amend section forty-four hundred and twenty-six of the Revised Statutes of the United States, regulation of steam vessels.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United · States of America in Congress assembled, That section forty-four hundred and twenty-six of the Revised Statutes of the United States be amended by adding the following words:

“Provided, however, That in open steam launches of ten tons burden and under, one person, if duly qualified, may serve in the double capacity of pilot and engineer."

Approved, December 22, 1890.

Inspectors are directed, after receipt of this circular, and until such time as the Department can have prepared a special joint license for

the

purpose, to indorse on the present form of special license (Form 2135) issued to engineers of steam vessels the words "and may serve in the double capacity of pilot and engineer on the open steam launch , of ten gross tons and under, when used exclusively for private purposes."

It is deemed advisable by the Department that, in all joint licenses issued under the amendment to section 4426 herein quoted, the license

should specify on its face the name of the launch upon which the part holding it may use it, the inspectors first satisfying themselves that th vessel named is strictly an open steam launch of the character describe in the law. They will also, in every case, notify the parties to who they issue the joint license that its use upon any other vessel, excep after a change by indorsement of the inspectors to another vessel, wil subject themselves, as well as the vessel, to the penalties prescribe in section 4438, Revised Statutes, namely, $100 for each offense. JAS. A. DUMONT, Supervising Inspector-General.

Approved :

WILLIAM WINDOM, Secretary.

(10577.)

Circular.-Amendment of the regulations for the maintenance of discipline among customs officers.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 3, 1891.

To Collectors and other Officers of the Customs :

Pursuant to an act of Congress, approved December 18. 1890, entitled "An act providing for the maintenance of discipline among customs officers," Article 1371 of the General Customs Regulations of 1884 is hereby amended so that it will read: "In cases of urgency the principal officer of customs may, as punishment for any neglect or minor delinquency-the punishment whereof is not prescribed by law-suspend from duty and pay for a period not to exceed thirty days for any one cause any customs officer or employé nominated or appointed and subordinate to him, pending the action of the Secretary of the Treasury." All suspensions should be immediately reported to the Secretary of the Treasury, with a full statement of the facts in each case. WILLIAM WINDOM,

(10578.)

Secretary.

Sugar- Withdrawal of, after April 1, 1891.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 3, 1891.

GENTLEMEN: In reply to your letter of the 16th ultimo, I have to inform you that sugar, No. 16, D. S., and under, imported and warehoused in bond before April 1, 1891, may be withdrawn for consump

sion after that date free of duty; and that thereafter no polariscopic st of any sugars will be required until January 1, 1892, when section 3 of the act of October 1, 1890, conditionally reimposing on certain importations of sugar the rates of duty specified in the tariff of 1883, may take effect.

Respectfully yours,

O. L. SPAULDING,

Assistant Secretary.

MEMPHIS COMMISSION AND REFINING CO., Memphis, Tenn.

(10579.)

Entry of goods valued at less than $100.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 3, 1891.

SIR: The Department is in receipt of your letter of the 10th ultimo, transmitting the application of Messrs. S. L. Jones & Co. for a change in the practice now prevailing at your port concerning the entry of imported merchandise without consular invoices valued at less than 8:00.

It appears that when satisfied that the claim is valid, and that the importation was not purposely broken up into small values to evade the requirement of the statute, you allow entry to be made by appraisement, while the applicants claim the privilege of making such entries by pro forma invoices in the same manner as is now customary at the port of New York and elsewhere.

Upon investigating the matter, the Department is of opinion that while it is right that you should exercise all proper discretion under the provisions of section 4 of the act of June 10, 1890, in such matters, get that no objection exists to allowing entry of merchandise where the value is $100 or less on uncertified invoices, and without exacting bond for the subsequent production of consular invoices, provided that the importer complies with the conditions of such section in the manner Indicated in the blank affidavit herewith inclosed.

The collector's action must, of course, be dependent upon the conditions and circumstances developed in each case.

This practice, which prevails at the port of New York and elsehere, is believed to be the safest and best course to pursue in order to insure the proper collection of the revenue on such importations. You will be governed accordingly.

Respectfully yours,

O. L. SPAULDING,
Assistant Secretary.

COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, San Francisco, Cal.

(10580.)

Invoices, consular, for free goods.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 6, 1891.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 22d ultimo, in which you call attention to the communications of this Department of the 27th of October and the 22d of November last, with regard to the authentication of invoices of merchandise paying specific rates of duty, and asking whether, in the opinion of this Department, the instructions contained in said communications should not also apply to goods which may be exempt from duty under the existing tariff act. As the communications referred to were based upon the opinion of the Solicitor of the Treasury, to the effect that section 8 of the act of June 10, 1890, did not apply in the case of importations of goods paying specific rates of duty, the Department concurs with you in the opinion that no good reason exists why goods which are absolutely free under the existing tariff act should not also be exempt from the said requirement.

The Department, however, suggests that the question of the dutiable character of the goods is not committed by law to consular officers, and can not be left to their determination. (133 U. S., 289.)

Whether a statement, in addition to the invoice, will be required depends upon the dutiable character of the goods as found upon importation into the United States. If then found to be subject to an ad valorem rate of duty, a statement must be produced or entry will be refused. It is the duty of the consul to authenticate the invoice, notwithstanding the absence of the additional statement, leaving the importer to determine for himself whether he will procure it.

In the case of hides, olive oils, and the like, which are usually brought in small parcels by agents scattered through the producing regions, and inextricably mixed before shipment, which goods are either specified on the free list or are subject to specific rates of duty, this Department is of opinion that while the recital in the invoice of time and place of purchase and the name of the person from whom the goods were originally bought can not be dispensed with, consular officers should exercise a wise discretion and only refuse to authenticate such invoices in cases when such recital is willfully withheld.

Respectfully yours,

The Hon. SECRETARY OF STATE.

A. B. NETTLETON,

Acting Secretary.

(10581.)

Regulations governing the free importation of articles for exhibition at the
World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, in the year 1893.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 7, 1891.

Section 11 of the act of Congress, approved April 25, 1890, providing for celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, by holding an international exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and the product of the soil, mines, and sea, in the city of Chicago, in the State of Illinois, is as follows, viz:

That all articles which shall be imported from foreign countries for . the sole purpose of exhibition at said exposition, upon which there shall be a tariff or customs duty, shall be admitted free of payment of duty, customs fees or charges, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe; but it shall be lawful at any time. during the exhibition to sell for delivery at the close of the exposition any goods or property imported for and actually on exhibition in the exposition buildings or on its grounds, subject to such regulations for the security of the revenue and for the collection of the import duties as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe: Provided, That all such articles when sold or withdrawn for consumption in the United States shall be subject to the duty, if any, imposed upon such articles by the revenue laws in force at the date of importation, and all penalties prescribed by the law shall be applied and enforced against such articles, and against the persons who may be guilty of any illegal sale or withdrawal.

Under the authority conferred by said provision of law, the following regulations are hereby prescribed, viz:

1. No duty, fees, or charges for customs service will be exacted on any such importations, except where the merchandise is sold for consumption in the United States, and entered as provided by these regulations.

Goods destined for such exhibition may be imported through any port of entry.

2. Invoices showing the marks, numbers, character, quantity, and foreign market value of articles intended for such exhibition shall be made in triplicate, and one copy forwarded to the collector of customs for the port at which it is intended such articles shall enter the United States, one copy to the collector of customs for the port of Chicago, and one copy to the consignee or agent of the shipper. The shipper of such goods may declare to the invoice as the agent of the exbibitor, and the invoice shall be authenticated by one of the commissioners for the exhibition appointed by the Government of the country from which the

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