Should such goods be dutiable according to legal or gross weight, the ordinary packages in which imported shall pay the same duty as the goods. XIV. Packages which can not be considered as ordinary, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, and which evidently seem not to be adapted for the goods they contain, and also to have an independent market value, such as articles of luxury, or which may be used for any other purpose, shall be subject to the duty leviable thereon, and must be declared for the payment of such duties. XV. When articles specially mentioned in the tariff, such as safes, trunks, portmanteaus, furniture, etc., are imported an I used as outer receptacles, such articles shall be dutiable and shall not be considered as packages. XVI. Tissues used as wrappers for goods inside of packages must be declared and the tariff duty shall be levied thereon, whatever be the quantity and quality, with the exception of waterproof tissues and oil or tarred cloths, simply used to protect the goods from humidity and not exceeding the quantity deemed necessary for this purpose. XVII. Tissues and articles of linen, hemp, or other like vegetable fibers, mixed with cotton in whatever proportion, not mentioned in the tariff or repertory, shall be dutiable as tissues or articles of pure linen. XVIII. Tissues of wool combined with a small quantity of threads of another material, other than of precious metals, as well as tissues of wool mixed with cotton, linen, hemp, or other similar vegetable fibers, in whatever proportion, shall pay as tissues of pure wool. XIX. Ribbons of silk mixed with cotton, linen, or wool shall only be considered as such when the warp or woof is wholly composed of cotton, linen, or woolen yarn. XX. As tissues and articles of silk with a mixture of cotton, linen, or wool, shall be considered those in which the mixture is found in the entire tissue or in different parts of the texture. Tissues which have said mixture only on the edges shall be dutiable as tissues or articles of silk. XXI. As dress patterns are considered those which are imported in cardboard boxes, or in any other manner, and which are folded, pinned, or loosely stitched together, showing the shape of the waist or skirt, with ornaments so adaptable to the purpose that no possible doubt can exist as to their destination. When tissues are not shaped out or are imported with ornaments either separate or adjusted in such manner that they may bemployed for any other purpose, such tissues shall be dutiable according to kind, and the ornaments shall pay the duty leviable thereon. XXII. Handkerchiefs of cotton or linen, not figured, even with a worked border, such border being neither embroidered nor open-worked, shall be considered as made of plain tissue. Handkerchiefs which are slightly embroidered with cotton, linen, wool, or silk in one of their corners, shall pay as tissues and not as embroidery. White handkerchiefs, with colored bands, borders, edges or designs shall be dutiable as colored tissues. XXIII. Should jewelry and articles specified in No. 856 of the tariff be imported in cases, the weight and kind of such cases must be declared separately for the application of the corresponding duty. XXIV. By mountings and settings is meant that part of metal adhering to an article of crystal or porcelain serving as ornament or support and forming an integral part of such article. Small fittings or screws which unite two or more parts, small knobs, lids of flasks or bottles, and ornaments of gold or silver, applied directly to crystal, shall not be considered as mountings or settings. XXV. Articles of nickeled metal, other than those of iron or steel, shall be dutiable according to the component metal. XXVI. When chemical or pharmaceutical products bear on their immediate receptacle labels describing the contents to be other than those declared, the highest duty corresponding to the declaration or to the label shall be applied, even when the products are in accordance with the declaration. XXVII. When industrial machinery or apparatus is imported with accessories exceeding in quantity the actual requirements, such accessories being classed in the tariff, the surplus will be dutiable according to their corresponding numbers. XXVIII. Conformably to article 8 of decree dated April 30, 1894, wherever in any number of the tariff the same article is liable to different duties, according to greater or less weight (except tissues), duty shall be levied as follows: The highest duty shall be applied to the quantity whose limit is fixed in the corresponding num. ber, and the lowest duty leviable shall be collected on the surplus. XXIX. Conformably to article 4 of decree dated June 5, 1897, should articles of cotton, linen, wool, or silk, such as yarn in balls or skeins, cords, lace, ornaments, trimmings, fringes, ribbons, embroidered bands and the like, in small pieces, be imported in packets or cardboard boxes and, being dutiable under different heads owing to the various component materials or kind, not be packed separately in cardboard boxes or packets containing one kind only, the highest rate of duty applicable to the articles inclosed in each packet or cardboard box shall be levied, even when the invoice fully and separately states the weight, measure, quantity, description, and kind of goods so packed. DECREE OF MAY 12, 1896, ESTABLISHING A STAMP DUTY OF 7 PER Cent on FOREIGN IMPORTED Goods. [Diario Oficial No. 114, of May 12, 1896.] ART. 1. In lieu of the consumption duty of 5 per cent at present levied on foreign imported goods and of the excise surtax of 2 per cent (internación) applicable to said goods, a stamp duty of 7 per cent shall, on and after July 1, 1896, be collected on the amount of import duties leviable on the aforesaid goods, exclusive of all other additional duties. ART. 2. Maritime and frontier custom-houses shall collect this duty in specie and shall keep a special account of all sums received under this head; they must, montuly, deposit the amount of such receipts in the competent stamp office. This office shall, in exchange, deliver to them an original and duplicate receipt for the amount so deposited, detached from a stub book kept for this purpose conformably to the regulations and provisions to be adopted. ART. 3. For the regular control of the special account mentioned in the preceding article, the custom-houses must remit to the general treasury, in addition to their respective accounts, the original receipt duly certified. The duplicate shall be retained in each custom-house with the copy of the accounts rendered. ART. 4. This stamp duty shall be levied on foreign goods imported into the free zone; it shall be collected on the total amount of import duties and it must be paid at the time of importation. ART. 5. All articles of the general maritime and frontier custom-house ordinance, relative to the excise surtax of 2 per cent (internación), as well as articles 96 to 102 of the general law on revenue stamps of April 25, 1893, and all other dispositions relating thereto, are hereby repealed. ART. 6. The stamp duty established in virtue of the present decree shall be levied on all goods arriving on vessels having anchored in ports of the Republic after midnight on June 30, 1896, or which, conveyed by railway, cross the frontier after the aforesaid hour and date. MEXICAN PORT DUES. The following, dated May 19, 1899, has been received from Consul Jones, of Tuxpan : I wish to call attention of shippers to article 13 of the new tariff law that went into effect last October, to protect the interior commerce of Mexico. According to this new law, all vessels that enter any Mexican port and wish to proceed with the same cargo or any part of it to another Mexican port, or vessels coming in ballast, taking part cargo at one port, then proceeding to another port to complete cargo, must pay the following rates, presumably in Mexican currency: Per ton gross weight $1.00 3.00 5.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 Two instances of the above ruling-one a cargo of coal, another a cargo of lumber now unloading at this port-have come to my notice. In the tariff of July, 1897, article 1 is amended as follows: In virtue of undermentioned decree, goods of foreign origin shall on importation be liable, in addition to the duties specified in the tariff, to the following surtaxes, to be computed on the amount of such duties: Two per cent toward port improvements; 7 per cent for stamp duty; 1 per cent for municipal tax. Import tariff. The money unit of Mexico is the silver peso, whose fluctuations in value render reductions to American currency of no permanent value. 19 Fish and shellfish, dried, salted, smoked, or salted and .....do ANIMAL MATERIALS FOR INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES. 14 Animals prepared for collections of natural history.. Gross kilogram. Whalebone, raw 16 Flock wool Tortoise shell, raw. Bristles for shoemakers Bristles, horsehair and cows' hair. 21 Horn, unwrought... Spermaceti in lumps. Animal fats not specially mentioned.. Wool: Raw. carded 27 Ivory, unwrought and ivory grated or in powder.. 16 28 Mother-of-pearl, unwrought, sawdust and waste of .....do 342 Hides of all kinds, not tanned 34a Skins of the vicuna, rabbit, hare, muskrat, and the .....do 10 Fresh meat (beef, veal, mutton, and pork), poultry, and Net kilogram 1.... .08 13 .12 .01 Legal kilogram. .08 .05 Per gram 2.50 Gross kilogram .01 .20 Musk 39 Cantharides 40 Castoreum... ....do ..... 23 2.00 The terms "net kilo," "legal kilo," and "gross kilo," used in the Mexican tariff, are thus explained: "Net weight" is the intrinsic weight of the merchandise without the casings, packages, or wrappings; "legal weight" is the weight of the goods, including the interior casings, wrappings, boxes of card. board, wood, or tin in which they may be packed inside the exterior box which serves as the outside receptacle; "gross weight" is the weight of the merchandise with all the wrappings, interior and exterior, without any allowance for packing, filling, or hoops. In numbers 34, 34a, 34b are included skins salted or prepared for preservation, but not tanned. The hair of skins referred to in 34a must unite the conditions designated in explanatory note 19. Saddles of all kinds, also when ornamented, except Legal kilogram 2.00 68 Articles of leather not specially mentioned.. .do 1.50 69 Belting of leather for machinery, when not imported 70 71 73 74 75 72 76 Harness of all kinds, for carts or carriages Belting made of cows' hair for machinery, when not 78 77 Buckles and rings, covered with leather. 78a Tanned skins with fine hair 1 Number 78a, relates to tanned skins with fine hair suitable for furs, as ermine, sable, fox, otter, beaver, and the like. It also comprises the skins of birds, rats, cats, rabbits, wolves, tigers, lions, bears, bisons, zebras, and other rare skins, tanned, with feathers or hair. It is immaterial as regards the tariff classification whether these skins come in bulk or in strips, whether sewed or mounted upon cotton or linen linings. In number 78 are included all manufactures of fine skins, as muffs, boas, or other articles of fur, whether lined with silk or other materials of lower tariff classification; also, garnitures and trimmings of the same skins with cotton, wool, or linen linings are referred to the same number. Rugs made of the rare skins mentioned in explanatory note 41 are included in 78a; also rugs of goatskin or other common hair imitating bear, tiger, or other skins considered rare. |