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A COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS FROM THE FOLLOWING DISTRICTS.

1850.

1851.

1850.

1851.

1852.

1851.

1st quarter.

1st quarter.

3d quarter. 3d quarter. 4th quarter. 4th quarter. Boston.... $1,390,850 $3,303,004 $2,398,609 $3,741,791 $1,685,301 $2,781,602 New York. 13,364,937 19,476,164 12,370,315 18,540,781

Philadel'a.

Baltimore.

Charleston..

936,200 1,452,500 1,321,316

1,421,324

1,203,039 1,288,057

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2,704,983

921,536 3,539,504

1,998,590

5,919,460 4,622,520

8,181,507

N. Orleans. 5,861,080 10,703,127 10,636,117 19,104,084 16,022,337 Mobile..... 2,561,816 1,561,751 2,724,700 1,541,876

$30,721,761 $33,781,671 $34,486,672 $39,350,469 $27,911,884 $24,694,516

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A COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS IN THE FOLLOWING DISTRICTS. 1850. 1851. 4th quarter. 4th quarter.

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1st quarter. 1st quarter. Boston..... $7,880,117 $9,095,182 $5,883,439 $6,010,793 $8,365,748 $8,151,858 New York. 49,266,402 42,297,534 20,106,910 22,086,714 42,557,960 32,110,000 4,842,691 2,021,599 2,059,052 4,451,638

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$65,009,509 $61,084,710 $34,600,488 $37,331,370 $60,130,345 $48,600,487

STATISTICS OF THE SLAVE TRADE.

A return, as nearly as the same can be furnished, of the number of slaves embarked on the coast of Africa, and landed in Cuba and Brazil, in each year from 1842 to the latest date to which the accounts extend:

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NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE.

LIGHT ON CAPE WILLOUGHBY, KANGAROO ISLAND,

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, July 17, 1852.

The annexed notice to mariners, transmitted to this Department by the United States Consul at London, to whom it was officially communicated by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, is published for general information:—

LIGHT ON CAPE WilloughbY, KANGAROO ISLAND, SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE, ADELAIDE, December 30, 1851. Notice is hereby given, by the authority of his Excellency, the Lieutenant Governor, that on and after the 10th January, 1852, the light in the Sturt Light-house, lately erected on Cape Willoughby, Kangaroo Island, will be exhibited from sunset to sun

rise.

This Light-house is situated on the eastern extremity of Kangaroo Island, in latitude 35° 49' 20" South, longitude 138° 13' 30" East, and is a Revolving Light, appearing at regular intervals of one-and-a-half minutes.

This light is elevated 241 feet above the level of the sea, and can be seen 24 nautical miles, illuminating 259 degrees of a circle, from N. by W. W., round to S. W. by W. W. By his Excellency's command,

CHARLES STURT, Colonial Secretary.

NEW LIGHT AT THE ENTRANCE OF CHRISTIANIA FIORD.

ROYAL NORWEGIAN MARINE DEPARTMENT, CHRISTIANIA, June 5. As the present coal-light on Færder, at the entrance of the Christiania Fiord, will, in the course of the summer, be replaced by a fast lens-light of the first class, notice is hereby given that in the course of twelve or fourteen days the said light will be placed 130 ells (260 feet) south of the present light-house, about 190 above the level of the sea. The light on this place will be equally visible, as from its present site, to those vessels coming from sea, and seeking the Christiania Fiord; only in cases of vessels within Færder, coming west of the Fuglehuk Light, will the light on Forder be invisible, in consequence of the high ground north of the light.

Due notice will be given of the period when the new apparatus will be lighted.

LATITUDE OF THE ASTRONOMICAL STATIONS.

COAST SURVEY STATION, (NEAR PETERSBURG,) VIRGINIA, July 13, 1852. SIR-I have the honor to report the following results of preliminary computations of observations for latitude on the western coast, made by Assistant George Davidson, during his expedition with the reconnoissance party of Lieutenant-Commanding Allen, from San Francisco southward. The longitude results will be furnished as soon as completed. I would respectfully request authority to publish the present notice:

LATITUDE OF THE ASTRONOMICAL STATIONS AT THE SEVERAL POINTS, AS DETERMINED BY PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS BY ASSISTANT GEORGE DAVIDSON, UNITED STATES COAST

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COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS.

THE APPOINTMENT OF WHARFINGERS, AND THEIR DUTIES, IN N. ORLEANS.

The Common Council of the city of New Orleans recently passed the following "Ordinance for the Appointment of Wharfingers, and for Regulating the Duties of the same:"

AN ORDINANCE FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF WHARFINGERS, AND REGULATING THE DUTIES OF THE SAME.

SECTION 1. That there shall be appointed by the Common Council, in the month of May, (or as soon after as practicable,) and every year thereafter, the following Wharfingers and Assistants, who shall enter upon the discharge of their duties on the first day of June.

One Wharfinger for the steamboats, steamships, flats, etc., of the First District. One Assistant Wharfinger for all that portion of the First District from the flatboat landing unto the upper line of said district.

One Wharfinger for the whole of the Second District.

Two Assistant Wharfingers for the Second and Third Districts.

One Assistant Wharfinger for the Fourth District.

SEC. 2. The Assistant Wharfingers of the First and Fourth Districts shall make daily reports of the arrivals and departures of all vessels, flats, etc., with their tonnage, to the Wharfinger of the First District. The Assistant Wharfingers of the Second and Third Districts shall also report in same manner to the Wharfinger of the Second District.

SEC. 3. It shall be the special duty of the Wharfingers to make a weekly report to the Controller of all and every description of vessels, their tonnage, etc., which may each day enter and moor within the limits of the port under their superintendence; which weekly report shall be filed in the office of said Controller for further reference and examination, in regular rotation and dates.

SEC. 4. The Wharfingers and Assistants shall perform such duties as are now prescribed by existing ordinances, or that may be hereafter prescribed by the Common Council. The office of the Wharfingers shall be open from sunrise to sunset, (Sundays excepted.) They shall receive for compensation fifteen hundred dollars per annum, payable monthly, and the Assistants nine hundred dollars per annum, payable monthly.

SEC. 5. For the faithful performance of their several duties, the Wharfingers shall furnish bonds and security in the sum of five thousand dollars each; and the Assistants in the sum of two thousand dollars each.

SEC. 6. All ordinances or parts of ordinances conflicting with the foregoing ordinances be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

NEW ORLEANS LEVEE AND WHARFAGE DUES.

The Common Council of the city of New Orleans have passed the subjoined ordinance, which was approved by the President of the Board and Assistant Board of Aldermen, and by the Mayor of the city, on the 28th of May, 1852, and is now in force :

AN ORDINANCE TO REGULATE THE LEVEE AND WHARFAGE DUES ON SHIPS AND VESSELS ARRIVING FROM SEA, AND ON STEAMBOATS, FLATS, BARGES, ETC.

ART. 1. That from and after the passage of this ordinance the levee or wharfage rates on ships or other sail vessels, steamships, steamboats, flats, barges, and other craft, shall be fixed as follows:

On all ships or sail vessels of 1,000 tons and under, 25 cents per ton.

Excess of tonnage over 1,000 tons, 20 cents per ton.

On all steamships, 174 cents per ton.

On all steamboats of 1,000 tons and under, 15 cents per ton.

Excess of tonnage over 1,000 tons, 10 cents per ton; provided, that boats arriving and departing more than once each week shall pay only two-thirds of these rates. On each flatboat not measuring over 80 feet, $10.

On each flatboat measuring 80 to 100 feet, $12.
On each flatboat measuring over 100 feet, $15.
On each barge more than 70 feet long, $12.

On each barge less than 70 feet, and not exceeding 15 tons burden, $8.

On each steamboat hull used as a barge, $25.

On each scow and coastwise pirogue, $2.

For every flatboat, barge, or other vessel, not including steamboats, employed in transportation of brick, lumber, or other building materials, or in bringing produce from this and neighboring parishes to this city, and measuring not over 25 tons, the levee and wharfage dues shall be $30 per annum.

From 25 to 50 tons, $60 per annum.

Over 50 and not exceeding 75 tons, $80 per annum.

Over 75 and not exceeding 100 tons, $125 per annum.

Over 100 tons, $200 per annum.

ART. 2. Every proprietor of any small craft of the description above mentioned, who shall desire to enjoy the privilege accorded by the present ordinance, must apply to the Treasurer of the city of New Orleans for the purpose of obtaining a license, approved by the Mayor, and countersigned by the Controller, which license shall specify the number or name of such craft, which shall be painted in a conspicuous place on the side of said craft.

ART. 3. Hereafter it shall not be lawful for any pirogue, flatboat, barge, boat or keelboat, to remain in port longer than eight days, under the same provisions and penalties contained in Art. 3 of an Ordinance of the General Council, approved May 26, 1843.

ART. 4. That the payment of the levee dues on ships or sail vessels, steamships, and steamboats, shall be exacted and collected by the Collectors of Levee Dues, and an extra duty of one-third these rates shall be paid by all sail vessels or steamships which may remain in port over two months, the same to be recovered at the commencement of the third month; and if over four months, an additional duty of onethird these rates.

Steamboats shall be entitled to remain thirty days in port after payment of the dues. All over thirty days to pay an additional duty of $2 per day.

ART 5. That all vessels now in port, and that have paid a daily or weekly wharfage, shall be allowed (and the Collectors are hereby authorized) to deduct the amount so paid from the rates now to be collected.

All ordinances or parts of ordinances conflicting with the foregoing be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

DUTIES ON CASKS AND BARRELS.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, June 7, 1852. SIR-In reply to your inquiry on the subject of the claims for a return of the duty which has been paid upon the cost of casks containing molasses imported from Cuba, on the plea that they were originally made in the United States and shipped to that Island, and therefore exempt from duty as being articles of American manufacture, I have the honor to state that nearly if not all of the casks in which molasses is imported from Cuba were originally shipped from the United States as molasses shooks ; that is to say, the cask is made and put together and the heads fitted in; the temporary shop-hoops are then removed and the casks taken apart, the staves being laid one on the other in a solid form, and strapped together in that mode by two small hoops; the heads of the hogsheads, each head complete, are in like manner laid one on the other, generally six or eight together, and also strapped together with hoops; and in this form shipped sometimes in entire cargoes to Cuba, where they are purchased by the planters, who also buy the hoops likewise shipped from the United States, either as poles in their original state, as cut in the woods, or split into hoops, and ready shaved for use, and tied up in long bundles. The molasses hogsheads are then put together from the materials thus sent from the United States, and are used for the return cargoes of molasses. These molasses shooks, complete in the above form, are usually sold in Cuba, according as the supply may be more or less abundant, at from 90 to 100 cents each, besides which is the labor of putting them together, hooping them, and other work needful to render them suitable for use. But, whilst

the original cost of these shooks is as above only from 90 to 100 cents, the cask for the molasses is universally charged in the invoices at the rate of 5 cents per gallon, which, on the average size of 110 gallons each, is equal to $6 05 for each hogshead, This very heavy charge for the cask had its origin many years since, and has been steadily adhered to ever since, and, as it will be seen, is an enormous profit to the parties upon the actual cost. It is in fact a part of the real cost of the molasses itself; for if the parties were not, by custom and agreement, authorized to charge this very heavy price for the cask, but were obliged to furnish it at the real cost, then the price of the molasses would necessarily have to be increased in the proportion, and the duty therefore on the cask, of which complaint is made, though nominally on it, is virtually

on the molasses.

In proof of this it is only necessary to state that parties sometimes furnish their own casks, in which cases the bill for the molasses is nevertheless rendered by the vendors in the usual form, charging the molasses at the stipulated price per gallon, and for the casks at the rate of 54c. per gallon, or about $6 each, and then from the foot of the bill a deduction is made for the casks furnished by the vessel at the current market value of them, which is frequently only 87 cents, and rarely if ever exceeds $1 25, leaving the difference between these latter prices and the $6 per cask charged as a clear augmentation on the price of the molasses itself, and which would appear in the charge per gallon for the molasses, if it was not allowed to be made in the extra charge for the cask. There seems to be no good or just reason why the present law exempting from duty American productions returned from a foreign port should be charged so as to apply to molasses casks thus shipped in the form of shooks, sold as merchandise, and probably changing owners various times in Cuba, and returned as complete packages containing foreign merchandise. It is shipped as a rough material, and returned in a new shape, after having had foreign labor bestowed upon it. The law in question provides that American goods from a foreign port, in order to be entitled to free entry, shall not only be in the same state as when shipped, but also contemplates that it shall be free from any increased value from foreign labor which may have been bestowed upon it, and shall not in the mean time have been applied to any other use. There is no calculating the extent to which a principle of the kind contemplated in this clause for an exemption from duty would lead. American woolen or cotton fabrics could be returned in the shape of ready-made clothing; American leather in the shape of boots and shoes; American wood in the shape of furniture; and so of other articles. Still less reason exists why, under the circumstances, as detailed above, such exemption should be made for a remission of duties upon the value of the cask, charged as it is at so high a rate, with a view of compensating for the low nominal price at which molasses is sold, for it would be a virtual remission of the duties on the molasses itself.

The average price at which molasses is sold in Cuba ranges from 14 to 2 reals per keg of 5 gallons, and at some seasons has gone up to 3 and 3 reals of 12 cents each; at the former rates, which are those at which the great bulk of the crop is sold, it would only be 3 to 4 cents per gallon-a rate which evidently shows the necessity of having some perquisite in the shape of an outside charge, to give an increased compensation for the article. But to put the case in a still stronger point of view, it is only necessary to state that, so depressed was the article in the year 1880, that no charge whatever was made for the molasses, and entire cargoes were furnished at the only charge of 5 cents per gallon for the cask; and, had an ad valorem duty then existed, not only the cask, but the molasses also, would, on the principle now claimed by the parties, have been admitted free of duty.

The claim as it regards molasses casks would equally apply to the boxes for sugar, and could not be denied to the latter if granted to the former.

Box shooks, that is to say suitable boards sawed to the proper size for sides, top, bottom, and ends of boxes, are strapped together, as in the case of the molasses shooks, and shipped by hundreds of thousands to Cuba, as it is believed all the boxes (1,700,000) for the entire crop of the island are shipped from the States; and these box shooks are sold at from 65 to 75 cents each, but are charged to the purchasers of sugar at the fixed and invariable price of $3 25 each, and, as in the case of the molasses casks, forms a part of the real cost of the article they contain, as they in like manner with the hogsheads are put together in the Island and prepared for the reception of the sugar. The planter, in making his calculations as to the price of his sugar, of course takes into view his large profit on the box; and if he asks 3 cents for the sugar and $3 25 for the box, he would demand 34 cents for the sugar, if the purchaser was

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