Geographical and statistical

liable with her cargo for higher duties than are payable by vessels of the United States. By the general maritime law, a bill of sale is necessary to pass the title of the ship. The inaccurate recital of the certificate of registry in the bill of sale, does not avoid the sale, but the vessel is thereby deprived of her American privileges. If a sea vessel be assigned to a foreigner, the effect is the same; but if it be a coaster, the sale is not thereby invalidated, but the vessel is subject to forfeiture. A regular bill of sale of a vessel at sea, will transfer the property. And, in general, where there can be no manual delivery, there should be a delivery of something as an indicium or token. A bill of sale is the proper title to which the maritime courts look, it is the universal instrument of transfer of vessels; it is made absolutely necessary by statute.

Enrolled Vessels.-Enrolled vessels are those over twenty tons' burden, employed in the coasting trade and fisheries; and are licensed annually for the employment or business authorised by the tenour of the licence. Vessels enrolled and licensed, bound on a foreign voyage, may be registered; and enrolled vessels, being in a port other than the one to which she belongs, on the expiration of the licence, may obtain temporary registry. Vessels under twenty tons' burden may be licensed for the coasting trade or fisheries. A vessel licensed for any employment, may surrender it at any time within the period for which it was issued.

All licences must be renewed within three days after the expiration thereof, if the vessel be within the district to which she belongs; if on a voyage at the time of expiration, within three days after her first arrival; if sold, in whole, or in part, the licence is vacated. Should a licence be lost or destroyed, a new one may be obtained, on the oath of the master to the loss, &c. On a transfer of an enrolled vessel, a new enrolment must be obtained, the requisites for obtaining which are similar to those for registered vessels.

Coasting Trade.-The United States is divided into three great districts: the first, between the eastern limits of the United States and the southern limits of Georgia; the second, to include all districts, &c., between the river Perdido and the western limits of the United States; and the third, all the ports, &c., between the southern limits of Georgia and the river Perdido.

Every vessel destined from a district in one state to a district in the same, or an adjoining state, with foreign merchandise in packages as imported, the value of which exceeds 400 dollars, or with foreign goods in original packages or otherwise, the aggregate value of which exceeds 800 dollars, must obtain a clearance. On the arrival of every such vessel at the port of destination, the master must enter the vessel and obtain a permit to unlade his cargo.

Vessels sailing with a coasting licence, laden with goods wholly of the produce or manufacture of the United States, are not required to clear, if bound from one to another port within either of the three great districts.

All registered vessels engaged in the coasting trade, are required to clear in going from one district to any other district, and also on their arrival in the other district to enter under similar regulations to those vessels under a licence. Since the act of 1828, chap. 109, the mackarel fishery cannot be lawfully carried on under a licence for the cod fishery.

The 32nd section of the act of February 18, 1793, forfeits a vessel licensed for the fisheries, if engaged in a business, of whatever nature, and with whatever object, which is not expressly authorised by the tenour of the licence. But vessels licensed for the mackarel fishery are not liable to the forfeiture imposed by the 5th and 32nd sections of the act of February 18, 1793, in consequence of any such vessel whilst so licensed having been engaged in catching cod or other fish-But the owner of such vessel may not receive the bounty allowed to vessels in the cod fishery. A vessel to be entitled to the bounty must be actually employed at sea, in the cod fisheries, a certain specified time, and must dry cure the fish caught.

Fishing Bounties.-The fishing season is accounted from the last day of February to the last day of November; and the following allowances are paid on the last day of December, annually, to the owner or his agent, of each vessel that shall be duly licensed and qualified for the cod fisheries, and that shall have been employed four months of the fishing season, viz. :-To every vessel of more than five tons and not exceeding thirty tons' burden, three dollars fifty cents per ton; above thirty tons' burden, four dollars per ton; above thirty tons, with a crew of not less than ten persons, and employed three months and a half, three dollars and fifty cents per ton. The bounty on any one vessel cannot exceed 360 dollars. Vessels of more than five and less than twenty tons, must catch and land twelve quintals of fish per ton, during the season.

The skipper of each fishing vessel must make an agreement with every fisherman before proceeding on a voyage. By paying monthly wages in money in lieu of dividing the fish, or the proceeds of the fishing voyage, in the proportions provided for by law, the agreement is violated, and the bounty is forfeited. The oath of the master, at the time the vessel has been actually employed in the fisheries, is required by an act of July 29, 1813, sec. 6.

Fishing vessels wrecked may obtain the bounty in certain cases, by the act of 1824, chap. 152. Fishing vessels may obtain a licence to touch and trade at a foreign port, under the act of February 18, 1793.But the mere proceeding to a foreign port, if within the customary range of a fishing voyage, is not proceeding on a foreign voyage, within the meaning of the act. The bounties granted 6 R

VOL. II.

by law, are paid on such vessels only, the officers and three-fourths of the crew of which, shall be proved citizens of the United States.

The laws relating to the enrolling and licensing of vessels, as well as those relating to the registering and recording of them, require, that when a vessel is sold and transferred, in whole, or in part, her papers shall be given up to be cancelled, and that she shall be papered anew; that when a vessel employed in the coasting trade, cod fishery, or mackarel fishery, is at a port other than the one to which she belongs, whose licence has expired, she is required to surrender the enrolment and licence, a “ temporary register," to enable the vessel to return to the port of ownership, even should that port be in an adjoining district, there again to be enrolled and licensed, in every particular as before the temporary register was granted and when an enrolled vessel is at a port other than the one to which she belongs, and is destined for a foreign port, she is required to surrender all her papers, and procure a register, for the foreign voyage; and upon her return to the port where she is owned, she is again subject to the requirements of the enrolment and licence acts. This series of changes may be entirely obviated, and the whole business of registering, recording, and licensing vessels arranged in a simple and concise manner, by the enactment of a law authorising all vessels to be registered permanently, whether engaged in foreign trade, coasting, or fisheries, according to the form now in use for vessels bound on a foreign voyage. The several parts or proportions owned by each individual, ought also to be expressed in the register; and when a partial transfer of property is made, it should be endorsed on the register and the record; and when there is an hypothecation, by bottomry or otherwise, it should be recorded, to be valid; and thus make the register the real evidence of ownership. According to the present system, volumes of records are required to be kept, at great labour and expense, in consequence of the frequent and partial changes of property in vessels, and their changes of employment.

After a vessel is permanently registered, and is to be employed in the coasting trade or fisheries, a licence should be given for that particular employment, to be renewed annually; and when a vessel is taken from either of those employments, to be put into foreign trade, the licence should be surrendered, and a clearance granted to proceed on the voyage, under the original permanent document.

Con

Copies of all registers and enrolments issued by the existing laws, must be transmitted to the register of the treasury, and a duplicate of each made for the records of the custom-house. sequently, when a vessel is registered, enrolled, and licensed, and again registered, as often happens within a year, triplicate copies at each change are rendered necessary. By the mode suggested, the labour at the custom-houses would be greatly reduced; the records would at all times show the real bonâ fide ownership of vessels; and the mercantile community would be relieved of the onerous requirements imposed by every partial transfer of their property in vessels, and also those incident to their frequent changes of employment.

The acts upon which the existing system is based, are those of December 31, 1792; February 18, 1793; March 2, June 27, 1797; March 2, 1803; March 27, 1804; March 3, 1825; and February 11, 1830.

The following circular instructions to collectors of the customs, dated Treasury Department, April 10, 1845, are explanatory of the act of Congress, approved March 3, 1845.

Herewith you will receive an act entitled " An act allowing drawback upon foreign merchandise exported in the original packages to Chihuahua and Santa Fe, in Mexico, and to the British North American provinces adjoining the United States," approved the 3rd of March, 1845, accompanied with forms and instructions for carrying the same into execution.

The first six sections of the act apply to the exportation of merchandise “in the original packages as imported," to Chihuahua, in Mexico, or Santa Fè, in New Mexico, either by the route of the Arkansas river, through Van Buren, or by the route of Red river, through Fulton, or by the route of the Missouri river, through Independence. Consequently, foreign imported merchandise exported or conveyed to the places in Mexico or New Mexico, mentioned, by any other routes than those indicated in the act, will not be entitled to a drawback of the import duties. It is also to be remarked, that the exportation of merchandise by the routes and to the places before mentioned, can only be made from the original port of importation.

In pursuance of the authority vested in the secretary of the treasury, by the 11th section of the act, the following rules, regulations, and forms, are prescribed, and are to be strictly enforced. First. In regard to the exportation of merchandise to Chihuahua and Santa Fè:

On first giving twenty-four hours' notice at the custom-house, of intention to export, the exporter must make due entry, and for that purpose must produce the invoice required by the 2nd section of the act. Said entry must recite the invoice in detail; and, in addition, give a particular description of the merchandise, whence and by whom imported, the name of the vessel, and the time of importation, with the original invoice value of the goods; and also state the destination,

and the route by which the merchandise is to be transported. The entry must, in all cases, be verified by the oath or affirmation of the person making the same, together with the oath or affirmation of the first importer, with that of any person through whose hands the merchandise may have passed, declaring the same to be in the original package or packages, and that the duties have been paid or secured. Inspection of the packages should also be carefully made by a proper officer of the customs, at the time of making the entry. The bond required by the fifth section of the act must be given by the exporter.

In consideration of the large inland transportation, and the consequent risk of injury, and defacing the marks on the packages, thereby rendering it difficult to identify them, it is deemed proper, for the more effectual security of the revenue, to require that each package shall be enclosed in a strong wooden box or covering, on which the same marks and numbers are to be placed as those on the inner package. The inner package is to be secured with a strong cord or rope, with the custom-house seal attached.

Forms of entry, invoice certificates, and oaths, are herewith transmitted, marked from A to D, inclusive.

Secondly. The remaining sections of the act apply to the exportation of merchandise for benefit of drawback to the British North American provinces adjoining the United States, and enumerating certain ports, "declared ports from which foreign goods, wares, and merchandise, on which the import duty has been paid, or secured to be paid, may be exported to ports in the adjoining British provinces, and to which ports foreign goods, wares, and merchandise, may be transported, inland or by water, from the port of original importation, under existing provisions of law, to be thence exported for the benefit of drawback."

The course to be pursued in the transportation, inland, of foreign merchandise, in the original packages as imported, to the designated ports of exportation enumerated in the 7th section of the act, is to be similar to that prescribed in the 79th section of the general collection act of the 2nd of March, 1799; and all the legal requirements and forms of law must be strictly pursued, in cases arising under this act.

In the exportation by sea to ports in the adjoining British provinces, all the existing requisitions of law, regulating the exportation of merchandise to foreign ports, for the benefit of drawback, must be fully complied with.

On the arrival of merchandise transported inland, at either of the enumerated ports of exportation, a strict and thorough examination of the same must be made by an officer of the customs, to see that the goods are identical with those described in the accompanying transportation certificate, granted by the collector of the port from whence they may have been originally transported.

In the event of any detention of the merchandise, at the port of exportation, for any cause, said merchandise must be deposited either in the custom-house, or in some secure store-house, to be selected by the collector, the keys of which must be lodged in his hands. Any expense for storage must be defrayed by the owner or consignee of the goods. Before exporting the goods to their destined port in the adjoining British provinces, entry must be made according to the forms herewith marked E and F.

On the return of the manifest with the certificate thereon, in due form, to the collector of the port of exportation, it must be immediately transmitted to the collector of the district and port from whence the goods were originally transported, in order that the drawback of the duties may be duly paid by the collector of said port.

It is to be specially noted, that the law contemplating the probable retention of the original manifest at the foreign custom-house, requires a duplicate, or certified copy of the same, to be granted at the time of exportation, on which is to be endorsed the certificate of the foreign collector, and also the oath or affirmation of the master.

CANADA CUSTOM-HOUSE DUTIES CIRCULAR.

The following circular, dated "Inspector-general's Office, Montreal, April 7, 1845," addressed to the collectors of customs at the different ports in that province, and signed Joseph Carey, deputy inspector-general, refers to the act of Congress allowing drawback on goods exported to the territories adjoining the United States.

Sir. With reference to a recent act of the Congress of the United States, allowing drawback on merchandise exported to the British provinces in North America, which, no doubt, has come under your notice, I have the honour to remind you that articles so exported from the United States, into this province, will be liable to the payment of the duties imposed by the acts of the provincial legislature, and also to the duties under the imperial act 5 and 6 Victoria, cap. 49, whe

but they are to be found only by an examination of the numerous statute laws of the United States, or in the voluminous digests of the same.

Registered Vessels.-Vessels built in the United States, and wholly owned by citizens thereof; vessels captured in war by such citizens, and condemned as prizes; vessels adjudged to be forfeited for breach of the laws of the United States being wholly owned by such citizens; and no others may be registered. No vessel is entitled to registry, or if registered, to the benefits thereof, if owned in whole, or in part, by any citizen usually residing in a foreign country, during such residence, unless he be a consul of the United States, or an agent for, and a partner in, some house of trade or copartnership, consisting of citizens of, and actually carrying on trade within, the United States.

A registered vessel which by sale becomes the property of a foreigner, shall not be entitled to a new register, notwithstanding she may afterwards become American property. No vessel is entitled to registry, or its benefits, owned by a non-resident naturalised citizen if residing for more than one year in the country from which he originated, or for more than two years in any foreign country, unless he be a consul, or other public agent of the United States.

A vessel shall be deemed to belong to the port at or near which the managing owner usually resides; and the name of the vessel, and of the place to which she belongs, shall be painted on her stern, on a black ground, with white letters of not less than three inches in length. The certificate of the master carpenter under whose direction the vessel is built, must be produced, prior to registry; which certificate is sufficient to remove a new vessel from one district to another in the same or an adjoining state, where the owner actually resides, provided it be with ballast only.

In order to the registry of a vessel, the owner, or one of the owners, must make oath to the property of the vessel, her name, burden, time when and place where she was built; and that there is no foreigner interested, directly or indirectly, in such vessel, or the profits thereof; and that the master is a citizen of the United States. The oath required to be taken by the owner, respects only the legal ownership of the property; and does not require a disclosure of any equitable interests vested in citizens of the United States, but only a denial that any subject or citizen of any foreign prince or state is directly or indirectly interested in the ship, or in the profits thereof. An agent or attorney may make oath, as agent, in case of registry, where the owner is fifty miles distant from the district to which, by virtue of purchase, the vessel should belong.

Steamboats may be registered or licensed in the name of the president or secretary of an incorporated company, without designating the names of the persons composing the company; but no part of such vessel can be owned by any foreigner. Vessels employed wholly in the whale fishery, owned by an incorporated company, may be registered as above, so long as they shall be wholly employed therein.

The issuing of certificates of record applies only to vessels built either by or for foreigners in the United States, and does not extend to vessels which, having been registered, are sold to a foreigner.

Any vessel entitled to registry, being in a port other than the one at which the owner usually resides, may be registered at the place where she may be at the time. And the oath required may be taken before the collector of the place to which the vessel belongs, or before the collector of the place in which she may be. When such vessel shall arrive within the district to which she belongs, the register so obtained shall be delivered up to be cancelled, and a permanent register granted in lieu thereof.

When a registered vessel is transferred to a foreigner, such transfer shall be made known by delivering up to a collector of a district, the certificate of registry, within seven days after such transfer of property; and if the transfer shall take place when the vessel is at a foreign port, or at sea, the master of the vessel shall within eight days after his arrival in any port of the United States, deliver up the register to the collector of such district. It is the practice not to destroy the register after it is cancelled; it is deposited in the register's office, and a duly certified copy is legal evidence.

If a master of a registered vessel be changed, the name of the new master is endorsed upon the register, upon his making oath that he is a citizen of the United States. If any certificate of registry or record shall be fraudulently or knowingly used, for any vessel not then actually entitled to the benefits thereof, she, with her tackle, &c., shall be forfeited to the United States. An enrolled or licensed vessel about to proceed on a foreign voyage, must surrender her enrolment and licence, and be duly registered, or she, together with the goods imported therein, will be liable to seizure and forfeiture. In case of the loss of a register, the master of the vessel may take oath to the fact, and obtain a new one.

Of the Transfer of Vessels.-When any registered vessel shall, in whole or in part be transferred to a citizen, or altered in form or burden, by being lengthened or built upon, or from one denomination to another by the mode of rigging, she shall be registered anew, or cease to be deemed a vessel of the United States.

If a registered vessel shall be sold in part to resident citizens of the United States, while at sea, without a bill of sale reciting the register, and without being then registered anew, she is not

liable with her cargo for higher duties than are payable by vessels of the United States. By the general maritime law, a bill of sale is necessary to pass the title of the ship. The inaccurate recital of the certificate of registry in the bill of sale, does not avoid the sale, but the vessel is thereby deprived of her American privileges. If a sea vessel be assigned to a foreigner, the effect is the same; but if it be a coaster, the sale is not thereby invalidated, but the vessel is subject to forfeiture. A regular bill of sale of a vessel at sea, will transfer the property. And, in general, where there can be no manual delivery, there should be a delivery of something as an indicium or token. A bill of sale is the proper title to which the maritime courts look, it is the universal instrument of transfer of vessels; it is made absolutely necessary by statute.

Enrolled Vessels.—Enrolled vessels are those over twenty tons' burden, employed in the coasting trade and fisheries; and are licensed annually for the employment or business authorised by the tenour of the licence. Vessels enrolled and licensed, bound on a foreign voyage, may be registered; and enrolled vessels, being in a port other than the one to which she belongs, on the expiration of the licence, may obtain temporary registry. Vessels under twenty tons' burden may be licensed for the coasting trade or fisheries. A vessel licensed for any employment, may surrender it at any time within the period for which it was issued.