Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 1.djvu/291

 on the tonnage of any ship or vessel, shall be paid to the collector by the master or person having the charge or command of such ship or vessel, within ten days after his report to the said collector, and before such ship or vessel shall be permitted to clear out; the register of which ship or vessel shall at the time of entry be lodged in the office of the collector, and there remain until such clearance. And if any ship or vessel shall leave, or attempt to leave any district of the United States, without paying the said duties, the master or person having the charge or command of the same shall forfeit and pay five hundred dollars.

. And be it further enacted, That to ascertain the tonnage of any ship or vessel, the surveyor, or such other person as shall be appointed by the collector of the district to measure the same, shall, if the said ship or vessel be double decked, take the length thereof from the fore part of the main stem to the after part of the stern post above the upper deck; the breadth thereof at the broadest part above the main wales, half of which breadth shall be accounted the depth of such vessel, and shall then deduct from the length three fifths of the breadth, multiply the remainder by the breadth, and the product by the depth, and shall divide this last product by ninety-five, the quotient whereof shall be deemed the true contents or tonnage of such ship or vessel. And if such ship or vessel be single decked the said surveyor or other person shall take the length and breadth as above directed, in respect to a double decked ship or vessel, shall deduct from the said length three fifths of the breadth, and taking the depth from the under side of the deck plank to the ceiling in the hold, shall multiply and divide as aforesaid, and the quotient shall be deemed the tonnage of such ship or vessel.

. And be it further enacted, That where any bond for the payment of duties shall not be satisfied on the day it became due, the collector shall forthwith cause a prosecution to be commenced for the recovery of the money thereon, by action or suit at law, in the proper court having cognizance thereof; and in all cases of insolvency, or where any estate in the hands of executors or administrators shall be insufficient to pay all the debts due from the deceased, the debt due to the United States, on any such bond, shall be first satisfied.

. And be it further enacted, That if any goods, wares or merchandise, of which entry shall have been made in the office of a collector, shall not be invoiced according to the actual cost thereof at the place of exportation, with design to evade the duties thereupon, or any part thereof, all such goods, wares or merchandise, or the value thereof, to be recovered of the person making entry, shall be forfeited. And in every case in which the said collector shall suspect that any such goods, wares or merchandise, are not invoiced at a sum equal to that for which they have usually been sold in the place or country from whence they were imported, it shall be the duty of such collector to take the said goods, wares and merchandise into his possession, and retain the same, with reasonable care, at the risk and expense of the owner or owners, consignee or consignees thereof, until their value at the time and place of importation shall be ascertained by two reputable merchants, to be chosen and appointed as in the case of damaged goods, or goods not accompanied with an invoice; and until the duties arising according to such valuation shall be first paid, or secured to be paid, as required by this act in other cases of importation: Provided, That in case of a prosecution for the forfeiture aforesaid, such appraisement shall not be construed to exclude other proof upon the trial, of the actual and real cost of the said goods at the said place of exportation.

. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the collector or other officer of the customs, after entry made of any goods, wares or merchandise, on suspicion of fraud, to open and examine in