Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 12.djvu/1080

 nage or other duties or charges until, on his arrival at another port, he shall proceed to discharge cargo, when he shall pay the duties on vessel and cargo, according to law. And the tonnage duties shall be held due after the expiration of the said forty-eight hours. In case of of the absence of the consul or person charged with his functions, the captain or supercargo of the vessel may have recourse to the consul of a friendly power, or, if he please, directly to the superintendent of customs, who shall do all that is required to conduct the ship’s business.

The superintendent of customs, in order to the collection of the proper duties, shall, on application made to him through the consul, appoint suitable officers, who shall proceed, in the presence of the captain, supercargo, or consignee, to make a just and fair examination of all goods in the act of being discharged for importation or laden for exportation on board any merchant vessel of the United States. And if disputes occur in regard to the value of goods subject to ad valorem duty, or in regard to the amount of tare, and the same cannot be satisfactorily arranged by the parties, the question may, within twenty-four hours, and not afterwards, be referred to the said consul to adjust with the superintendent of customs.

Citizens of the United States who may have imported merchandise into any of the free ports of China, and paid the duty thereon, if they desire to reëxport the same in part or in whole to any other of the said ports, shall be entitled to make application, through their consul, to the superintendent of customs, who, in order to prevent fraud on the revenue, shall cause examination to be made, by suitable officers, to see that the duties paid on such goods as are entered on the custom-house books correspond with the representation made, and that the goods remain with their original marks unchanged, and shall then make a memorandum in the port clearance of the goods and the amount of duties paid on the same, and deliver the same to the merchant, and shall also certify the facts to the officers of customs of the other ports; all which being done on the arrival in port of the vessel in which the goods are laden, and everything being found, on examination there, to correspond, she shall be permitted to break bulk and land the said goods without being subject to the payment of any additional duty thereon. But if, on such examination, the superintendent of customs shall detect any fraud on the revenue in the case, then the goods shall be subject to forfeiture and confiscation to the Chinese government. Foreign grain or rice brought into any port of China in a ship of the United States, and not landed, may be reëxported without hindrance.

The tonnage duty on vessels of the United States shall be paid on their being admitted to entry. Duties of import shall be paid on the discharge of the goods, and duties of export on the lading of the same. When all such duties shall have been paid, and not before, the collector of customs shall give a port clearance, and the consul shall return the ship’s papers. The duties shall be paid to the shroffs authorized by the Chinese government to receive the same. Duties shall be paid and received, either in sycesycee [sic] silver or in foreign money, at the rate of the day. If the consul permits a ship to leave the port before the duties and tonnage dues are paid, he shall be held responsible therefor.

When goods on board any merchant vessel of the United States in port require to be transshipped to another vessel, application shall be made to the consul, who shall certify what is the occasion therefor to the superintendent of customs, who may appoint officers to examine into the facts and permit the transshipment. And if any goods be transshipped without written permits they shall be subject to be forfeited to the Chinese government.

Where there are debts due by subjects of China to citizens of the United States, the latter may seek redress in law; and, on suitable representations being made to the local authorities, through the