Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 5.djvu/598



wares, or merchandise, shall be taken possession of by the collector, and deposited in the public stores, there to be kept with due and reasonable care, at the charge and risk of the owner, importer, consignee, or agent; and if any such goods remain in public store beyond sixty days (except in the case of goods imported from beyond the Cape of Good Hope, remaining for the space of ninety days) without payment of the duties thereon, then said goods, wares, and merchandise, or such quantities thereof, as may be deemed necessary to discharge the duties, shall be appraised and sold by the collector at public auction, on due public notice thereof, being first given, in the manner and for the time to be prescribed by a general regulation of the Treasury Department; and, at said public sale, distinct printed catalogues, descriptive of said goods, with the appraised value affixed thereto, shall be distributed among the persons present at said sale; and a reasonable opportunity shall be given, before such sale, to persons desirous of purchasing, to inspect the quality of such goods; and the proceeds of said sales, after deducting the usual rate of storage at the port in question, together with all other charges and expenses, including interest on the duties from the date of entry at the rate of six per centum per annum, shall be applied to the payment of the duties, and any balance of money remaining, over and above the full amount of duties, charges, and expenses and interest aforesaid, as well as such quantities of any goods, wares, or merchandise, as may not have been sold for the purposes before mentioned, shall be delivered, and the money paid over, by the collector, to the owner, importer, consignee, or agent, and proper receipts taken for the same: And provided, That if no claim be made by such owner, importer, consignee, or agent, for the portion of goods which may remain in the hands of the collector, after such sale, the said goods shall be forthwith returned to the public stores, there to be kept at the risk and expense of the owner, importer, consignee, or agent, until claimed or sold for storage agreeably to law; and the proceeds of the sale for duties remaining unclaimed for the space of ten days after such sale, shall, after payment of duties and all expenses aforesaid, at the expiration of that period, be paid by the collector into the Treasury, in the manner provided for in the case of unclaimed goods in the next succeeding section of this act: And provided further, That when any goods are of a perishable nature, they shall be sold forthwith.

. And be it further enacted, That, previous to the sale of any unclaimed goods, the said collector shall procure an inventory and appraisement thereof to be made, and to be verified, on oath or affirmation, by two or more respectable merchants, before the said collector, and to remain with him; and said collector shall afterward cause said goods to be advertised and sold, in the manner provided for in this act, and, after retaining the duties thereon, agreeably to such inventory and appraisement, and interest and charges as aforesaid, shall pay the overplus, if any there be, into the Treasury of the United States, there to remain for the use of the owner or owners, who shall, upon due proof of his, her, or their property, be entitled to receive the same; for which purpose the collector shall transmit, with said overplus, a copy of the inventory, appraisement, and account of sales, specifying the marks, numbers, and descriptions of the packages sold, their contents, the name of the vessel and master in which, and of the port or place whence they were imported, and the time when, and the name of the person or persons to whom said goods were consigned in the manifest; and the receipt or certificate of the collector shall exonerate the master or person having charge or command of any ship or vessel in which said goods, wares, and merchandise were imported, from all claim of the owner or owners thereof: Provided, That so much of the fifty-sixth section of the of the second of March seventeen hundred