Currency monthly. re direct them to the care of the Despatch Agent of the Department of State of the United States at London.1 656. Consular officers are also requested to transport to be made mit, at least once a month, if opportunity offers, to the Secretary of State and to the Comptroller of the Treasury the rates of exchange, and also a statement of the rates at which any depreciated currency of the country in which they reside is computed in United States or Spanish dollars, or in silver or gold coins of other countries; observing in all cases of an estimate of the value of the currency in such foreign coins, that their weight and standard should be made known to the Department. Rates of ex ported month ly. 657. Consular officers will also report monthly, to change to be re- the Treasury Department, the rates of exchange prevailing between the ports or places at which they reside and the following places, to wit: London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Hamburg; also New York, and other principal ports in the United States; and they will keep the Department regularly and fully advised of the course and progress of trade from the several ports of their consulates to the United States. Quarterly re658. Consular officers will transmit, quarterly, inport to the Sec- formation on the following points, to the Secretary of the Treasury, not only in reference to the trade of retary of the Treasury. Discounts. the place of their residence, but that of the neighboring country or towns with which it may be connected commercially, or through which their merchandise may be shipped to the United States: First. The usual terms on which merchandise is bought and sold, whether on credit or for cash. The usual discounts allowed, either from custom or in consideration of cash payment, or from other cause; 1 Circular of the Department of State, No. 14, June 14, 1862. whether such discounts are uniform, and, if not, whether they vary in the same, or only on different descriptions of merchandise; and whether such discounts, or any of them, are regarded as a bonus or gratuity to the buyer for his benefit; whether he purchases for himself or ships merchandise to order and for account of others: Secondly. The bounties allowed on articles ex- Bounties. ported, and for what reason, and under what circumstances; whether they are the same on exports by national or foreign vessels; if not, the difference; the rates of such bounties; and how estimated, whether on weight, measure, gauge, price, or value: Thirdly. The customary charge of commissions for Commissions. purchasing and shipping goods of different descriptions; the usual brokerage on the purchase or sale of merchandise; whether it is paid by the buyer or seller, or by both : Fourthly. The usual and customary expenses in Other exdetail attending the purchase and shipment of mer- penses. chandise, including commissions, brokerage, export duty, dock, trade, or city dues, lighterage, porterage, labor, cost of packages, covering or embaling, cooperage, gauging, weighing, wharfage, and local imposts or taxes of any kind; which of the foregoing, or other items, are usually included in the price of the article, or become a separate charge to be paid by the shipper or purchaser. 659. In the case of merchandise purchased at the Transportainterior places, or in other countries having no ship- tion. ping ports of their own, for shipment to foreign countries, through the ports of the consulate, the customary expenses attending the transportation from such interior places or countries to the port of ship Prices of merchandise. Other details ment, including all transits, exports, or import frontier duty, and every other charge up to the arrival at such port, and the ordinary expenses attending the shipment thereof. 660. Consular officers will forward regularly, and as often as practicable, to the general appraisers residing at New York, Boston, and San Francisco, such prices current, manufacturers' statements of prices, or merchants' printed circulars of prices, and such other general information as may be useful to appraisers in the discharge of their duties. 661. Consular officers will include in their several deemed useful. reports, in detail, information on any other points which they may think proper, in order to an ascertainment of the value of merchandise forwarded to the United States, and the assessment of the legal duties, forwarding any printed or other documents which they may think desirable that the Department should possess. Commercial in quired by Congress. 662. Increased interest in the statistics of foreign formation re- commerce, evinced by recent and repeated calls by Congress for all such information as may have come into the possession of the Department of State, has caused more than ordinary care in the preparation of instructions upon this point, which it is hoped may not be without adequate response from the consular officers of the government abroad. All information possessing interest, and which is of a public character and proper for publication, is transmitted to Congress annually by the Secretary of State, with the name and residence of the consular officer by whom it is communicated. CHAPTER XXXIII. DUTIES OF CONSULAR OFFICERS IN RESPECT TO AMERICAN OWNERS OF FOREIGN-BUILT VESSELS.1 sels owned by zens. 663. INQUIRY is frequently made of the Depart- Owners of forment of State and of the Treasury, as to what docu- eign-built vesments can be issued, under the laws of the United American citiStates, to foreign-built vessels purchased and wholly owned by citizens of the United States, whether purchased of belligerents or neutrals during a war to which the United States are not a party, or in peace, of foreign owners, the purchase in either case being in entire good faith. tection. 664. Vessels so purchased and owned are entitled Such vessels to the protection of the authorities and flag of the entitled to proUnited States, as the property of American citizens, although no register, enrolment, license, or other marine documents prescribed by the laws of the United States, can be lawfully issued to such vessels. authenticated. 665. To enable, however, the owners of a vessel Bill of sale to so circumstanced to protect their rights, if molested be recorded and or questioned, a consular officer, though forbidden by law to grant any marine document or certificate of ownership, may lawfully make record of the bill of sale in his office, authenticate its validity in form and substance, and deliver to the owner a certificate to that effect; certifying, also, that the owner is a 1 General Regulations of the Treasury Department. Consular certificates. Disabilities vessels. citizen of the United States. Before granting such certificate, the consular officer will require the tonnage of the vessel to be duly ascertained in pursuance of law, and insert the same in the description of the vessel in his certificate. (See Form No. 56.) These facts, thus authenticated, if the transfer was in good faith, entitle the vessel to protection as the lawful property of a citizen of the United States; and the authentication of the bill of sale and of citizenship will be prima facie proof of such good faith. 666. In all cases, therefore, where the evidence of the purchase of a foreign vessel by a citizen of the United States, with proof of citizenship and of the bona fide character of the purchase, shall be furnished to a consular officer, he will, if the proof be satisfactory, and purchase deemed fair, record the bill of sale in his office, and deliver to the party the original, with a certificate endorsed thereon. 667. It is to be distinctly understood, however, of foreign-built that vessels not registered, enrolled, or licensed, under the laws of the United States, wholly owned by citizens thereof, cannot legally import goods, wares, or merchandise from foreign ports, and are subjected in the coasting trade to disabilities and exactions from which documented vessels of the United States are exempted. When subject to forfeiture. When subject to 668. On arrival from a foreign port, such undocumented vessels, if laden with goods, wares, or merchandise, will, with their cargoes, be subjected to forfeiture. If in ballast only, or with passengers without cargo, they will be subject to a tonnage duty of one dollar per ton. 669. In the coast wise trade, such undocumented tonnage duty. vessels, if laden with goods, wares, and merchandise |