commercial treaties, statements of population, emigration, price of food and labor, climate, coinage, etc. Each Consul General will be allowed in his miscellaneous account his actual expenditures in obtaining the information necessary to such a report, not to exceed, in any one year, two hundred dollars at any one consulate. The report will also contain a statement of the condition of the several consulates under his supervision, and will be accompanied by the consular reports referred to in paragraph 380. 382. All Consuls will transmit, as soon as they are published, statements of all changes in the commercial systems of the governments to which they are accredited, copies of all commercial treaties, regulations, light-house notices, revenue laws, acts and regulations respecting warehouses, tonnage duties, and port dues; all tariffs and modifications thereof, and all enactments, decrees, royal orders, or proclamations which in any manner affect the commercial, agricultural, mining, or other important interests of the United States. All dispatches communicating information of this character must be indorsed "commercial information," and be strictly confined to this subject. If the information is contained in printed newspapers, circulars, pamphlets, or public documents, two copies must be sent. 383. It is desirable that, accompanying the quarterly returns of the arrivals and departures of American vessels, there should also be forwarded a report containing a recapitulation of the said returns, in which should be stated the number of vessels that came from each port and the ports for which they cleared, with the description, quantities, and values of the inward and outward cargoes opposite, so far as they can be obtained; also the total number of vessels, the total values of inward and outward cargoes, the number of each class of vessels entered and cleared, and the aggregate tonnage entered. 384. If a vessel is in port the first of the quarter, state the port where bound and the outward cargo, and write "in port" under “ WHERE FROM." 385. State the total number of vessels from each port, and the port or ports from which they clear, and the inward and outward cargoes opposite. If two or more vessels clear for the same port, give their number and the description and aggregate values of their inward and outward cargoes opposite. 386. If a cargo is composed of one or two leading articles, it might be well to give their quantities; but where it is composed of a miscellaneous assortment, a general description and aggregate value is all that is necessary. 387. If a vessel does not clear during the quarter, state the port where from and the inward cargo, and write "in port" under "WHERE BOUND," and vessel "in port" under "OUTWARD CARGO." 99.66 99.66 388. If a vessel enter and clear carrying the same cargo, state the port where from, the port where bound, and, if possible, the description and value of the inward cargo, and under "OUTWARD CARGO" write "inward cargo,” and value; and also state whether such vessel called "for orders," supplies," repairs,' or "in distress," as the case may be. If a vessel land part of her cargo and carry out the remainder, state the description and total value of the inward cargo, and the description and value of the "part of inward" which she carries out. 66 389. If a vessel, while in port, be sold to foreigners, write "sold" under WHERE BOUND," and under "OUTWARD CARGO" "vessel sold and took [here give the name of the foreign flag."] 66 390. If a vessel be condemned as unseaworthy, write "condemned" under 66 WHERE BOUND," and "vessel condemned" under OUTWARD CARGO." REPORTS TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 391. It is the duty of every Consular Officer to furnish to the Secretary of the Treasury, as often as shall be required, the prices current of all articles of merchandise usually exported to the United States from the port or place in which he shall be located. 392. Consular Officers are also requested to transmit, 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. 393. Consular Officers will also report monthly to 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. 394. Consular Officers will transmit, quarterly, information on the following points to the Secretary of the Treasury, not only in reference to the trade of 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: 1st. 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; 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. 2d. The bounties allowed on articles exported, 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. 3d. The customary charge of commissions for 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. 4th. The usual and customary expenses in detail attending the purchase and shipment of merchandise, 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. 395. In the case of merchandise purchased at the interior places, or in other countries having no shipping ports of their own, for shipment to foreign countries, through the ports of the Consulate, Consuls will report the customary expenses attending the transportation from such interior places or countries to the port of shipment, 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. 396. 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. These reports will be transmitted, under cover, to the Department of State. 397. Consular officers will include in their several 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. * The First Comptroller of the Treasury. THE statutes of the United States classify the Consulates General, Consulates, and Com. mercial Agencies into three classes: 1. Those embraced in a schedule known as Schedule B, the incumbents of which receive a fixed salary, and are not allowed to transact business. 2. Those embraced in a schedule known as Schedule C, the incumbents of which receive a fixed salary, and are allowed to transact business. 3. All other Consulates, the incumbents of which are compensated by the fees collected in their offices, and are allowed to transact business. Under the Act of June 11, 1874, the Consulates in Schedules B and C are subdivided into seven classes, according to salary, Schedule C embracing all of Class 7. The classification is indicated by the number annexed to each Consulate. *The consulate at Liverpool is, as to salary, specially provided for. 6. Martinique. 3. Matanzas. 5. Mauritius. 6. Messina. 5. Montevideo. 6. Munich. 3. Nagasaki. 6. Nantes. 6. Naples. 5. Nassau, New Providence. 6. Newcastle. 6. Nice, France. 2. Ningpo. 5. Odessa. 6. Oporto. 3. Osako. 6. Palermo. 3. Panama. 5. Pernambuco. 6. Pictou. 5. Port Louis, Mauritius. 6. Port Mahon. 6. Port Said. 6. Port Sarnia. 6. Port Stanley. 5. Prague. 6. Prescott. 6. Quebec. 5. Rotterdam. 6. San Domingo. 5. San Juan, Porto Rico. 4. Santiago de Cuba. 6. Santa Cruz, West Indies. 6. Seychelles. 4. Sheffield. 4. Singapore. 5. Smyrna. 5. Southampton. 6. St. Helena. 6. St. John's, Canada East. 5. St. John's, N. B. 4. St. Thomas. By the Act of August 15, 1876, no appropriation was made for the salaries of the Consul General at Tampico, the Consuls at Aix la Chapelle, Amoor River, Buenos Ayres, Goderich, La Rochelle, Malta, Nantes, Oporto, Port Mahon, Santa Cruz, W. I., Seychelles, Southampton, Swatow, Turks' Island, Windsor (Canada West), Cyprus, Maranham, Milan, Stettin, and the Commercial agent at Madagascar. Cologne was added to the list of Class 5, Schedule B. Prescott and St. John's, Canada East, were transferred from Class 6 to Class 5, and the following consulates are entered in both the 5th and 6th classes, to wit: Barbadoes, Bermuda, Fort Erie, Port Sarnia, Quebec, Smyrna; while Windsor, Nova Scotia, is placed both in Class 6 and Class 7. |