Under the 58th section, the allowances for draught or tare are only permitted on "articles subject to duty by WEIGHT;" and under the 59th section the allowance for leakage and breakage is confined to liquors "subject to duty by the GAL LON;" and there being no duties imposed by the act approved 30th July, 1846, either by weight or gallon, it is an extremely liberal construction to allow in any case any operation whatever to those sections, even to the limited extent permitted by these instructions. R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury.

[CIRCULAR NO. 45-NEW SERIES.]

To Collectors and other Officers of the Customs.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, April 8th, 1847. Numerous communications have been received at this Department from importers of wines and distilled spirits, requesting that the practice which has heretofore existed in some of the ports, of storing such imports in the cellars or stores of the importer, under the joint locks of the importer and Surveyor of the port, may be continued.

After a careful examination of existing laws, it has been decided, that when that portion of the third section of the act of 2d March, 1833, which required the payment of all duties in cash from and after the 30th June, 1842, came into operation, it became the duty of the Collectors to designate the stores in which wines and distilled spirits might be deposited, either to secure the duties, or to retain the right of drawback; and that, consequently, so much of the first section of the act of 20th April, 1818, as gave any joint custody to the importer was null and void. The Warehousing act, in a measure, revives the provisions of the first section of the act of 1818, by authorizing a credit upon the duties chargeable on wines and distilled spirits, as well as upon all other goods; but requires that such goods "shall be taken possession of by the Collector, and deposited in the public stores, or in other stores to be agreed on by the Collector or other chief Revenue officer of the port and the owner, importer, or consignee, the said stores to be secured in the manner provided for by the first section of the act of 20th April, 1818." By the fifth section of the Warehousing act, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to make, from time to time, such regulations, not inconsistent with the laws of the United States, as might be necessary to give full effect to the pro

visions of the act.

By the act of 17th June, 1844, the employment of additional Inspectors of the Customs, in any of the ports, was prohibited; since the passage of the law last referred to the commerce of the country has greatly increased, and the importations far exceed those of that year or the year previous, and the duties of the Inspectors have been proportionately augmented. In some of the ports the number of Inspectors employed are barely adequate for the prompt discharge of those duties which involve the safety of the Revenue. All these applications must be granted or refused, and if all the applications for the use of private stores were granted, the number of officers that must necessarily be withdrawn from other duties to act as storekeepers, would render it impossible to transact the public business.

Whilst the Department would cheerfully acquiesce in any reasonable request, not inconsistent with the laws of the United States, that may be made by importers, yet the public interest demands that it should reiterate the instructions heretofore given-that all goods, whether stored under the Warehousing act, or under former laws, shall be stored in public stores, hired by the Collector, or on account of the Government.

The attention of the Department has also been called to the fact that the certificates issued under the provisions of the forty-first section of the act of 1799, to accompany casks, vessels, or cases of distilled spirits, are seldom, if ever, returned by the importer or purchaser, after such cask, vessel, or case has been emptied of its contents; and that the marks placed upon such cask, vessel, or case, in conformity with the thirty-ninth section of the same act, are seldom, if ever, defaced or obliterated in the presence of an officer of the Customs, as is required by the fortyfourth section of that act. Under these circumstances it is deemed advisable to instruct the Surveyors not to grant any certificate to accompany any cask, vessel, or case, containing distilled spirits, until such cask, vessel, or case has been actually delivered to the importer, unless due entry thereof has been made to transport the same coastwise, under the provisions of the fifth section of the act of 3d March, 1819, from the public stores in one port to those in another port, with benefit of drawback on exportation from the second port; in which latter case the certificates should be retained by the Surveyor of the second port until such imports are delivered to the owner, consignee, or agent, or until the same be exported; and, in case of the exportation thereof, the certificates should be returned by the Surveyor at the port of exportation to the Surveyor at the port of importation.

As the certificates in question are only required to accompany such imports, "wherever the same may be sent within the limits of the United States," no such certificates should be issued while such imports are deposited in the public stores to retain the right of drawback. R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury.

[CIRCULAR NO. 46-NEW SERIES.]

To Collectors and other Officers of the Customs.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, April 12th, 1847.

It is deemed expedient for the security of the Revenue against frauds or evasions of the law, to direct your special attention to the following clauses of schedule I, of the Tariff act of 30th July, 1846, providing for the exemption of certain imports from duty.

1st. "Household effects, old and in use, of persons or families from foreign countries, if used abroad by them, and not intended for any other person or persons, or for sale."

2nd. "Wearing apparel in actual use, and other personal effects not merchandise, professional books, implements, instruments, and tools of trade, occupation, or employment of persons arriving in the United States: Provided, that this exemption shall not be construed to include machinery or other articles imported for use in any manufacturing establishment, or for sale."

3d. "Personal and household effects [not merchandise] of citizens of the United States dying abroad." The exemption from duty contemplated by law in the first clause above quoted, must be confined to such articles. as are generally used in housekeeping, and which had actually been in use by the individual or family while residing abroad, it being satisfactorily shown that they are brought into the United States with the bona fide intention of being used by such person or family, and are not intended for sale or barter, or for any other person, directly or indirectly. To be considered "old," as required by the law, it is necessary that, in the judgment of the proper officer of the Customs, on due examination, it must satisfactorily appear that such articles have been in use at least one year prior to the importation.

The exemption from duty of wearing apparel and other personal effects, provided in the second clause quoted, must be confined to such articles only as are generally used on or about the person, and not considered by the proper officer of the Customs merchandise; the articles admitted under this clause to be limited to an extent not exceed ing in number, quantity, or value, what is usual for a traveller or other person to wear, keep, or carry with him for actual use; and, if wearing apparel, to such as it shall be satisfactorily shown had been in actual use of the person bringing it into the United States. The professional books, implements, instruments, and tools of trade, occupation, or employment, enumerated in the same clause, to be limited in number, quantity, and value, to what is considered reasonable and proper for the person to whom they belong in his profession, trade, occupation, or employment; the terms implements, instruments, and tools, having reference only to such articles as are used by hand, and in no case to be considered as comprehending any machine or article to be worked by any other than manual power.

In extending the exemption from duty provided in the third clause quoted, to the personal and household effects of citizens of the United States dying abroad, due vigilance must be exercised not to admit to free entry any article that, in view of the law, can be considered "merchandise," but only such articles as it can be satisfactorily shown had actually belonged or appertained to the person or domestic establishment of a citizen dying abroad, prior to his decease. R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury.

[CIRCULAR NO. 47-NEW SERIES.]

To Collectors and other Officers of the Customs.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, May 13th, 1847.

The Collectors and other officers of the Customs are directed to regard the provisions of the circular instructions of the 17th March, 1847, [see No. 43, ante,] accompanying the acts of Congress regulating the carriage of passen. gers in merchant vessels, so far modified as to allow the passenger's berth to be included and embraced within the respective spaces of fourteen, twenty, and thirty clear superficial feet of deck, in the cases specified in the act. Those spaces as enjoined by the law must be "unoccupied by stores or other goods, not being the personal luggage of such passengers."

The other provisions of the circular instructions referred to will remain in full force and operation.

R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury.

[CIRCULAR NO. 48-NEW SERIES. ]

To Collectors and other Officers of the Customs.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, May 27th, 1847.

Representations having been made to the Department, giving reasons for the belief that a want of uniformity exists at the respective ports in the mode of estimating the loss or deficiency in the article of molasses occasioned by fermentation, stress of weather, or accident during the voyage of importation, it is deemed proper under the circumstances, and in view of the peculiar liability of molasses to loss or deficiency from the causes before mentioned, to establish an equitable and uniform rule for the government of the officers of the Customs in making such allowances. To ascertain the loss or deficiency in these cases, the Collectors will have the casks containing molasses properly gauged, to determine their capacities, and also ascertain what is technically termed the outs or ullage in American gallons, together with the capacities of the empty casks, (the entire contents being lost,) if such be the fact. The outs or ullage, with the capacities of the empty casks, will constitute the aggregate amount of loss or deficiency to be allowed on the importation in question.

It is deemed proper to remark that this rule applies only to deficiencies arising from the causes stated, and not to cases where the article is alleged to have sustained damage in character or quality during the voyage of importation. In all cases of the latter description, the actual damage is to be ascertained, as in other cases, by appraisement in pursuance of law and existing regulations.

R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury.

[CIRCULAR NO. 49-NEW SERIES.]

To Collectors and other Officers of the Customs.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, June 12th, 1847.

In consequence of inquiries coming up from some of the Collection districts on the subject of the additional or penal duty of twenty per centum imposed in certain cases under the provisions of the 8th section of the Tariff act of 30th of July, 1846, it is deemed expedient to issue general instructions for the government of the respective officers of the Customs in all cases of the kind occurring at their ports.

When this penal duty is incurred on any goods entered at the port of importation, it must be paid before delivery of the goods for consumption, or withdrawal from warehouse for transportation to another warehousing port, or before permission is given for lading the goods on board the vessel from warehouse for exportation to a foreign port. This penal duty is not a subject of drawback, and cannot be returned as debenture.

Parties whose goods have been subjected to the penal duty under the section of the act of 30th July, 1846, before referred to, can only obtain relief in the mode pointed out in the Remitting act of 3d March, 1797, and in the event of the Department being satisfied that the circumstances of the case justify its interposition. Such interposition however, will not be exercised in any case where the party has failed to avail of the privilege given him by the 8th section of the act of 30th July, 1846, to raise at the time of entry the invoice value of the goods to the true market rate abroad, including all costs and charges, so as to guard against the imposition of the additional duty referred to. Nor will relief be afforded where the importer has not expressed dissatisfaction with the appraisement made by the United States appraisers, and so notified the Collector in writing, at the time, and obtained the benefit of a re-appraisement by merchants in pursuance of the 17th section of the act of 30th August, 1842. R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury.

[CIRCULAR NO. 50-NEW SERIES.]

To Registers and Receivers of the public money.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, June 17th, 1847.

This Department deems it a measure of just precaution to enjoin on Receivers of public money, and Registers of the several Land offices, the indispensable necessity of a faithful and prompt compliance, on their part, with existing instructions, providing for the security of the public money and insuring to this Department, at brief intervals, prompt and accurate information of its amount and condition at the several points of receipt and deposite.

The instructions heretofore issued to Receivers, forbidding any other than public money to be placed in the chest, vault, or safe, designed for the safe-keeping of the public money in the offices of the Receivers, must be rigidly complied with. It cannot be permitted that other funds should be either mingled with those belonging to the United States, in the office safe, or placed within the same safe, however distinctly they may be kept from the public money therein deposited.

The instructions heretofore issued to the Registers of the several Land offices, prescribing monthly examinations of the public money and books in the offices of Receivers, are deemed indispensable, and will be rigidly enforced by this Department. At the end of each month, without fail or delay, Registers will actually count the public money in the possession of the Receivers, and examine the condition of the books and papers in their offices, and report the results on the back of the Receiver's monthly return. This examination, it must be borne in mind, must be made at the close of each month, as well as at the close of each quarter, and must be actual and thorough, not summary or merely formal; and the reports of results must be full and explicit, stating the amount and description of public money in possession of the Receiver, the means employed for its safety, the condition of the books and papers, and any suggestion of improvement in those several particulars, or in the general business of the office.

Receivers will be careful to afford to Registers every proper facility for making the monthly examinations in question, and present them their monthly returns on which to indorse their reports.

Any omission, on the part of the officers before referred to, to comply strictly with the above instructions, and not satisfactorily explained, will be made the ground of a report to the President for the removal of the delinquent. R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury.

[CIRCULAR NO. 51-NEW SERIES.]

To Collectors of the Customs charged with disbursements on account of the United States Revenue Marine and Revenue

Boats.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, July, 1847.

SIR: I have to request that you will cause to be filled up, and transmitted to this Department without delay, the enclosed blank forms, exhibiting, under the proper classification, the disbursements made by you on account of the Revenue Vessels and Boats, during the year ending on the 30th of June last.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury.

Collector of the Customs.

Abstract Statement and Classification of Disbursements for the Revenue Marine, in the District of ·

for the

N. B. When disbursements have been made for more than one vessel, the Collector will please to fill up, under the appropriate heads, the expenditure for each, separately.

[CIRCULAR NO. 52-NEW SERIES.]

To Collectors of the Customs.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, July 1st, 1847.

The Collectors, with some few exceptions, having failed to render to the Department, in compliance with the requirements of the fourth section of the Warehousing act of 6th August, 1846, quarterly reports "of all goods which remain in the warehouses of their respective ports, specifying the quantity and description of the same," I have again to call their attention to this matter, with a particular request that such quarterly reports may be transmitted as speedily as possible, according to form J, attached to my circular instructions of the 14th of August, 1846, in order that the Department may have the tables prepared from these returns, and published as required by the act. R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury.

[CIRCULAR NO. 53-NEW SERIES.]

To Collectors, Appraisers, and other Officers of the Customs.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, July 6th, 1847.

By the 23d and 24th sections of the act of Congress of the 30th of August, 1842, it is provided as follows: "SECTION 23. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, from time to time, to establish such rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the laws of the United States, to secure a just, faithful, and impartial appraisal of all goods, wares, and merchandise, as aforesaid, imported into the United States, and just and proper entries of such actual market value or wholesale price thereof, and of the square yards, parcels, or other quantities, as the case may require, and of such actual market value or wholesale price of every of them.

"SEC. 24. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all Collectors, and other officers of the Customs, to execute and carry into effect all instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury relative to the execution of the Revenue laws; and, in case any difficulty shall arise as to the true construction or meaning of any part of such Revenue laws, the decision of the Secretary of the Treasury shall be conclusive and binding upon all such Collectors and other officers of the Customs."

This Department, in pursuance of the authority vested in it by the provisions of law above quoted, will proceed to establish certain rules and regulations in regard to appraisements. This course is rendered necessary, by recent attempts upon the part of merchant appraisers, in a few of the ports of the United States, to establish for themselves certain regulations in regard to appraisements, wholly inconsistent with law and instructions of this Department, given in pursuance of the authority vested in it by Congress. The regulations of the Department are made by Congress final and conclusive, as well upon all classes of appraisers, whether acting as such under an appointment from the President, from the Secretary of the Treasury, or from the Collector of the port. Were it otherwise, and merchant appraisers should not conform to the regulations of the Department, the rates of duties would vary in every port in the Union, and that clause of the Constitution requiring that "all duties shall be uniform throughout the United States," would become a dead letter. The law would be construed in one way by merchant appraisers in one port, and differently in others; and, if there was no authority to control their constructions of the law, which would be binding on all the ports, it would be impossible to carry into effect this clause of

made by

was

the Constitution. To prevent this difficulty, the provisions of the law before quoted were enacted, and the decision of the Secretary of the Treasury, "as to the true construction or meaning of any part of the Revenue laws," made "conclusive and binding.' This construction of the Department must be binding upon all who perform any duties under these laws, from whatever source their appointment or authority may be derived; and from such decision there can be no appeal, except to the judicial powers provided by the Constitution. The Department, notwithstanding the broad language and comprehensive authority conferred upon it by Congress, feels bound to adopt the construction of the Revenue laws pronounced in solemn adjudications by the Supreme Court of the United States. In some of the ports, merchant appraisers, appointed under authority of law by the Collector, and performing official duties as officers, in each particular case thus appointed, in conformity to the provisions of the law, have thought proper, very recently, in certain ports, to claim the right, in discharging the duties assigned to them by law, to construe the law for themselves, and in opposition to the regulations established by this Department under the direct authority of Congress, and regulations made binding and conclusive in every part of the Union. The law is differently interpreted by these merchant appraisers in various ports, and a different rate of duty must prevail in different sections of the Union, unless such appraisers will conform, in the discharge of their official duties, to the construction of the Revenue laws given by this Department.

In some of the ports, these appraisers estimate the value of the goods as at the date of the purchase, however remote or distant; and in other ports they take the value at the date of shipment to the United States. The last is the true construction of the law, long since declared by this Department, and adopted generally throughout the Union. The proviso of the 16th section of the act of the 30th of August, 1842, is clear and emphatic upon this subject, and prescribes the date, in reference to which the value is to be estimated, as "the period of exportation to the United States ;" and all words preceding in that section, under the settled rule of interpreting statutes, must be made to conform to the succeeding language of the proviso. This would be the rule, even if there was an absolute conflict between the words of the proviso and of any preceding part of the section; for the language of the proviso, being the last expressed will of the legislature, must prevail. But, in truth, there is no such conflict; and the words at the time when purchased," in the first part of the 16th section, when taken in connexion with the context and the proviso, evidently mean the purchase for shipment, and at the date of the shipment, and establish that date as the criterion of value in all cases. Were it otherwise, the law would prescribe two kinds of market valuesthe one in the first part of the 16th section, being the date of the purchase, and the other in the proviso, being the date of shipment. The most enormous frauds, also, would be the consequence of such construction. Simulated, fictitious, and ante-dated purchases, to suit the period of lowest price, would prevail extensively, to the great injury of the fair trader and of the Revenue. In truth, under such system, the whole importing business would soon be thrown into the hands of the dishonest and fraudulent, who would be willing to produce ante-dated or fictitious foreign sales; and that most useful and meritorious citizen, the honest and fair trader, would be thrown entirely out of the market. It is known at present-at the commencement of this proposed system-that even where the purchases are not deemed by the parties fraudulent, the person designing to import into the United States goes to some prior purchaser who has purchased, not for importation into the United States, at some prior date when the goods were much lower in value, and imports the goods in the name of the first purchaser, consenting to give a certain profit or price on the delivery here; and thus deprives the Revenue of the difference in value, and obtains a most unjust advantage over the fair trader, who will resort to no such artifices. It is the duty of this Department to declare that such a practice is a fraud upon the Revenue, and subjects the goods to seizure and confiscation, and the parties committing the fraud to all the penalties prescribed by law; and the utmost vigilance is enjoined upon Collectors, Appraisers, and all other officers of the Customs, in taking all proper measures to detect and punish all who are engaged in such fraudulent practices. With a view to prevent such frauds upon the Revenue, and to insure that uniformity in appraisements designed by Congress and required by the Constitution, Collectors, in appointing Appraisers hereafter, will adopt the following form:

-, per

CUSTOM-HOUSE, COLLECTOR'S OFFICE, 184-. GENTLEMEN: You are hereby appointed to appraise a lot of imported by from- the said importer having requested a new appraisement thereof, in accordance with the provisions of the 16th and 17th sections of the act of 30th August, 1842, and in conformity with the instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury giving the construction thereof, in pursuance of the authority vested in him by the 23d and 24th sections of said act, by act of 30th July, 1846, and 2d section of act of August 10th, 1846. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, To Merchants.

The Collectors will also administer to such appraisers an oath, in the following form:

CUSTOM-HOUSE, COLLECTOR'S OFFICE,
imported by

per

Collector.

from

184-.

We, the undersigned, appointed by the Collector of to appraise a lot of the said importer having requested a new appraisement thereof, in accordance with the provisions of the 16th and 17th sections of the act of the 30th of August, 1842, do hereby solemnly swear (or affirm) diligently and faithfully to examine and inspect said lot of and truly to report, to the best of our knowledge and belief, the true value thereof, in accordance with the provisions of the laws of Congress, as construed by the Secretary of the Treasury, in the several instructions issued by him, in pursuance of the authority vested in the said Secretary of the Treasury by the 23d and 24th sections of said act of 30th of August, 1842, by the act of 30th July, 1846, and 2d section of act of 10th August, 1846.

Collectors of the Customs will also administer an oath of a similar character to appraisers and assistant appraisers, and to all others performing the same duty, under any of the acts of Congress, including the clerks who act as examiners in the appraiser's office, varying the form only so far as to refer to the mode of appointment in the affidavit.

In all cases hereafter, no report of any appraisement will be received by any Collector, until said oath is first administered; and the report shall state that the appraisement is made in conformity with said affidavit, and that the value is given, as required by law, as of the date "at the period of the exportation of said goods, wares, and merchandise to the United States;" but, if this be less than the invoice value, then to report that value, under section 8, act of 30th July, 1846.