the express company or other inland carrier or steamship company making entry under this Act; and the provisions of section twenty-eight hundred and fifty-seven, Revised Statutes, shall not apply to importations under this Act. 242. Liens for freight or general average. R. S., 2981. May 21, 1896. Whenever the collector of the port of entry of the vessel, or other proper officer of the customs, shall be duly notified in writing of the existence of a lien for freight, charges, or contribution in general average upon imported goods, wares, or merchandise in his custody, he shall, before delivering such goods, wares, or merchandise to the importer, owner, or consignee thereof for consumption, or to any vessel or vehicle for transportation or exportation, give seasonable notice to the party or parties claiming the lien; and the possession by the officers of customs shall not affect the discharge of such lien, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe; and such officer shall refuse the delivery of such merchandise from Feb. 14, 1903. any public or bonded warehouse or other place in which the same shall be deposited until proof to his satisfaction shall be produced that the freight, charges, or contribution in general average thereon has been paid or secured; but the rights of the United States shall not be prejudiced thereby, nor shall the United States or its officers be in any manner liable for losses consequent upon such refusal to deliver. If merchandise so subject to a lien, regarding which notice has been filed, shall be forfeited to the United States and sold, the freight, charges, or contribution in general average due thereon shall be paid from the proceeds of such sale in the same manner as other charges and expenses authorized by law to be paid therefrom are paid. Sec. 10. PART XVI.-TARIFF PROVISIONS DIRECTLY RELATING TO VESSELS. July 24, 1897, 415. Jan. 15, 1903. Sec. 2. July 24, 1897, 523. R. S., 2513. Aug. 27, 1894. July 24, 1897. 243. Coal. 246. Sunken merchandise. 248. Sea stores and equipments. Coal, bituminous, and all coals containing less than ninety-two per centum of fixed carbon, and shale, sixtyseven cents per ton of twenty-eight bushels, eighty pounds to the bushel; coal slack or culm, such as will pass through a half-inch screen, fifteen cents per ton of twenty-eight bushels, eighty pounds to the bushel: Provided, That on all coal imported into the United States, which is afterwards used for fuel on board vessels propelled by steam and engaged in trade with foreign countries, or in trade between the Atlantic and Pacific ports of the United States, and which are registered under the laws of the United States, a drawback shall be allowed equal to the duty imposed by law upon such coal, and shall be paid under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe; coke, twenty per centum ad valorem. The Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and required to make full rebate of duties imposed by law on all coal of every form and description imported into the United States from foreign countries for the period of one year from and after the passage of this Act. The provisions of paragraph four hundred and fifteen of the tariff Act of July twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, shall not hereafter be construed to authorize the imposition of any duty upon anthracite coal. Coal, anthracite, not specially provided for in this Act, and coal stores of American vessels, but none shall be unloaded. [Free List.] 244. Shipbuilding materials. All materials of foreign production which may be neces sary for the construction of vessels built in the United States for foreign account and ownership or for the purpose of being employed in the foreign trade including the trade between the Atlantic and Pacific ports of the United States, and all such materials necessary for the building of their machinery, and all articles necessary for their outfit and equipment, after the passage of this Act, may be imported in bond under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe; and upon proof that such materials have been used for such purposes no duties shall be paid thereon. But vessels receiving the benefit of this section shall not be allowed to engage in the coastwise trade of the United States more than two months in any one year except upon the payment to the United States of the duties of which a rebate is herein allowed: Provided, That vessels built in the United States for foreign account and ownership shall not be allowed to engage in the coastwise trade of the United States. 245. Materials for repairs. All articles of foreign production needed for the repair of American vessels engaged in foreign trade, including the trade between the Atlantic and Pacific ports of the United States, may be withdrawn from bonded warehouses free of duty, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe. Machinery for repair may be imported into the United States without payment of duty, under bond, to be given in double the appraised value thereof, to be withdrawn and exported after said machinery shall have been repaired; and the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary to protect the revenue against fraud and secure the identity and character of all such importations when again withdrawn and exported, restricting and limiting the export and withdrawal to the same port of entry where imported, and also limiting all bonds to a period of time of not more than six months from the date of the importation. 246. Sunken merchandise. Whenever any vessel laden with merchandise in whole R. S., 2507. or in part subject to duty has been sunk in any river, harbor, bay, or waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and within its limits, for the period of two years, and is abandoned by the owner thereof, any person who may raise such vessel shall be permitted to bring any merchandise recovered therefrom into the port nearest to the place where such vessel was so raised free from the payment of any duty thereupon, but under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe. 247. Supplies. That all articles of foreign or domestic production needed and actually withdrawn from bonded warehouses and bonded manufacturing warehouses for supplies (not including equipment) of vessels of the United States engaged in foreign trade, or in trade between the Atlantic and Pacific ports of the United States, may be so withdrawn from said bonded warehouses, free of duty or of internal-revenue tax, as the case may be, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe; but no such articles shall be landed at any port of the United States. 248. Sea stores and equipment. [See paragraph 204.] Aug. 27, 1894. Sec. 20. July 24, 1897. June 26, 1884. July 24, 1897. Feb. 14, 1903. PART XVII-CONSULS' SERVICES TO VESSELS. 249. Consuls' services to vessels. R. S., 1707. R. S., 1708. | 250. Naval officer acting as consul. 249. Consuls' services to vessels. Consuls and vice-consuls shall have the right, in the ports or places to which they are severally appointed, of receiving the protests or declarations which captains, masters, crews, passengers, or merchants, who are citizens of the United States, may respectively choose to make there; and also such as any foreigner may choose to make before them relative to the personal interest of any citizen of the United States. Copies of such acts duly authenticated by consuls or vice-consuls, under the seal of their consulates, respectively, shall be received in evidence equally with their originals in all courts in the United States. Every consular officer shall keep a detailed list of all seamen and mariners shipped and discharged by him, specifying their names and the names of the vessels on which they are shipped and from which they are discharged, and the payments, if any, made on account of each so discharged; also of the number of the vessels arrived and departed, the amounts of their registered tonnage, and the number of their seamen and mariners, and of those who are protected, and whether citizens of the United States or not, and as nearly as possible the nature and value of their cargoes, and where produced, and shall make returns of the same, Feb. 14, 1903. with their accounts and other returns, to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. Secs. 4, 10. R. S., 1718. Whenever any master or commander of a vessel of the United States has occasion for any consular or other official service, which any consular officer of the United States is authorized by law or usage officially to perform, and for which any fees are allowed by the rates or tariffs of fees, he shall apply to the consular officer at the consulate or commercial agency where such service is required to perform such service, and shall pay to such officer the fees allowed for such service by the rates or tariffs of fees. And every such master or commander who omits so to do shall be liable to the United States for the amount of the fees lawfully chargeable for such services when actually performed. All consular officers are authorized and required to retain in their possession all the papers of such vessels, which shall be deposited with them as directed by law, till payment shall be made of all demands and wages on account of such vessels. June 26, 1884. Sec. 12. Sec. 10. No fees named in the tariff of consular fees prescribed by order of the President shall be charged or collected by consular officers for the official services to American vessels and seamen. Consular officers shall furnish the master of every such vessel with an itemized statement of such services performed on account of said vessel, with the fees so prescribed for each service and make a detailed report to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor of such services Feb. 14, 1903. and fees, under such regulations as the Secretary of State may prescribe; and the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall allow consular officers who are paid in whole or in part by fees such compensation for said services as they would have received prior to the passage of this act: Provided, That such services in the opinion of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor have been necessarily rendered. No consular officer, nor any person under any consular R. S., 1719. officer shall make any charge or receive, directly or indirectly, any compensation, by way of commission or otherwise, for receiving or disbursing the wages or extra wages to which any seaman or mariner is entitled who is discharged in any foreign country, or for any money advanced to any such seaman or mariner who seeks relief from any consulate or commercial agency; nor shall any consular officer, or any person under any consular officer, be interested, directly or indirectly, in any profit derived from clothing, boarding, or otherwise supplying or sending home any such seaman or mariner. Such prohibition as to profit, however, shall not be construed to relieve or prevent any such officer who is the owner of or otherwise interested in any vessel of the United States, from transporting in such vessel any such seaman or mariner, or from receiving or being interested in such reasonable allowance as may be made for such transportation by law. American vessels running regularly by weekly or R. S., 1720. monthly trips, or otherwise, to or between foreign ports, shall not be required to pay fees to consuls for more than four trips in a year. The fee for certifying invoices to be charged by the con- R. S., 1721. sul-general for the British North American Provinces, and his subordinate consular officers and agents, for goods not exceeding one hundred dollars in value, shall be one dollar. 250. Naval officer acting as consul. The commanding officer of any fleet, squadron, or vessel acting singly, when upon the high seas or in any foreign port where there is no resident consul of the United States, shall be authorized to exercise all the powers of a consul in relation to mariners of the United States. R. S., 1433. |