PART XVII.-CONSULS' SERVICES TO VESSELS. 249. Consuls' services to vessels. R. S., 1707. R. S., 1708. R. S., 1718. | 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 receiv ing 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, with their accounts and other returns, to the Secretary of the Treasury. 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. Sec. 12. No fees named in the tariff of consular fees prescribed June 26, 1884. 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 the Treasury of such services and fees, under such regulations as the Secretary of State may prescribe; and the Secretary of the Treasury 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 the Treasury 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 monthly R.S, 1720. 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 consul-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. R. S., 1721. The commanding officer of any fleet, squadron, or vessel R.S., 1433. 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. PART XVIII-COMMERCE WITH CONTIGUOUS COUNTRIES. 251. Size of foreign-trade vessels. 253. Inward manifests. 254. Customs inspection. 255. Customs seals on frontier. 256. Transfer of cargo. 257. Sea-stores. 258. Saloon stores. R. S., 3095. R. S., 3096. R. S., 3110. 259. Duties on repairs. 260. Entry from one district to another. 261. Discharging cargo and passengers. 262. Steam tugs. 263. Forms and penalties. 264. Touching at foreign ports. 265. Foreign merchandise. 266. Special provisions for British North America. 251. Size of foreign-trade vessels. Except into the districts herein before described on the northern, northwestern, and western boundaries of the United States, adjoining to the Dominion of Canada, or into the districts adjacent to Mexico, no merchandise of foreign growth or manufacture, subject to the payment of duties, shall be brought into the United States from any foreign port in any other manner than by sea, nor in any vessel of less than thirty tons burden, agreeably to the admeasurement directed for ascertaining the tonnage of vessels; or landed or unladen at any other port than is directed by this Title [R. S., 2517-3129], under the penalty of seizure and forfeiture of all such vessels, and of the merchandise imported therein, landed or unladen in any other manner. All persons may import any merchandise of which the importation shall not be entirely prohibited, into the districts which are or may be established on the northern and northwestern boundaries of the United States, in vessels or boats of any burden, and in rafts or carriages of any kind or nature whatsoever. 252. Evasion of coasting laws on the lakes and frontiers. If any merchandise shall, at any port in the United States on the northern, northeastern, or northwestern frontiers thereof, be laden upon any vessel belonging wholly or in part to a subject of a foreign country, and shall be taken thence to a foreign port to be reladen and reshipped to any other port in the United States on such frontiers, either by the same or any other vessel, foreign or American, with intent to evade the provisions relating to the transportation of merchandise from one port of the United States to another port of the United States, in a vessel belonging wholly or in part to a subject of any foreign power, the merchandise shall, on its arrival at such last-named port, be seized and forfeited to the United States, and the vessel shall pay a tonnage-duty of fifty cents per ton on her admeasurement. 253. Inward manifests. All vessels, boats, rafts, and carriages, of what kind R. S., 3097. soever, arriving in such districts, on the northern and northwestern frontiers, containing merchandise subject to duties, on being imported into any port of the United States, shall be reported to the collector, or other chief offi cer of the customs at the port of entry in the district into which it shall be so imported; and such merchandise shall be accompanied with like manifests, aud like entries shall be made, by the persons having charge of any such vessels, boats, rafts, and carriages, and by the owners or consignees of the merchandise laden on board the same; and the powers and duties of the officers of the customs shall be exercised and discharged in the districts last mentioned, in like manner as is prescribed in respect to merchandise imported in vessels from the sea; and generally, all such importations shall be subject to like regulations, penalties, and forfeitures as in other districts, except as is hereinafter specially provided. The master of any vessel, except registered vessels, and R. S., 3098. every person having charge of any boat, canoe, or raft, and the conductor or driver of any carriage or sleigh, and every other person, coming from any foreign territory adjacent to the United States into the United States, with merchandise subject to duty, shall deliver, immediately on his arrival within the United States, a manifest of the cargo or loading of such vessel, boat, canoe, raft, carriage, or sleigh, or of the merchandise so brought from such foreign territory, at the office of any collector or deputy collector which shall be nearest to the boundary-line, or nearest to the road or waters by which such merchandise is brought; and every such manifest shall be verified by the oath of such person delivering the same; which oath shall be taken before such collector or deputy collector; and such oath shall state that such manifest contains a full, just, and true account of the kinds, quantities, and values of all the merchandise so brought from such foreign territory. If the master, or other person having charge of any vessel, boat, canoe, or raft, or the conductor or driver of any carriage or sleigh, or other person bringing such merchandise, shall neglect or refuse to deliver the manifest required by the preceding section, or pass by or avoid such office, the merchandise subject to duty, and so imported, shall be forfeited to the United States, together with the vessel, boat, canoe, or raft, the tackle, apparel, and furniture of the same, or the carriage or sleigh, and harness and cattle drawing the same, or the horses with their saddles and bridles, as the case may be; and such master, conductor, NAV 99, PT 2- -14 R. S., 3099. R. S., 3100. R. S., 3101. R. S., 3102. or other importer shall be subject to a penalty of four times the value of the merchandise so imported. 254. Customs inspection. All merchandise, and all baggage and effects of passengers, and all other articles imported into the United States from any contiguous foreign country, except as hereafter provided, as well as the vessels, cars, and other vehicles and envelopes in which the same shall be imported, shall be unladen in the presence of, and be inspected by, an inspector or other officer of the customs, at the first port of entry or custom-house in the United States where the same shall arrive; and to [enable the proper officer thoroughly to discharge this duty, he may require the owner or his agent, or other person, having charge or possession of any trunk, traveling-bag, or sack, valise, or other envelope, or of any closed vessel, car, or other vehicle, to open the same, or to deliver to him the proper key. If If any owner, agent, or other person shall refuse or neg lect to comply with his demands, allowed by the preceding section, the officer shall retain such trunk, traveling bag, or sack, valise, or whatsoever it may be, and open the same, and, as soon thereafter as may be practicable, examine the contents; and if any article subject to the payment of duty shall be found therein, the whole contents, together with the envelope, shall be forfeited to the United States, and disposed of as the law provides in other similar cases. any such dutiable merchandise or article shall be found in any such vessel, car, or other vehicle, the owner, agent, or other person in charge of which shall have refused to open the same or deliver the key as herein provided, the same, together with the vessel, car, or other vehicle, shall be for feited to the United States, and shall be held by such officer, to be disposed of as the law provides in other similar cases of forfeiture. 255. Customs seals on frontier. To avoid the inspection at the first port of arrival, the owner, agent, master, or conductor of any such vessel, car, or other vehicle, or owner, agent, or other person having charge of any such merchandise, baggage, effects, or other articles, may apply to any officer of the United States duly authorized to act in the premises, to seal or close the same, under and according to the regulations heremafter authorized, previous to their importation into the United States; which officer shall seal or close the same accordingly; whereupon the same may proceed to their port of destination without further inspection. Every such vessel, car, or other vehicle, shall proceed, without unnecessary delay, to the port of its destination, as named in the manifest of its cargo, freight, or contents, and be there inspected. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to exempt such vessel, car, or vehicle, or its contents, from such examination as may be necessary and proper to prevent frauds upon the revenue and violations of this Title [R. S., 2517-3129]. |