of less than one year and have their passports visaed upon entry and departure, are not subject to the requirement of the declaration provided for in Article 4.

Article 9. The States and Municipalities are prohibited from granting licenses to foreigners for the carrying on of commercial and industrial activities without proof that they have complied with the provisions of the present Decree-Law.

Sole Paragraph. Merchant peddlers, sales agents, and any other commercial intermediaries, in order that they may be granted licenses, must, if they be foreigners, present the documents required in Article 2 and declare their residence to the competent Municipal authority.

Article 10.

If the foreigner petitions registration or filing or makes declarations in a name which does not coincide with that contained in the documents presented, he must prove that he made the correction, alteration, or change in the form prescribed by law (Decree No. 18,542 of December 24, 1928).

Article 11. The certificates referred to in Article 6 must be delivered to the interested parties within a period of eight days, counting from the date of the filing of the petition in the respective Department.

Article 12. The official who shall have ordered or done the filing of documents of a foreigner in the Registry of Commerce, in violation of the provisions of this Decree-Law, will be subject to the penalty of dismissal, if, upon inquiry, his fault be ascertained. Article 13. Foreigners who violate the provisions of the present Decree-Law are subject to the penalty of deportation, without prejudice to the penalties incurred under the Penal Law.

Article 14. Firms and enterprises which commit violations foreseen in Article 3 and its sole paragraph will be subject to a fine of Rs. 1:000 000 to Rs. 10:000$000.

Article 15. In the publications made by the National Department of Industry and Commerce and the Boards of Trade, there will be indicated the nationality of the foreigners, to which Articles 1 and 2 refer, omitting only the names of special partners, whenever so requested.

Sole Paragraph. The Departments and the Roards will send weekly, to the National Department of Population and to the Chief of Police of the Federal District and of the States, list of firms and contracts in which foreigners appear.

Article 16. From the decisions which deny the requests for registration, incription or filing referred to in Article 1, the appeals provided for in the regulations accompanying Decree No. 93, of March 20, 1935, and in the regulations of the Boards of Trade of the United States, may be taken in accordance with the formalities contained

therein.

Article 17. The requirements of this Decree-Law apply to foreigners who enter the country by airplane.

Article 18. Cases not provided for

and doubts which may arise

will be decided by the Minister of Labor, Industry and Commerce, Article 19. The present Decree-Law will become operative on the date of its publication.

The provisions of the Code of Commerce relating to the steps necessary in the formation of a business enterprise have been modi– fied by Law No. 6156 published in the "Diario Oficial" of January 13, 1938. According to word received from the American Commercial Attache, Santiago, the new law was enacted for the purpose of simplifying the procedure and applies almost entirely to time limitations. Article 55 of the Code of Commerce, prohibiting women from acting as brokers, has been amended and removes the restriction. A law published in the "Diario Oficial" of May 30, 1931, providing that an airplane not located within three months would be considered lost and that thereafter death might be presumed in conformity with the provisions of the Civil Code, has been annulled by Law No. 6156.

A decree published in the Journal Officiel of March 3, 1938, establishing taxes on the receipts derived from wireless publicity is as follows:

Further to the law of March 20, 1936, authorizing the establishing of taxes on radio publicity receipts, to the Ministerial decision of January 20, 1937, fixing the territorial circumscription of regional Government broadcasting stations, to the deliberation of the Lyon City Council of March 15, 1937, discussing regional taxes to be set up in the territorial circumscription of the Station of Lyon P.T.T., and to the demand addressed on April 7, 1937, by the Prefect of the Rhone to the Minister of P.T.T., the following decree is issued:

Article 1. Regional taxes on gross receipts of publicity broadcast by private wireless stations (provided for in law of March 20, 1936) are to be instituted in the territorial circumscription of the station Lyon P.T.T. under conditions set forth in the decree of May 31, 1936, for the benefit of the city of Lyon. The produce of such taxes is to be used to reduce, to an equivalent degree, the municipal amusement tax assessed in Lyon on theaters, movies and all spectacles organized for educational purposes as well as functions held for charities.

Article 2. These taxes to be levied from the day of the going into effect of the decree establishing the exact reduced rate of the municipal tax mentioned above.

Article 3. The Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Finance, and the Minister of P.T.T. are charged, each as far as his own domain is concerned, with the execution of the present decree, to be published in the Journal Officiel.

A uniform notarial system became effective in Latvia on January 1, 1938, the Cabinet having adopted the law respecting the notary public and notarial affairs. Notaries are now civil service officials and are restricted to persons of high juridical education, except that the Minister of Justice may appoint persons with secondary education of at least 25 years of age in certain instances. Applicants must show two years of practice in the office of a notary before taking the examination. An examination is not required, however, where the applicants have worked for five years in the Ministry of Justice. Notaries are required to deposit a sum with the district court as security for any claims that may arise out of their misfeasance. Fees are covered generally by the new law but the actual scale 16 determined by the Minister of Justice. The full text of the law appears in the Valdibas Vestnesis, No. 287, of December 17, 1937.

Recent questions have arisen concerning the liability of Mexican representatives of United States firms as well as the primary liability of American exporters for taxes on samples in the possession of and used by the foreign representatives in making sales in Mexico. According to the office of the American Commercial Attache, Mexico City, the Mexican Income Tax Department furnishes an interpretation of the Income Tax Law to the effect that the foreign exporter has already paid income tax on the value of the samples forwarded by himself to his Mexican representative by virtue of the payment of the 3 percent of the invoice value at the Mexican Consulate before export to Mexico, and is subject to no other tax in so far as the Mexican income tax is concerned. Furthermore, the representative of the manufacturer is permitted to use the samples in his place of business and they will not enter into his income tax liabilities unless he should dispose of the samples in whole or in part by sale. It is to be remembered that this ruling applies solely to the Federal Income Tax Law. The various municipalities as, for example, that of Mexico City, exacts a tax on commission agents based either on gross sales or on the capital involved. The foreign representative, whenever using samples of considerable monetary value, should be careful, in order to avoid an excessive tax liability and not to expose the samples of his principals to possible confiscation, to make a study and determine the status of such samples for the purpose of the payment of all municipal taxes.

PANAMA

*

Labor, Commercial Employees, Dismissals.

A decision regarding an employer's responsibilities in connection with the dismissal of an employee not engaged under contract was rendered by the Fourth Municipal Judge of Panama in a recent proceeding. The proprietors of a local beer garden dismissed without previous notice two employees who were described as working on a weekly salary basis. Upon dismissal each of the two employees was paid the sum corresponding to his weekly wage. The two employees took the matter before the court which required the proprietors to

pay a month's salary to each of the discharged employees, plus interest at 7 percent per annum from the date when payment was first due to final settlement, plus costs.

In pronouncing sentence, the court cited Article 629 of the Codigo de Comercio wherein it is stated and established in essence that if no terms of employment have been reached in a contract between the principal and the employee each must give the other one month's notice of withdrawal or dismissal and the employee shall have the right, except in cases of misbehavior, to one month's salary although the employer is not obliged to retain an employee in service after due notice has been given. The fact that an employee is paid by the week, according to this court's interpretation, does not imply that upon dismissal only one week's salary should be paid since Article 629 of the Codigo de Comercio does not specify that in cases where the remuneration is for one day, by the week, or for a fifteen-day period that advance notice should be given of one day, one week, ог a fifteen-day period respectively; but the Codigo de Comercio does stipulate in a clear and definite manner that one month's notice must be given by both parties in accordance with the phrase "a la otra parte de su resolucion con un mes de anticipacion" and if the employer fails to give such notice a salary equivalent to one month's service must be paid the discharged employee, except where dismissal has been for cause.

Another point established by the court involved the applicability of Law 47 of 1932 to a beer garden. The question was raised as to whether a beer garden is a commercial establishment, for if the beer garden is not a commercial establishment then Article 629 of the Codigo de Comercio would not have been applicable in the present instance. The court decided that beer gardens are commercial establishments because Article 2 of the Codigo de Comercio stipulates that an "act of commerce is the purchase and sale of commercial goods or merchandise for the purpose of gain by its resale or by any other mercantile activity," and in addition, Article 8 of the Codigo de Comercio states that "a merchant is one who in his legal capacity gains professionally and in his own name through commercial

acts."

It was reasoned that the owner of a business such as a beer garden, as in the present case, without doubt profits by commercial acts because it is operating under a system involving the purchase and resale of beer in order to secure monetary benefits and also involving the purchase of foodstuffs which, after preparation in kitchens maintained for the purpose, are likewise offered to the public in order that monetary benefits might accrue. It, therefore, logically follows that an establishment where such a form of merchandising takes place is a commercial establishment just as a saloon would be, or a restaurant, a drug store, and in effect, all kinds of establishments that serve the public during the day and night.

The fact that such establishments remain open after six o'clock in the evening does not exempt them from the application of this reasoning because Law 47, Article 2, states that this type of establishment by virtue of its peculiar relationship to the public "can close at any hour that is most convenient to its own best interests," provided it complies with other legal requirements set up for the protection of its employees.

It. is natural to conclude that employees of a commercial house are commercial employees. Nevertheless, further commentary will be

given to elucidate in order to clarify this point. Article 629 of the Codigo de Comercio grants the right to a discharged employee who has been dismissed without cause to demand a month's salary. It is indisputable that the intention of the legislator in framing this legislation was to connote by the term "employee" as used in the cited article any sort of commercial employee and it was evidently not intended to limit the term to those that deal directly with the public in connection with the sale of articles offered by a given establishment; all of the other employees in whatever way connected with the business of a commercial establishment would, therefore, come under the benefits of the law. For instance: the cashier as well as the assistant in the kitchen of a beer garden are both employed by the owners of the business and are both in consequence commercial employees, just as the accountant of the establishment is and the chore boys are, in spite of the fact that the latter employees do not deal directly with the patrons of the place.

な

PERU

Restrictions on Aliens, Registration.

It has been officially announced that all proprietors, managers, and employers in general, upon whom foreign employees depend, should require their employees to keep their identification and permit cards up to date, through registration or re-registration. According to the office of the American Commercial Attache, Lima, the same obligation is imposed on urban and rural proprietors, renters or subrenters, who enter into public or private agreements with foreigners and also upon the heads of families and proprietors or managers of hotels, inns, and boarding houses, who employ servants. A penalty of $/500 to 8/200 is imposed for the failure to comply with the registration regulations.

SELECTED STATISTICAL STATEMENTS

LIFE INSURANCE FOR MARCH 1938

The monthly survey of Life Insurance sales in the United States for March, released by the Life Insurance Sales Research Bureau, Hartford, Connecticut, indicates sales of $568,473,000 of new paidfor ordinary insurance, exclusive of group for the month, making a total of $1,550,991,000 for the year. This represents 76 percent of sales of March 1937 and 82 percent of sales of the first 3 months of 1937. Ten states and the District of Columbia fell below the March average. The District of Columbia had the lowest average, being 62 percent. Thirty-eight states maintained or were above average, ranging from 76 percent to 139 percent. Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Arkansas were the leaders with averages of 139 percent, 115 percent, 116 percent, and 106 percent respectively. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia fell below the yearly ratio of 82 percent, their percentages ranging from 69 to 81.

Connecticut and Michigan had the lowest ratio with percentages of 69 and 68. Thirty-three states maintained and exceeded the average, ranging from 82 percent to 127 percent; North Dakota, South Dakota, Kentucky, and Nevada leading with 127 percent, 122 percent,