26 
WAREHOUSES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 
CUSTOMS SUPERVISION. 
For the bonded warehouses of the company the custom-house offi 
cials have control of the entry and exit of goods. Officers of the 
customs are always on duty on the premises (they are lodged by the 
company), and when the sheds are fastened for the night there are 
two locks, the representatives of the company having the key to one 
and the the custom-house officials in having the key to the other. 
The bonded warehouses at Paris are not much utilized for goods in 
transit to other countries, but are recognized more as a convenient 
storage place for merchants or a means of raising a loan on goods 
without actually selling them outright. 
John K. Gowdy, Consul-General. 
Paris, France, July £0,1904. 
BORDEAUX. 
(From United States Consul Tourgêe, Bordeaux, France.) 
In Bordeaux there are three kinds of warehouses of the sort indi 
cated in the Department circular on warehouses for the storage of 
goods, to wit : 
(1) L’Entrepôt Réel, which is owned by the Bordeaux Chamber of 
Commerce and is under the supervision of customs officials; (2) Les 
Magasins Generaux, also owned by the Bordeaux Chamber of Com 
merce, where goods can be stored and used as a security for loans; 
13) Les Entrepots Fictifs, owned by private parties, duly author 
ized under supervision of the customs officials. 
The warehouses belonging to the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce 
consist of three distinct buildings. They were constructed at differ 
ent periods and are situated in different parts of the city, but always 
near the river or docks and connected with railroads. 
The first of these buildings, built in 1824, has a floor area of 27,920 
square meters (33,392 square yards) and cost 1,200,000 francs 
($231,000). The second, built in 1881-82, has a floor area of about 
10,000 square meters (19,130 square yards) and cost 1,000.000 francs 
($308,800). In 1885 the last of these warehouses was finished. It is 
built of metal and is called " La Halle Métallique.” It cost about 
3,000,000 francs ($579,000) and has a floor area of 20,800 meters 
(32,053 square yards). 
The goods chiefly stored in these warehouses are skins and hides 
from South America (which occupy a large portion of the Halle 
Métallique), rum, foreign wines, spirits, coffee, and cocoa. 
The storage rate for goods in transit is about 10 francs ($1.93) per 
day for 150 superficial meters (179.4 square yards), insurance in 
cluded. The storage of bonded goods is a very complicated matter, as 
there is a special rate for each different kind of goods. I send here 
with a printed tariff 0 of the chamber of commerce, which gives all 
rates and charges pertaining to goods stored in their warehouses. 
The Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce is perhaps the only one in 
France which does not impose taxes on the local commerce. Its ware- 
« On file in tlie Bureau of Statistics, Department of Commerce and Labor.