184
WAREHOUSES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
is rendered to the head customs official at Tandjong Priok every day,
and he in turn renders a report to the comptroller of the customs.
The warehouses are locked every afternoon by the storekeeper, and he
must deliver keys to the custom-house officer who is in charge the
following morning.
The two lines of Dutch steamers trading between the Netherlands
and Java have their own private stores for goods landed and intended
for shipment by their steamers. These warehouses, however,
are under Government supervision. There is no charge for store
rent.
B. S. Rairden, Consul.
Batavia, Java, August 15, 1905.
PERSIA.
(From United States Yice-Consul-Oeneral Tyler, Teheran, Persia.)
Bonded warehouses, such as are found in the great commercial ports
under our more refined conditions of trade, are unknown in Persia.
Foreign goods reaching frontier by land or by sea, either for local
consumption or for transport inland, aré released for distribution
by the payment of the customs duty as soon as the means of transport
or porterage can be procured. Goods are not allowed to be
sent in transit under bond to cities or towns in the interior, except
as a favor, when they are personal effects not intended for
sale; and in such a case, in order to prevent a loss, a sum sufficient
to cover the duty is,demanded at the port or frontier station, so that
the only advantage to the owner is the avoidance of losses from
repacking. In case of reshipment or retransfer to some other locality,
if the duty had been paid, it would be returned to the owner.
Goods left in the warehouses or caravansary to await means of
transport or other detail of business pay about a cent a day on each
package and a trifle on the whole consignment to the keeper of the
warehouse. The storage may be either in the open or under cover.
Warehouses may be the property of the Government, of private
individuals, or of shipping companies, not infrequently the latter, and
in that case the Government has to pay a rental varying in amount
according to the nature of the structure and the average rentals of
the district.
In the storage of goods all nationalities are treated alike in the
matter of protection and cost; if difference is made it is rallier in
favor of the foreigner. Gratuities are generally the most effective
means of securing greater consideration in Persia. In the removal
of goods from the ships to the shore, which is generally a distance
of from 2 to 4 miles, the price is determined by the boatmen and
the owner at the time, there being no scale of charges.
It does not appear that the greatest supervisory care is exercised
by the authorities over goods in the warehouse, but that is a question
of detail depending largely upon the gratuities given to the men in
charge.
John Tyler, Vice-C'onsul-Goneral.
Teheran, Persia, July 10, 1904.
