187 
AFRICA. 
ALGERIA. 
ALGIERS. 
(From United States Consul Kidder, Algiers, Algeria.) 
There are two kinds of warehouses in Algiers. Those of the 
first class are strictly under the control of the General Government 
and under the immediate supervision of the custom-house author 
ities; they are located in the immense structure which forms the 
most conspicuous feature of the water front of Algiers. This struc 
ture, which is about 4,000 feet long, was completed in 1800 and is 
under concession to an English company until 1904. Four inclined 
roads, called here “ rampes,” extend from the top to the bottom of 
the structure. At the sides of these roads or streets there are about 
350 vaults and warehouses extending under the streets. These apart 
ments are rented according to dimensions and location for shipping 
offices, packing establishments, bottling factories, private store 
houses, and, according to the necessity for space, for Government 
storage in bond. The original cost of this great building was 
$2,500,000. It is impossible to give the cost of the portions used by 
the Government as warehouses, and the dimensions vary according 
to the exigencies of commerce. As no similar construction on so 
gigantic a scale exists in any other city, the illustrations will give a 
better understanding than a written description. 
The second kind of warehouses comprises those owned by the 
chamber of commerce, but these are used only for the storage of 
goods on which duty has been paid or goods which are not liable 
to duty—those coming from France, for example. 
The municipal government of Algiers has the concession for the 
renting of the warehouses, and they are conducted by the officers 
of the customs service. The custom-house has surveillance of all 
goods deposited in the warehouses, but the handling of the goods 
is done under the superintendence of the municipality. The annual 
receipts average $0,000, the expenditures $3,000. 
For about forty different articles there is a fixed tariff for storage, 
but the following list comprises the principal kinds of goods stored 
(rates quoted in cents per 100 kilos—220.40 pounds—per month) : To 
bacco, in hogsheads, 8 cents; in bales (leaf), 8 cents; manufactured, 
12 cents; leaf, in boxes, 12 cents; raw sugar, 3 cents; sugar in boxes, 
5 cents; coffee, 4 cents; preserved meats, 8 cents; oils for lubrication, 
10 cents; tea, 10 cents; and cloves, 10 cents. The time during which 
goods remain in warehouses is so variable that it is impossible to 
state an average. There are no American importers in Algiers.