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.