192

WAREHOUSES  IN  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES.

which  are  in  the  outskirts  of  the  town.  In  these  eases  the  charges
are  made  on  the  package  and  not  on  the  tonnage.  For  instance,
petroleum,  on  a  case  of  65  pounds,  pays  for  handling  6  cents,  and  6
cents  per  month  for  storage  and  one-half  per  cent  insurance  on  the
declared  value.  The  same  rule  applies  to  each  package,  barrel,  keg,
demijohn,  drum,  or  jar,  or  whatever  receptacle  contains  other  dangerous ­
  substances,  such  as  ether,  collodion,  sulphur,  etc.,  provided
each  does  not  weigh  more  than  80  pounds  or  measure  more  than  12
gallons.  These  are  the  maximum  weight  and  measure  of  what  is
allowed  to  be  considered  a  unit.  If,  as  is  often  the  case,  packages
of  such  articles  as  coal  tar,  saltpeter,  and  nitrate  of  soda  exceed  the
limit,  then  they  pay  the  above  charges  on  every  80  pounds  or  fraction ­
  thereof.
A  third  special  tariff  concerns  certain  supplementary  operations
carried  out  at  the  express  request  of  the  parties  interested.  These
comprise  (1)  unstoring  goods,  (2)  weighing  and  measuring,  (3)
re-storing,  (4)  presentation  of  goods  for  verification  by  customs,  (5)
marking,  (6)  repairing  broken  cases,  (7)  cooperage  of  leaking
casks,  (8)  bunging  and  unbunging  barrels,  (9)  filling  up  casks  that
have  leaked,  (10)  tare,  (11)  removing  samples  from  cases  for  trade
purposes,  and  (12)  declaration  of  invoices  at  the  customs.
All  these  services  are  rendered  at  nominal  rates  of  from  5  to
25  cents  per  case,  barrel,  etc.,  handled,  with  the  exception  of  the
declaration  of  invoices,  which  is  charged  87  cents  when  the  goods
are  of  French  origin,  and  $1.45  when  other  than  French.  This  is
the  only  instance  in  which  any  distinction  is  made  between  nationalities, ­
  but  this  affects  the  nationality  of  the  goods  and  not  of  the
merchants,  who  are  all  treated  alike.  The  entire  scale  of  charges,
of  which  the  above  is  a  brief  synopsis,  will  be  found  in  the  printed
tariff  already  alluded  to  as  having  been  forwarded.
The  classes  of  goods  stored  include  every  article  and  commodity
that  comes  to  Madagascar,  but  Americans  have  had  no  occasion  to
make  use  of  these  warehouses  since  their  establishment.  Goods
rarely  remain  in  bond  more  than  two  months,  and  for  the  most  part
are  cleared  within  fifteen  days.
Customs  officials  virtually  control  the  whole  establishment,  and,
as  there  is  a  very  large  staff,  the  strictest  supervision  is  exercised  in
every  branch  of  the  service.  The  custom-house  officials  here  are,
moreover,  a  very  efficient  body  of  men,  and  every  care  is  used  by
them  for  the  most  rapid  dispatch  of  business  in  the  interests  of
merchants  of  all  nationalities,  without  distinction.
William  H.  Hunt,  Consul.
Tamatave,  Madagascar,  July  27,  1904.

PORTUGUESE  EAST  AFRICA.
LOURENÇO  MARQUEZ.
(From  United  States  Consul  Hollis,  Lourenço  Marquez,  Portuguese  East  Africa.  )
The  bonded  warehouses  in  Lourenço  Marquez  and  in  the  other
leading  ports  of  this  province  are  of  two  kinds,  government  and  private, ­
  and  they  are  all  managed  very  much  as  are  the  Lourenço  Mar-