NETHERLANDS: AMSTERDAM. 
89 
hides and skins, tin, etc., increases annually. Its position as a 
transit port for a large part of the Continent, of which it is one of 
the great gates, indicates its true importance and the character of the 
merchandise warehoused here. Hence the important part played by 
the Communal Entrepot dock and the other warehouses, of which 
the Blaauwhoedenveem may be taken as the most-developed type. 
Certain other warehouses restrict their business to one article; the 
Turperhoedenveem, for example, stores tobacco only. 
Much of the information contained in this report was furnished by 
the Blaauwhoedenveem, and applies particularly to that company. 
The services performed include clearing, receiving, warehousing, 
handling, delivering, and forwarding merchandise, and charging and 
discharging steamers. 
The scale of charges and an account of receipts and expenditures 
for handling merchandise can not be given. 
All kinds of merchandise are stored, but principally coffee, to 
bacco, flour, cocoa, and colonial produce. Goods can remain in bond 
for an unlimited time; only when they are entered for consumption 
must the import duty be paid. Goods in transit are not liable to duty. 
Americans do not make use of the warehouses directly, although 
American imported goods are stored in large quantities. All nation 
alities are treated exactly in the same way by the administrators of 
the warehouse. 
When steamers can not come alongside the warehouses for dis 
charging or loading, goods as a rule must be carried by lighter from 
the ship to the warehouses. Costs are charged per weight or per pack 
age, depending on the nature of the goods. 
The bonded warehouses are divided into public, private, and fictive 
°nes. The public warehouses belong to the city and are superin 
tended by customs officials. These warehouses, serving for storage 
°f all kinds of dutiable goods, are sealed by both the administration 
of the warehouses and the trade. A private warehouse is indicated 
by the merchants and approved by customs officials, and also sealed 
by both parties. The owner of a private bonded warehouse is respon 
sible for the goods stored in it, as to number of packages, weight, 
a nd contents. Fictive bonded warehouses may be used only for 
goods on which the duties are low and charged on the weight. These 
ai *e private warehouses of the merchants under their own su r veil- 
lance, not sealed by the customs officials. The merchants are respon 
sible for the number of packages and the weight. The public and 
Private bonded warehouses, under surveillance of the custom-house 
officers, are open for the public on all work days at the time stipu 
lated by the officers. The presence of the custom-house officers must 
bo paid for at the rate of 20 cents Dutch (8 cents United States) per 
hour, payable to the government. 
The rates per 100 kilos (220.46 pounds) charged by the Vriesse- 
v oein of Amsterdam on the principal staple articles are as follows for 
receiving from on board ship, transportation to warehouse, ware- 
bousing, and insurance for one month, delivery, and transportation to 
railway or steamer (but particular manipulations not included) : 
Coffee, 19^ cents; sugar, 8 7 ^ cents; tin, 13 t 7 j cents; cotton, 191 cents; 
s pices, 35f cents; indigo, 34| cents; tobacco, 26^ cents; gum damar 
j^d gum copal, 20 cents; kapok. 37£ cents ; hides, 30J cents; cocoa 
beans, 21-& cents; cinchona bark, 30& cents.