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94 
WAREHOUSES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 
amounts of merchandise may be carried in the custom-house proper 
for about one year, but each withdrawal necessitates a new dispatch 
and additional expense. 
Geo. H. Pickerill, Consul. 
St. Michaels, Azores, September 24,1904. 
RUSSIA. 
ST. PETERSBURG. 
(From United States Consul-General Watts, St. Petersburg, Russia.) 
Several buildings are used by the Government customs authorities 
and by others for the storage of merchandise in transit or in bond in 
this city. It has been impossible to secure the dimensions and orig 
inal cost of warehouses, even approximately. They are owned and 
conducted by the Government, by corporations, and by individual 
merchants, generally tea and tobacco merchants, all under the surveil 
lance of the Government customs officials. The principal warehouse 
in this city, second only to the Government customs warehouse, is one 
conducted by a corporation of workmen known as the Bourse Artel, 
who rent their building, containing thirty-five rooms, from the 
Bourse Corporation. There are also warehouses owned and con 
ducted by the Government on an island near the city for the storage 
of inflammable or combustible goods. Receipts and expenditures on 
account of service are not obtainable. Service is very slow from the 
American standpoint, but otherwise satisfactory. Careful inspec 
tion of goods is made on arrival and on departure and reasonable 
security is given for goods stored. The scale of charges for storage in 
the Government customs warehouses is as follows: Under cover, one- 
sixth of 1 kopeck (one-twelfth of 1 cent) per pood (36 pounds) per 
day ; and outside, one forty-fifth of 1 kopeck per pood per day. In 
the Bourse Artel warehouse the charge for a room 14 by 21 feet is 500 
rubles ($250) per year or 50 rubles ($25) per month. The principal 
goods stored in transit or in bond are tea, tobacco, wines, machinery, 
and dry goods. Goods remain in bond on an average of about three 
months. They are sometimes promptly removed; sometimes they 
remain for the full term of one year, which is the limit of time; if not 
removed by that time they are sold at public auction. Americans 
make little or no use of these warehouses, but all nationalities are sup 
posed to be treated exactly alike by the administrators. 
The Government customs warehouses and that of the Bourse Artel 
are situated close to the river Neva and very convenient for the han 
dling of goods, but they are a great distance from the railroads, re 
quiring long hauls by wagons. The other warehouses are in various 
parts of the city. 
The care and supervision exercised over the warehouses by custom 
house officials are very rigid, and smugglers are severely dealt with 
when found. 
Etiielbert Watts, Consul-General. 
St. Petersburg, Russia, July 21,1904•