*

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  original ­
  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  surveillance ­
  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  conducted ­
  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  inspection ­
  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,  onesixth
  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  supposed ­
  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  handling ­
  of  goods,  but  they  are  a  great  distance  from  the  railroads,  requiring ­
  long  hauls  by  wagons.  The  other  warehouses  are  in  various
parts  of  the  city.
The  care  and  supervision  exercised  over  the  warehouses  by  customhouse ­
  officials  are  very  rigid,  and  smugglers  are  severely  dealt  with
when  found.
Etiielbert  Watts,  Consul-General.
St.  Petersburg,  Russia,  July  21,1904•