46

WAREHOUSES  IN  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES.

have  bought  the  products  in  America  or  en  route.  All  charges  and
accommodations  are  the  same  for  all  nationalities.
Often  goods  arrive  in  such  a  condition  that  they  remain  only  a  few
days.  The  state  of  the  market,  the  demand  for  consumption,  the
nature  of  the  merchandise,  and  the  economic  and  industrial  situation
render  it  impossible  to  indicate  the  length  of  time  merchandise  is
stored.  An  approximation  would  be,  perhaps,  in  the  neighborhood
of  four  months.
HANDLING  OF  GOODS.
When  the  goods  to  be  entered  are  of  considerable  quantity,  the
ships  from  which  they  are  discharged  or  into  which  they  are  embarked ­
  are  moored  alongside  the  wharf  in  front  of  the  warehouses,
and  the  loading  or  unloading  is  effected  by  carrying  on  the  back  when
possible,  or  by  rolling  or  trucking,  or,  in  the  case  of  heavy  oils,  by
subterranean  pipes.  The  same  manner  is  employed  in  regard  to  the
railway,  the  main  line  of  which  passes  the  doors  and  is  connected
with  the  interior  courts  by  side  tracks.  The  cost  of  this  service  is
said  to  be  exceedingly  cheap  at  Rouen.
CUSTOMS  SUPERVISION.
The  custom-house  officers  have  no  supervision  over  goods  entered
fictively.  Through  the  houses  containing  real  storage,  which  pays
to  the  state  a  higher  tariff,  officers  pass  about  every  three  months  in
order  to  see  that  the  merchandise  upon  which  duty  has  not  been  paid
still  remains.
Tiiornwell  Haynes,  Consul.
Rouen,  France,  July  00,190J+.

GERMANY.
BERLIN.
(From  United  States  Consul-General  Mason,  Berlin,  Germany.)
Each  State  of  the  German  Empire  has  its  own  system  of  bonded
warehouses.  That  of  Prussia  was  established  by  the  statute  of  duly
1,  1869.  Section  13  of  this  act,,  paragraphs  97  to  110,  inclusive,
relates  to  bonded  warehouses  and  their  management,  and  is  Iranslated
  in  full  below.

BUILDINGS  AND  MANAGEMENT.
The  bonded  warehouses  (Zollschuppen)  in  Berlin  are  included
mainly  in  a  group  of  office  buildings,  sheds,  and  warehouses  located
on  the  north  bank  of  the  river  Spree,  near  the  central  portion  of  the
city.  They  occupy  an  inclosed  space  of  about  7  acres  between  the  I
river  and  the  viaduct  of  the  city  elevated  railway.  This  viaduct  is
a  wide,  heavy  structure  of  masonry  about  30  feet  in  height,  the  arched
spaces  beneath  which  are  used  as  office  and  storage  rooms.  A  large,
handsome  group  of  stone  and  brick  office  buildings  forms  the  gateway ­
  to  the  inclosure  near  the  Moltke  Bridge,  and  in  these  are  the  |