PORT REVENUES 79
Freeport areas, that is, areas within which dutiable articles
and material can be received under sanction of the Customs
Authorities for manipulation and treatment prior to
re-shipment abroad, the whole of the processes being
carried on without the necessity of paying Customs duties
at the port in question. Freeports, as they are concisely
termed, are principally in evidence on the Continent.
In a Free Trade country there is no necessity for them.
The same processes can be effected in a Bonded Ware-
house, though the operations in such a case must, of
necessity, be of a more restricted character. Bonded
Warehouses are under close Customs supervision. Double
locks are fitted to the storage compartments, and one of
these is in the charge of the local Customs officer, so that
access cannot be obtained to the compartment without
his cognizance. Within the limits of a warehouse floor or
compartment, it is practicable to carry on such processes
as the blending and repacking of tea and the bottling of
wines and spirits, and these are done during ordinary
working hours under the supervision of a Customs official.
Duty only becomes payable when the articles are with-
drawn from Bond. In the United States, warehouses
of this class are designated Bonded Manufacturing
Warehouses.
There is another arrangement in vogue in America, giving
a greater degree of freedom to the importers. Having paid
the duty appropriate to the goods in question, he is at
liberty to take his goods to reserved premises, where he
may manipulate them at will, without reference to hours
of Customs attendance, and finally, when he re-exports his
goods, with satisfactory evidence as to their identity, he
receives forthwith a refund of gg per cent of the duty,
the remaining 1 per cent of the duty, called the Drawback,
not becoming repayable until thirty days after the arrival
of the re-export at its foreign destination. There are
naturally certain regulations to be complied with which
involve some inconvenience, and it is stated that many
