106  WAREHOUSES  IN  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES.
bonded  system.  In  discussing  with  a  local  banker  the  system  which
he  pursued  in  making  advances  upon  wine  or  liquors  in  bond  he  told
me  of  his  plan  of  making  certain  always  that  his  security  was  intact.
el  If  my  debtor’s  stock,”  he  said,  “  rested  in  the  ordinary  way  among
other  people’s  in  the  cellar  it  would  be  easy  for  him  to  obtain  access
to  it  without  my  knowledge.  The  custom-house  can  not  be  expected
to  take  note  of  my  lien  on  his  goods.  A  dishonest  man  might  leave
me  a  row  of  empty  barrels.  It  is  my  practice  therefore  to  put  a
simple  fence  of  wire  netting  about  my  debtor’s  barrels,  supplied
with  a  wire  door,  of  which  I  have  the  key.  When  I  have  done  this,
I  rest  secure  that  no  undue  evaporation  will  take  place.”
I  should  have  been  glad  to  send  particulars  of  the  control  and  management ­
  of  the  bonded  warehouses  for  tobacco,  from  the  point  of
view  of  both  owners  and  users.  These  warehouses,  however,  are
in  a  few  strong  hands,  and  the  proprietors  have  courteously  declined
to  extend  any  information  whatever,  nor  have  their  customers—
the  great  local  manufacturers—proved  more  communicative.
With  these  warehouses,  as  with  the  bonded  cellars,  the  procedure
of  the  custom-house  officials,  the  oversight  of  the  authorities,  the
technical  details  governing  the  incoming  and  the  outgoing  of  the
commodity,  are  similar  in  essentials  to  our  own  practice.
IjORiN  A.  Lathrop,  Consul.
Bristol,  England,  September  24-,  1904.

HULL.
(From  United  States  Consul  Hamm,  Hull,  England.)

The  Northeastern  Railway  Company  at  its  Hull  docks  has  provided ­
  lock-up  sheds  for  transit  purposes.  I  send  herewith  a  pamphlet“ ­
  issued  by  that  company  which  shows  the  charges  for  use  of
these  sheds  and  other  information  about  the  warehousing  facilities  of
this  port.
Particulars  of  the  dimensions  and  original  cost  of  warehouses  are
not  available.  They  are  owned  by  the  Northeastern  Railway  Company, ­
  which  alone  does  the  work  in  connection  with  goods  brought  to
the  warehouse.
The  services  rendered  by  the  company  in  connection  with  the  warehousing ­
  are  shown  in  the  accompanying  rate  book,  the  charges  being
the  same  as  on  goods  of  the  same  description  passing  over  the  company’s ­
  quays  and  not  using  the  transit  sheds.
The  chief  classes  of  goods  stored  are  wines,  tea,  coffee,  sugar,  cocoa,
tobacco,  etc.  Usually  goods  are  left  only  a  few  days.  All  nationalities ­
  are  treated  alike  by  the  administrators  of  the  warehouses,  but
1  am  unable  to  state  to  what  extent  Americans  make  use  of  the  sheds.
The  transit  sheds  are  in  the  care  and  supervision  of  the  customs  officials. ­
  The  goods  are  brought  to  and  removed  from  the  warehouse
usually  by  the  shipowner.
Walter  C.  Hamm,  Consul.
Hull,  England,  August  4,1904..
»Ou  file  in  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor.