ENGLAND:  LIVERPOOL.

Ill

the  buyer,  and  consequently  payment  is  not  insisted  upon  at  the  time
of  transfer.
If  warrants  are  issued  the  charges  on  all  goods  (including  tobacco) ­
  are  collected  up  to  the  date  of  the  issue  of  the  documents.
All  charges  have  to  be  paid,  or  provided  for,  prior  to  goods  being
delivered.
CHARGES.
The  rates  for  storage,  etc.,  of  goods  at  the  board’s  warehouses  are
shown  in  the  inclosed  copy  of  the  schedule  of  warehouses,  rates,  etc. 0
At  the  Stanley  Dock  warehouses  all  operations  are  performed  by
the  board,  including  the  discharging  of  cargoes  from  vessels,  the
quay  porterage  thereon  and  the  housing  thereof,  and  the  rates
chargeable  for  the  several  operations  are  shown  in  the  warehouse
schedule  mentioned.  At  the  Albert  and  Wapping  Dock  warehouses
the  operations  of  discharging  and  quay  porterage  are  usually  performed ­
  by  master  lumpers  and  master  porters,  respectively,  who  are
licensed  but  not  employed  by  the  board.  The  master  lumper’s  price
for  discharging  a  cargo  is  subject  to  special  arrangement,  there  being
no  fixed  rates  tor  such  operations  ;  but  the  rates  chargeable  by  master
porters  for  the  quay  porterage  operations  are  fixed  by  the  board,  and
are  shown  in  the  inclosed  copy  of  the  master  porterage  by-laws,  etc.®
The  housing  operations  at  the  Albert  and  Wapping  Dock  warehouses,
as  in  the  case  of  the  Stanley  Dock  warehouses,  are  performed  by  the
board,  at  rates  shown  in  the  warehouse  schedule  mentioned  above.
Particulars  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  at  the  board’s  warehouses ­
  for  the  year  ending  July  1,  1903,  are  shown  in  the  inclosed
copy  of  the  warehouses  account. 6  The  accounts  for  the  present  year
have  not  yet  been  made  up.
The  dutiable  goods  usually  stored  at  the  board’s  warehouses  are
tobacco  and  sugar  at  each  of  the  three  warehouses  named,  and  wines
and  spirits,  tea,  coffee,  and  cocoa  at  the  Albert  Dock  warehouses.
The  average  period  during  which  dutiable  goods  remain  in  store
at  the  board’s  warehouses  may  be  said  to  be,  approximately,  as  follows: ­
  Tobacco,  two  and  one-fourth  years;  sugar,  five  months;  wines
and  spirits,  sixteen  months;  tea,  five  months;  coffee  and  cocoa,
twenty-one  months.
It  is  impossible  to  say  to  what  extent  Americans  make  use  of  the
board’s  warehouses,  but  it  may  be  mentioned  that  nearly  all  the
American  tobacco  imported  into  Liverpool  is  conveyed  to  and  dealt
with  at  these  warehouses.
All  the  board’s  customers  are  treated  exactly  alike,  irrespective  of
nationality.

0  On  file  in  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  where  it  may  be  consulted  by  persons
Interested.
6  The  detailed  statement  is  on  file  in  the  Bureau  of  Statistics.  From  it  the
following  summary  is  taken  :  For  the  eleven  warehouses  specified  the  total
receipts  were  £211,240  18s.  3d.  ($1,028,003.90),  of  which  £116,000  ($564,514)
"ere  for  rates  and  nearly  £95.241  ($463,490)  for  rents.  The  expenditure,
exclusive  of  interest  on  cost  of  land  and  buildings  and  general  management
charges,  was  £101,822  ($495,517)  for  rates  account,  £14,902  ($72,520)  on  rent,
and  £280  ($1,363)  miscellaneous  expenditures  on  the  structures;  the  surplus
receipts  thus  amounted  to  £94,237  ($458,604),  from  which,  deducting  £18,895
($91,952),  the  amount  of  local  rates  for  1903,  leaves  £75,342  ($366,652)  total
bet  earnings  for  the  year.