Mexico:  Mexico  city.

139

publication  of  the  law,  customs  regulations,  and  warehouse  regulations. ­

I  inclose  also  a  translation,  by  L.  C.  Simonds,  associate  editor  of
the  Mexican  Herald  of  this  city,  and  published  serially  in  that  newspaper, ­
  of  the  essential  changes  in  the  custom-house  rules  of  Mexico
which  went  into  eifect  July  1  last.  The  publication  of  the  translation ­
  of  these  amendments  has  not  been  finished,  but  since  the  matter
inclosed  herewith  covers  the  most  important  features  I  have  deemed
it  wise  to  transmit  such  part  of  it  now.
James  Russell  Parsons,  Jr.
City  of  Mexico,  January  9,  1905.

WAREHOUSES  IN  MEXICO.
(From  former  United  States  Vice  and  Deputy  Consul  Conley,  Mexico  City,  Mexico.)
Warehouses  for  the  storage  of  merchandise  on  which  the  customs
dues  have  not  been  paid  have  only  recently  been  established  in
Mexico  by  the  Mexico  and  Veracruz  General  Storage  Warehouses  (Incorporated), ­
  a  company  in  which  American  capital  is  largely  interested ­
  and  which  was  organized  principally  through  the  efforts  of
Americans.  The  law  governing  such  institutions  went  into  effect
July  1  last,  and  the  company  is  therefore  just  now  getting  under
way  in  this  class  of  business.  Inasmuch  as  the  passage  of  this  law
marks  an  epoch  in  the  mercantile  development  of  Mexico  some
account  of  it  will  be  interesting.
Under  date  of  June  29,  1901,  the  Central  Bank  of  this  city,  the
Mercantile  Bank  of  Veracruz,  and  the  Anglo-Mexican  Banking  Company ­
  obtained  a  concession  from  the  Mexican  Government  for  the
establishment  of  general-storage  warehouses  in  Mexico  under  the
general  banking  law  of  March  19,  1897,  such  institutions  being  considered ­
  institutions  of  credit.  This  concession,  which  is  for  forty
-  years  from  March  19,  1897,  was  turned  over  to  a  company  styled  the
“  Almacenes  Generales  de  Depósito  de  México  y  Veracruz,  S.  A.”
(The  Mexico  and  Veracruz  General  Storage  Warehouses,  Incorporated), ­
  with  a  capital  of  $2,000,000  Mexican  currency  (January  1,
1905,  one  Mexican  dollar  is  equivalent  to  46.8  cents  United  States
currency).  This  company  acquired  by  purchase  a  warehouse  from
the  Droguería  Belga  in  this  city,  another  property  from  the  Compañía ­
  Linder,  and  by  lease  warehouses  which  had  been  used  before
by  the  Hidalgo,  the  National,  and  the  Mexican  railroad  companies,
and  part  of  a  building  which  had  been  used  by  the  custom-house  in
this  city,  and  is  to  acquire  by  lease  a  warehouse  now  used  by  the
Mexican  Central  Railroad  in  this  city.  These  properties  are  all  in
the  vicinity  of  the  custom-house  in  this  city,  and  have  been  or  are
being  remodeled  for  the  use  of  the  company.  The  company  has  at
present  something  over  20,000  square  meters  (23,920  square  yards)
of  storage  room  in  this  city,  which  will  shortly  be  increased  by  about
5,000  square  meters  (5,980  square  yards)'.
Extensive  improvements  are  being  made  by  the  Mexican  Government ­
  at  the  port  of  Veracruz,  and  the  railroads  entering  that  port
contemplate  the  construction  of  extensive  terminal  facilities  there  in