JAPAN:  KOBE.

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the  customs  bonded  warehouse;  Kobe  Pier  Company’s  tariff  of  storage ­
  charges,  from  page  12  (to  show  the  charges  sanctioned  by  the
Government  to  the  private  bonded  warehouses).  The  first  mentioned ­
  is  the  scale  of  charges  to  be  levied  by  the  customs  for  the
keeping  of  the  goods  at  the  risk  and  expense  of  the  owner  or  other
persons  concerned,  when  such  goods  sent  to  the  customs  for  shipment
or  landed  are  not,  within  seventy-two  hours  after  being  sent  or
landed,  either  shipped,  removed,  dispatched,  or  placed  in  a  bonded
warehouse,  and  are  therefore  eventually  stored  by  the  customs.
These  charges  are  generally  considered  prohibitive.
Information  relative  to  receipts  and  expenditures  on  account  of
service  is  not  obtainable.
The  classes  of  merchandise  chiefly  stored  in  bonded  warehouses  are
sugar,  flour,  woolen  and  piece  goods,  etc.  Those  chiefly  taken  into
the  customs  warehouse  (not  bonded)  in  transit,  etc.,  are  machinery,
provisions,  hardware,  furniture,  etc.
Although  the  length  of  time  goods  remain  in  bond  varies  materially
according  to  the  state  of  the  commercial  market,  during  the  year  the
average  time  goods  remained  in  bonded  warehouses  is  found  to  be
about  one  month.  Goods  remaining  either  on  the  customs  compound
or  in  the  customs  warehouse  varied  from  about  two  or  three  days  to
two  weeks,  and  occasionally  more  than  two  weeks  under  some  unfavorable ­
  circumstances  while  transshipping,  etc.
So  far  Americans  have  made  use  of  the  bonded  warehouses  to  a
very  limited  extent,  the  China  and  Japan  Trading  Company  (Limited) ­
  being  the  only  firm  which  has,  and  its  entries  have  been  of  small
quantity  and  very  rare.  The  greater  portion  of  the  merchandise,
however,  taken  into  the  customs  warehouse  is  found  to  be  of  American ­
  produce,  and  therefore  it  may  be  assumed  that  the  Americans  are
making  great  use  of  this  warehouse.  All  nationalities  are  treated
exactly  alike  by  the  administrators  of  the  warehouses.
The  removal  of  goods  is  done  by  lighters  from  the  steamer  to  the
shore,  thence  by  carts  or  trucks  to  the  warehouses,  and  vice  versa.  As
all  the  warehouses  are  in  close  proximity  to  the  shore,  the  distance  to
be  covered  by  such  drayage  is  very  short.  The  cost  of  such  removal
may  be  divided  into  three  parts,  as  follows:  (a)  Charges  for  landing
or  shipping;  (5)  .  charges  for  cartage  or  truckage;  (c)  charges  for
handling  at  warehouses.  For  charges  (a)  see  “  Rates  of  landing  and
shipping  charges  bv  the  Kobe  Pier  Company,”  inclosed.®  The  charges
(Ò)  can  only  be  fixed  at  the  time  of  undertaking.  The  handling
charges  are  about  1  to  5  cents  per  case  or  bale,  or  1  cent  per  picul  of
133£  pounds,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  goods.  These  charges
apply  to  either  storing  or  discharging  the  goods  from  the  warehouses.
For  goods  requiring  special  care  or  demanding  extra  cooly  hire,  an
extra  charge  may  be  made.
The  care  and  supervision  to  be  exercised  by  the  customs  authorities
over  the  warehouses  are  provided  in  the  law  relating  to  the  bonded
warehouses  (see  below  b )  and  executive  regulations  under  the  law.
Every  movement  on  the  part  of  the  private  bonded  warehouses  is
«  On  file  in  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor.
»Copy  of  the  law  also  forwarded  by  Consul  Harris  at  Nagasaki,
18762-05  M  12