30

WAREHOUSES  IN  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES.

17,  1854,  and  ceded  November  14  of  the  same  year  to  La  Compagnie
des  Docks-Entrepôts  du  Havre,  a  company  with  a  capital  of  5,000.000
francs  ($965,000).  The  duration  of  the  concession  is  ninety-nine
years.  The  ground  upon  which  the  warehouses,  sheds,  courts,  docks,
etc.,  are  built  is  the  property  of  the  State,  for  which  the  company
pays  a  total  rent  of  about  2,000,000  francs  ($386,000)  in  yearly  installments. ­
  By  the  terms  of  the  concession  the  company  obligated
itself  to  construct  buildings  capable  of  receiving  at  least  130,000  tons
of  merchandise  under  the  most  favorable  conditions,  covered  yards
for  overhauling  and  examining  the  merchandise  before  it  was  stored,
sheds  for  the  temporary  storage  of  cargoes  after  discharge  from  vessels, ­
  administrative  buildings  for  offices  for  custom-house  officials  attached ­
  to  the  bonded  warehouses  and  for  sleeping  quarters  for  a  certain ­
  number  of  these  officials,  to  erect  walls  to  isolate  the  entire  plant,
to  create  means  of  interior  communication  by  which  merchandise  could
be  removed  from  one  warehouse  and  transported  quickly  to  another
or  be  loaded  on  vessels,  and  to  install  machinery  and  other  apparatus
for  loading,  discharging,  and  weighing  cargoes,  all  upon  plans  approved ­
  by  the  Government.  The  conditions  of  the  contract  have  been
carried  out,  and,  owing  to  the  growing  demands  of  commerce,  the
company  has  built  in  addition  warehouses  covering  a  surface  of
117,500  square  meters  (140,530  square  yards).  The  docks  belonging
to  the  bonded  warehouses  and  the  stonework  and  pavement  of  the
quays  were  constructed  by  the  Government.
As  mentioned  above,  the  term  of  the  concession  is  ninety-nine  years,
at  the  expiration  of  which  the  property  of  the  company,  with  the
exception  of  the  annexes,  consisting  of  the  buildings,  the  apparatus
for  handling  merchandise,  the  stone  walls  inclosing  the  plant,  etc.,
reverts  to  the  Government.
The  following  are  the  superficial  areas  of  the  original  bonded  warehouses ­
  and  those  of  the  annexes  :
Areas  of  Havre  warehouses.

Buildings,  etc.

Original
bonded
warehouses. ­


Annexes.

Warehouses
Covered  courts  and  storehouses.
Courts  not  covered

Total  area.

■’%
74,152
45,448

208,320

(Is.
840
*

140,530

There  are  five  cellars  for  wines  and  liquors,  of  a  capacity  of  6,000
tons.  The  north  and  south  quays  of  the  floating  dock  are  each  1,821
feet  long.  In  the  pamphlet  containing  the  rules,  regulations,  and
tariff  of  charges  of  the  company,  sent  with  this  report, 0  (here  is  a
scale  plan  which  indicates  the  arrangement  and  dimensions  of  the
different  buildings,  covered  courts,  quays,  etc.  The  estimated  cost  of
the  company’s  plant  is  15,000,000  francs  ($2,895,000).

a  On  file  in  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor.