kilos (220.46 pounds) per month for such merchandise as metals, marble, and guano, to 65 centimes ($0.125) for furs, pharmaceutical products, and camphor, and, exceptionally, 3.60 francs ($0.694) for essences and essential oils.

This warehouse is very conveniently placed for the storage of goods in or out of bond, and offers to intending importers an excellent opportunity for the preservation of their goods pending sale. ATTILIO PIATTI, Vice and Acting Consul.

NICE, FRANCE, August 10, 1904.

ROUEN.

(From United States Consul Haynes, Rouen, France.)

BUILDINGS, MANAGEMENT, AND SERVICE.

As long ago as 1835 the Rouen Chamber of Commerce constructed two 2-story warehouses in the rear of the principal customs office. These old buildings are still used to some extent for the storage of coffee, pepper, and liquids.

The present capacious warehouses of Rouen were built by the city in 1860 facing the principal maritime basin on the right of the Seine, the most important of the buildings being only 75 yards from the wharf. The warehouses are constructed of brick, stone, and iron, are four stories high and receive every kind of merchandise, whether in sacks, cases, barrels, or loose, such as grains. One building is allotted for the storage of domestic sugar alone.

On account of the short distance, goods are discharged from ships or railway cars by hand, sacks being carried on the back, cases on trucks, and barrels rolled. Steam windlasses are used to reach stories above the ground floor. All ground-floor space is reserved for liquids, such as wines, brandies, oils, etc., and for soaps and greases; the first story contains grains, thread, cloth, and divers merchandise necessitating dryness. One building contains vast wooden reservoirs for the reception of wines, and also iron vats for the warehousing of oils, especially heavy mineral oils; the story above is equipped in a manner to permit the rapid and economical emptying of wine into the reservoirs. The iron vats for the mineral oils are filled directly from tank steamers by subterranean pipes. Another depot, consisting of only one story, receives cotton in bales, wools, and divers merchandise. The interior courts of these different warehouses are used for the storage of coal, wood, etc., and are crossed by the side tracks from the railway which passes near.

In 1877 the city of Rouen ceded these warehouses to a company called the "Compagnie des Docks et Entrepôts de Rouen."

The total cost of the land, construction, installation of vats, windlasses, etc., amounted to about $1,000,000. The surface covered by the buildings and floors is 552,000 square feet, and that of the interior courts, 242,000 square feet.

CHARGES.

The tariff for storage varies according to the nature of the goods. For flour, for each month of thirty days, or fraction thereof, it is as follows: Sacks of 220 to 230 pounds, 1.93 cents; sacks of 230 to 350 pounds, 2.89 cents; barrels of 187 to 227 pounds, 2.3 cents; fire insurance of every $193 worth of goods per month, 7.72 cents; cost of entering, weighing, and storing in warehouse, or delivering, 1.93 cents per sack or barrel; the same without weighing, 9.65 mills per piece; transferring from barrel to sack, 7.72 cents per barrel; marking, including ink, 1.93 cents per barrel or sack.

For wheat, rye, barley, hemp seed, corn, dry vegetables, rice, oleaginous grains, and oats the charge for entering, weighing, and storing, per 220.46 pounds, is 1.93 cents; and the fire insurance, 7.72 cents for every $193 worth. The cost for storage for each month of thirty days, or fraction thereof, is 1.54 cents per 220.46 pounds. When such merchandise is passed from one warehouse to another a tax of 1.93 cents per 220.46 pounds is charged.

Colza, flax, nut, and all vegetable oils, in barrels, are charged 3.86 cents storage per 220.46 pounds gross for each thirty days or fraction thereof, 3.86 cents for entry, and 11.58 cents for weighing every ton. Empty barrels are kept for 9.65 mills per month per 220.46 pounds of oil capacity.

Petroleum, glycerin, and turpentine pay for entering a tariff of 5.79 cents for each barrel, and 4.82 cents for storage each month. For all oils placed in vats, 3.86 cents per 220.46 pounds is charged for entry, and 2.89 cents per month per 220.46 pounds for storage. The minimum that can be thus entered is 55,000 pounds.

Wines, beers, vinegars, ciders, brandies, spirits, and sirups are charged 3.86 cents for every 26.42 gallons for entry or removal, and the same for each month of storage. If vats are used, 4.825 cents is charged. The insurance on such liquids is 7.72 cents for every $193 each month. For filtering wine, 9.65 cents per 26.42 gallons is charged; for filling, 2.89 cents per barrel; determining the degree, 4.825 cents per barrel; gauging, 4.825 cents per barrel; weighing, 9.65 mills per 26.42 gallons; stopping leakage, 1.93 cents per barrel; rehooping, from 28.95 to 77.2 cents, according to size of barrel.

For wool, 2.895 cents is paid for every 220.46 pounds weighed and entered or weighed and delivered, and 3.86 cents storage for every 220.46 pounds per month.

Iron in bars, if sheltered, pays 19.3 cents per ton for a month's storage; if unsheltered, half that amount.

The storage of sugar and coffee per ton costs 19.3 cents monthly. Other articles, such as glassware, furniture, wickerwork, unmounted vehicles, pottery, hardware, agricultural implements, empty barrels, casks and bottles, sponges, and bicycles are charged according to space occupied.

STORAGE OF GOODS.

Americans have used the Rouen warehouses at different times for the storage of agricultural implements, wheat, etc. Great quantities of American cotton, oats, corn, and wheat are always to be found in the warehouses, but these goods are stored by French merchants who

have bought the products in America or en route. All charges and accommodations are the same for all nationalities.

Often goods arrive in such a condition that they remain only a few days. The state of the market, the demand for consumption, the nature of the merchandise, and the economic and industrial situation render it impossible to indicate the length of time merchandise is stored. An approximation would be, perhaps, in the neighborhood of four months.

HANDLING OF GOODS.

When the goods to be entered are of considerable quantity, the ships from which they are discharged or into which they are embarked are moored alongside the wharf in front of the warehouses, and the loading or unloading is effected by carrying on the back when possible, or by rolling or trucking, or, in the case of heavy oils, by subterranean pipes. The same manner is employed in regard to the railway, the main line of which passes the doors and is connected with the interior courts by side tracks. The cost of this service is said to be exceedingly cheap at Rouen.

CUSTOMS SUPERVISION.

The custom-house officers have no supervision over goods entered fictively. Through the houses containing real storage, which pays to the state a higher tariff, officers pass about every three months in order to see that the merchandise upon which duty has not been paid still remains.

ROUEN, FRANCE, July 20, 1904.

THORNWELL HAYNES, Consul.

GERMANY.

BERLIN.

(From United States Consul-General Mason, Berlin, Germany.)

Each State of the German Empire has its own system of bonded warehouses. That of Prussia was established by the statute of July 1, 1869. Section 13 of this act, paragraphs 97 to 110, inclusive, relates to bonded warehouses and their management, and is translated in full below.

BUILDINGS AND MANAGEMENT.

The bonded warehouses (Zollschuppen) in Berlin are included mainly in a group of office buildings, sheds, and warehouses located on the north bank of the river Spree, near the central portion of the city. They occupy an inclosed space of about 7 acres between the river and the viaduct of the city elevated railway. This viaduct is a wide, heavy structure of masonry about 30 feet in height, the arched spaces beneath which are used as office and storage rooms. A large, handsome group of stone and brick office buildings forms the gateway to the inclosure near the Moltke Bridge, and in these are the

headquarters of the import custom-house department. The warehouses and sheds for the storage of merchandise are from 1 to 6 stories in height, constructed of brick, stone, and iron, with fireproof floors and stairways, and equipped with modern facilities for handling all kinds of freight.

The whole southern front of this inclosed space is a wharf along the river, which forms the main channel of water transit through Berlin, and is connected directly by canals and canalized rivers with the Havel and Elbe, on which Hamburg is located, and the Oder, which debouches at the Baltic seaport of Stettin. Branch lines from the several State railways bring freight from every direction directly into the inclosure, where a system of switches and turntables permits the shunting of cars into every part of the yard.

Besides this central and dominating group there is a large bonded warehouse on Haide street, near the Lehrter railway station, which is devoted specially to handling and storing freight that comes directly by rail from Hamburg. Finally, there are eleven branch custom-houses for imported merchandise (Zoll Abfertigungs Stellen) in different parts of the city, where smaller packages of foreign goods, baggage, etc., can be stored in bond under the provisions of the general law. These are so distributed as to serve conveniently persons living in every quarter of Berlin. It is impossible to ascertain even the approximate dimensions or cost of these establishments, most of which are Government property belonging to the State of Prussia, while some of the district warehouses are in private premises leased for the purpose on long terms by the State.

GERMAN LAW REGARDING THE WAREHOUSING OF BONDED GOODS.

The entire scope and working of the Prussian system are indicated by the statute upon which it is based, namely, section 13 of the law providing for the security of the customs limits of Prussia outside of the Hamburg district. The full text of this enactment, in so far as it relates to the bonded-warehouse system, is as follows:

A. PUBLIC BONDED WAREHOUSES.

SEC. 97. For the promotion of indirect transit trade and internal traffic there are provided public warehouses in the important commercial centers of the territory of the customs union, and at the main custom-houses on the frontier, where a necessity therefor exists, which are under official supervision, and in which goods can be stored free of duty until they are withdrawn or forwarded. The public warehouses are either general warehouses (packing courts, halls, storehouses, free ports, secs. 98 to 104), limited warehouses (sec. 105), or free warehouses (free stores, sec. 107).

In places where there are no buildings belonging to the Government which can be used as warehouses, or such buildings do not exist to the required extent, it rests with the merchants or the community desiring such warehouses or their enlargement to provide the requisite safe space for the use of the Government.

(1) ENERAL WAREHOUSES.

SEC. 98. Right of warehousing-Term of storage. As a rule the right of warehousing is granted only to goods which are still subject to duty and which are not excluded from storing by special warehouse regulations (sec. 106). The term of storing shall, as a rule, not exceed the period of five years.

SEC. 99. Storage charges.-Where storage charges are levied they are to be fixed for each warehouse according to the local need for covering expenses.

Where, however, the warehouses are managed for account of the Government, the following rates for storage per month shall not be exceeded: (a) For dry (solid) merchandise, 3 kreuzer (2 cents) per centner (110.23 pounds); (b) for liquid merchandise, 44 kreuzer (34 cents) per centner.

SEC. 100. Liability of stored goods.-Merchandise stored in bond is unconditionally liable for all duty charges on the same. When the delivery of goods from the warehouse is demanded by the party storing them, or by a third party, such delivery is to be granted only within the limitations prescribed by section 14 of this act. [Section 14 defines the conditions under which goods stored in bond may be attached for debt.]

SEC. 101. Permission to unpack.-The owners or parties having the right of disposal of merchandise stored in bond have the right, when suitable space is available, to unpack the goods in the bonded warehouse under supervision of the officials for the purposes of division, assorting, cleaning, preservation, or for other purposes which do not contravene the motive for storing them. For the purposes of supplementing, fitting up, etc., of the bonded merchandise, other goods not under customs restrictions may be brought into the warehouse. By such act the goods so introduced acquire the character of foreign merchandise on which no duty has yet been paid.

SEC. 102. Duties of the administration of the warehouse in regard to the merchandise stored therein.-The administration of the bonded warehouse shall provide for the proper maintenance and management of the walls and roofs of buildings, for the secure locking of the same, for the maintenance of quiet and order among the employees, for the prevention of danger from fire in the warehouse and the adjoining inclosed space belonging thereto, and is liable for damages caused to stored merchandise through omission or neglect of such precautions and care. Such liability does not begin until the goods have been accepted in the warehouse and an official certificate to that effect issued. For other damage to the stored merchandise and for accidents which may happen to the same the warehouse administration is not liable.

SEC. 103. Notice of removal of merchandise from the warehouse.-Duty on goods declared for removal from bond is paid according to the quantities and qualicies which were confirmed when the merchandise was received in bond. When the weight of goods has become diminished during storage in bond through repacking (sec. 101), or through accidental causes, or if it can be assumed that a deficiency in weight on withdrawal from bond is due solely to evaporation, dust, or ordinary leakage, the weight at the time of removal shall be the basis for assessment of the duty, unless the party withdrawing the merchandise shall demand the weight on entry as the basis of dutiable quantity. If there is cause to suspect that part of the merchandise has been secretely removed, then the weight on entry shall be the basis of assessment for duty. Duty shall be paid separately on samples taken and withdrawn from merchandise stored in bond.

No duty shall be levied on merchandise which has become entirely spoiled while stored in bond and which shall be subsequently destroyed under official supervision.

SEC. 104. Mode of procedure with goods (a) of unknown owners or (b) not taken out of bond in five years.--(a) If goods of which the owners or parties with a right of disposal of same are unknown have been in the warehouse for one year this is to be publicly advertised in the public press on two different occasions at an interval of at least four weeks, giving the exact designations of such goods, and if no one applies for same within six months after the last publication the warehouse administration is entitled to sell the goods at public auction. The net proceeds of such sale (after deducting the costs of publication and sale, the duty, any costs which may have been incurred for preserving the goods, and the warehouse charges thereon) are kept for six months, and if after the expiration of the same no claim is made they revert to the Govern ment exchequer. If such goods are likely to spoil quickly, an earlier sale may take place with permission of the chief custom-house officers, when date of sale shall be publicly advertised locally on two different occasions within eight days. (b) If goods, the owners of which or the party who has a right of disposal of the same are known, have been in bond longer than five years, the respective parties are to be requested (unless a longer storage has been applied for and specially granted) to take the goods out of bond within four weeks. If the parties do not comply with this request, steps for a public sale are to be taken, and the proceeds, after deducting costs and duties, are remitted to the owner or party who has the right of disposal.