No goods to be landed or shipped but at the wharf, under the penalty of confiscation, without licence in writing from the Custom Master. No goods which are liable to a duty, to be put on shore, or taken from the ship, without a special warrant from the Custom Master. No ballast to be thrown overboard, but deposited in a place pointed out by the Master-Attendant. The Master-Attendant's servants are restricted from receiving fee or gratuity, on pain of dismissal, fine, imprisonment, and whipping. Pilots, however, are allowed, in addition to their pay, half the specified rate of pilotage for each ship they pilot into the roads or harbour. Rates of Port Charges for Vessels arriving at, and sailing from, the Port of Columbo. For Pilotage of all square rigged vessels, sloops, and schooners Rds. Fs. P. For a leager of water, filled from outside the fort, and carried alongside 3 For a ditto when filled and carried alongside, by the boats and crews of 100 the vessels, with permission of the Master Attendant For a leager of arrack, conveyed from the wharf alongside a vessel, or per country boat. 5 0 0 ......... 0 1 Ο For a boat employed in shipping or landing rice, wheat, gram, sugar, For a small country boat, of about 50 bags of rice burthen, employed 18 0 10 0 0 260 For a battel, or large country boat, ordered but not employed, half hire, or 5 0 0 Donies landing or carrying off their cargoes in their own boats, are to pay, per garce...................... Cingalese donies without riggers (called collah donies) are exempted. When a country boat is permitted to land grain at the Bankshall, an additional charge of one rix-dollar per 100 complete bags, is to be paid to the boat-owners..... For the use of an anchor, per day For ditto of a grapnel, ditto Rds. Fs. P. Charges of Cooley Hire, for landing or shipping of Goods, For unloading a laberlot with iron, and carrying the same to the Custom For unloading a laberlot of sundries ditto, ditto For unloading a battel, or country boat of 150 bags of rice burthen or upwards, with iron, ditto, ditto ......... 11 0 0 For unloading a battel, or country boat, and carrying the same to the For unloading rice, wheat, or grain, and weighing the same on the beach, per 100 bags........ 500 For taking up from the scales and lodging in carts, rice, wheat, or For unloading or loading a chest of claret, or box of that size ..... For ditto ditto a pipe of Madeira, Port, or other wine................ 030 4 0 For shipping off a coir cable, from the Custom House, or Master 1 For ditto an anchor ditto, ditto........... 1 A carpenter working on board ship, from sunrise to sunset............... 1 6 0 ..... 1 Fees on Port Clearances throughout the Island, 1821. Manar and Jaffna donies, when passing from Port to Port, within those ............................................................ 0 3 0 All boats and vessels duly certified to belong to the Port of Batticaloe, are exempted, at all Ports of the Island, from the common fees on Portclearances, on payment of the rates following, viz. N. B. Batticaloe boats or cutters are also allowed the same privileges as the Cingalese Collah donies; namely, that of being exempted from paying boat hire to the Master-Attendants of Trincomalee, Galle, or Columbo; unless when the boats of the Master-Attendant's Department are actually employed, at the desire of the parties concerned, in embarking or landing their cargoes. COINS.-Accounts are kept in rix dollars, or Elephant rupees, thus The rix dollar is worth 1s. 9d. sterling, and was fixed at that rate for the pay of the public officers in 1812; thus The star pagoda varies from 59 to 61 fanams in bills of exchange drawn on Madras. The Sicca rupee passes for 18 fanams, either in specie or bills. The Bombay rupee passes current for 17 fanams in exchange for bills, and for 18 in the bazar. The Spanish dollar varies from 37 to 39 fanams, according to the demand. 353 Arcot rupees are equivalent to 400 Ceylon rupees or rix dollars, or 100 star pagodas. WEIGHTS.-In receiving and delivering foreign goods, English weights are commonly used. The candy or bahar equals 500 lbs. avoirdupois. The garce is 82 Cwt. 2 qrs. 16 lbs. MEASURES. For the produce of the Island, the following dry measure is used: 4 Cut Chundoos are equal to 1 Cut Measure or Seer. The parah measures 16.7 English inches square, and 5.6 deep: it consequently contains 62 English wine gallons. It is generally estimated by weight, which varies according to the articles. Thus the parah of salt weighs 55 lbs.; of coffee, pepper, and chunam, 30 lbs.; of rice 44 lbs. The parah of paddy cleared from the husk, gives half a parah of rice. The amonam contains 16 parahs to the northward, among the Malabars; but to the southward, among the Hindoos, 8 parahs make one Arrack is bought at 80, and sold at 75 welts to the leager. PROVISIONS AND REFRESHMENTS.-Bullocks, 30 rix dollars each; Patna rice, 10 rupees per bag; Mooghy ditto, 7 to 8 ditto; Bengal wheat, 7 to 8 ditte; Surat ditto, 9 to 10 ditto; Bengal horse gram, 44 to 7 ditto; Surat ditto, 10 to 12 ditto; Coast ditto, 4 to 6 ditto; loose coir, 20 ditto per candy. Salt is very good. The retail price varies from 12 fanams per parah; but if purchased in quantities, Government would sell it for what it stands them in. The water within the fort at Columbo is brackish, consequently bad for drinking. Good water must be brought from the distance of 11⁄2 mile: it is conveyed in skins or leathern sacks. Regulation respecting Export of Cinnamon, 1822.-The general export of cinnamon in any vessel, and to any place whatsoever, is allowed, provided the same be purchased at the Government stores, where public sales are held. The cinnamon is assorted into 1st, 2d, and 3d sorts, and packed in bales of 100 lbs., each lot consisting of 5 bales. The article to be paid for in ready money, the currency of the island, or specie, received at the current price of the day, at Columbo. The purchaser of each lot will be provided with a licence, transferrable, in duplicate, entitling the holder to export the spice, free of duty, from Columbo, the only port whence the shipment is allowed. Unlicensed cinnamon attempted to be exported, to be confiscated, and the offender to pay a fine of 300 rix dollars for each pound. POINT DE GALLE.-This fort and town are built upon a low rocky promontory, in latitude 6° 1′ N., and longitude 80° 20′ E.: the harbour is formed between the point, and a piece of sloping land to the E. The entrance of the bay is about a mile wide; but having many scattered rocks about it, a pilot is necessary to carry a ship to the anchorage, which is abreast the town in five fathoms. The fort is about a mile and a quarter in circumference. Some of the bastions command the bay; the works are substantial and extensive. The houses in the fort are large and commodious. That of the Commandant is a building of extensive dimensions. Almost all the European inhabitants live within the fort; only a few large houses are built without it, extending along the shore to the S. Cottages and hamlets, the abodes of the native Cingalese, are scattered about in all directions. Point de Galle ranks next to Columbo in point of trade. It was here that the Dutch used to ship the cinnamon and other produce of the island for Europe. REGULATIONS. In addition to those mentioned at Columbo, all vessels lying outside the harbour, are to come to anchor within 16 fathoms water, flag-staff N. N. W. to N. N. E.; beyond that depth, they will be charged double boat-hire. PORT CHARGES, viz. Pilotage and Anchorage For vessels of 600 tons and upwards 80 rix dollars. |