godowns may ultimately be requisite, the construction and location must be governed by the conditions then and there prevailing.

It is only the purpose of the present to refer briefly to the subject of instruments and inspection.

Confirming the statements and suggestions of my former letter, I fully recognize the fact that any man of ordinary intelligence may become a competent petroleum inspector, but even a man of extraordinary intelligence cannot become such without careful investigation and considerable practice. Inasmuch as the question is a comparatively new one in China, and considering the time necessarily consumed in the interchange of ideas between the Orient and the Occident, especially when mechanical and scientific questions are involved, I would respectfully urge a notice of at least eighteen months instead of the one year now contemplated.

I notice that the commissioner of customs at Shanghai and his associates, having primarily recommended the Sayboldt instrument, subsequently advised in lieu thereof an instrument referred to as the "Wisconsin State Tester," and for the reason as set forth that Mr. A. H. Elliott connected with the school of mines of a prominent New York educational institution had expressed a preference for that instrument after some experiments made by him under the auspices of the board of health, &c.

Aside from the fact that Mr. Elliott had not heretofore been prominently identified with petroleum questions, and aside from any merits which the instrument he advocates may or may not possess, I unhesitatingly affirm that the adoption of any instrument with which the commerce and inspectors of the world are unfamiliar is unnecessary, certainly premature, and calculated to throw the entire business into confusion.

The vast machinery employed in petroleum refining could not possibly be adjusted to meet the technical requirements of a large number of instruments, or the varying freaks of a great number of laboratories, and reasonable legislation seeks not to exact it. Aside from the foregoing I have no motive in assailing any instrument, nor do I claim perfection for either the "Sayboldt" or the "Abel" instruments, and if improvements are feasible no one would have so great an interest in according them prompt and hearty recognition as the industry which I represent; but the fact remains that out of the many instruments presented for examination during the past fifteen years, the "Sayboldt" and the "Abel" have emerged as the best calculated to meet commercial requirements and scientific exaction, and my very latest home advices fail to indicate a single transaction for its basis other than the two instruments aforesaid.

I was so fully impressed during the interviews you were kind enough to accord me in Peking that the purpose of the Chinese Government was to regulate, but not to embarrass or obstruct petroleum importation, that I venture to trust the following suggestions may be in accord with your own views and also the views of the commissioner at Shanghai and his associates, viz:

(1.) That at least eighteen months' notice be given as to when the new regulations are to go into effect.

(2.) That 1150 burning test by the "Sayboldt" instrument be then accepted, subject to a notice of at least one year should the substitution of any other instrument be determined upon.

The foregoing can certainly inflict no injury upon the Chinese Govern

ment or its people, and appears to the writer a reasonable plea in behalf of the convenience and the rights of commerce.

Under separate cover, but probably not by the present mail, I shall transmit a few "mems" as incidental to the present communication and the subject generally.

SHANGHAI, November 13, 1884.

WILLIAM H. LIBBY.

PETROLEUM REGULATIONS FOR CHINA.

[MEMO.-Incidental to the proposed petroleum regulations of China and in continuation of the letters of William H. Libby to the inspector-general.]

A. China is the third or fourth country of consuming importance to demand a higher standard than 1100 burning point. Whether Japan will demand 115° burning point is still undecided, the Government having some months since withdrawn its notification to that effect. The writer confirms, without repeating his arguments in support thereof, that the retention of 110° burning point both in China and Japan would be in the interest of economy and not opposed to the dictates of prudence.

B. The New York Produce Exchange have not merely adhered to the Sayboldt instrument, but during the period covered by the experiments and reports of Mr. Elliott made not even a reference to the instrument he commends, and neither has the said instrument appealed favorably to European scientists.

C. The board of health has been inimical to the petroleum refining interests, and for causes extraneous to any question of burning standard, and I regret to say that rumors are not infrequent that the intermeddling on the part of New York political bodies with this and other industries is traceable to motives scarcely so elevated as the mere solici tude for the public welfare.

D. No definite response can be forthcoming to the proposed query to the New York Produce Exchange as to the scale of cost for each added 5° of burning or flashing test, even if based on the Sayboldt or Abel instruments instead of the Wisconsin State tester, as named in the suggested inquiry. What might be termed the wholesale transactions are confined to 110° and 1150 burning point Sayboldt, or the nearly corresponding tests of 70° and 73° flash point Abel.

The difference of cost just at present as between these standards is not excessive, but many circumstances might transpire to further widen it. There is no intermediary product worth a mention between these standards and 150°, but an ascending standard not merely results in a rapidly increasing cost but in such a diminution of product as would seriously curtail its consumption among the masses of the people the world over.

The 150° test referred to by the Shanghai commissioner is a "fancy product," a very small percentage of the aggregate yield, and inadequate both as regards cost and quantity to respond to anything beyond a special and limited demand. It would only be a government desiring to forbid or prevent its poorer subjects from using this cheap illuminant that would seek to exact the higher standard. No government has yet done so.

E. There is no obstacle, legal or otherwise, to the warehousing and insuring of petroleum in America.

The principal stocks, however, for purposes of economy and convenience, are stored until time of sale in immense reservoirs at the various refineries.

Upwards of 200,000,000 gallons were consumed in the United States alone during 1882, or at the rate of about 1 gallon to each 4 of population, which serves to indicate its safety and popularity.

Some localities limit the stocks to be carried in retail hands and others do not.

Regulations for warehousing petroleum in London, when very large stocks are of necessity carried, came before Parliament the past season, and consideration is deferred till the coming year. Stocks in Great Britain and Europe are carried in barrels, which are cheaper but not so reliable for the Oriential countries as tins and boxes now employed. F. The inspection of petroleum is going on every day while the vessels are being loaded.

The inspector sometimes, and quite at his option, takes samples for testing from the reservoirs from which the cases for export are being filled, or from the filled cases at random, or in any other way, or in as many ways as he thinks proper.

Inspection is a thoroughly organized feature of the petroleum business, and the reliability of the inspector's certificate has rarely been challenged in any of the import markets of the world; and in any country declining to accept their finality they should certainly be received as strong presumptive evidence that the cargoes they cover are what the purchaser has stipulated to receive and what the refiner has guaranteed to deliver.

"Muster" packages are scarcely possible under existing inspection and storage regulations, even if the disposition or any incentive existed in this direction.

G. Neither the letters of the writer to the inspector-general nor the foregoing memorandums are conceived in any spirit of criticism to the suggestions of the Shanghai commissioner and his associates, the general spirit of fairness and intelligence which permeates them being fully recognized, but he, the writer, nevertheless believes that they should not press the recommendation that the Chinese Government exact 100° test by the "Wisconsin State Tester." There is no scale of equivalents as between this and the generally accepted instruments, and the writer's conversancy with the general question of machinery and inspection leave no doubt in his mind that should the Chinese Government adopt the said instrument and test, or any comparatively unknown and unrecognized standard, it would needlessly obstruct and complicate the commerce of petroleum.

Certainly the scientific advisers of the Chinese Government should recommend the adoption of the recognized instruments and methods until they have the opportunity of making experimental comparisons for themselves.

I believe as yet there are no instruments in China.
Respectfully submitted to the inspector general.

AMERICAN AND RUSSIAN PETROLEUM.

REPORT BY CONSUL-GENERAL HEAP, OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

The inclosed table No. 1 shows the exportations of Russian petroleum from Batoum in 1883.

There have been some exportations from Poti and Novorossisk, Caucasian ports, during the same period of which I have not been able to ascertain the amount, but it was insignificant, and it is probable that hereafter little or no petroleum will be exported from these places, as Batoum is absorbing all the traffic.

Table No. 2 exhibits the quantity and value of petroleum imported into Constantinople from the United States in 1883. A portion of it has been transhipped to Black Sea and Danubian ports, viz, Trebizonde, Sinope, Samsoon, Galatz, Widdin, &c., but I cannot give the exact quantities, as the custom-house and the importers are either unwilling or unable to furnish the information.

There is, however, sufficient evidence to show that American petroleum has not yet lost its foothold in Asia Minor or in Roumania and still less here, notwithstanding the formidable competition of its Rus. sian rival.

The vexatious measures of the Turkish Government in support of an oppressive private monopoly of the storage of petroleum has had an unfavorable influence on importations, and to this must be added the uncertainty as regards the duty to be imposed on this article by the new tariff.

The Turkish Government proposes to tax it at the onerous rate of 20 per cent. ad valorem, which is the highest in the tariff.

UNITED STATES CONSULATE GENERAL,

Constantinople, April 28, 1884.

G. H. HEAP,
Consul-General.

1. Export of petroleum from Batoum, Russia, in the year 1883.

2. Import of petroleum from the United States at Constantinople during the year 1883.

Number of cases, 10 gallons each (equivalent to 2,019,840 gallons)......
Value of the same

201, 984

$256, 761 90

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF LIVE STOCK INTO AND FROM DENMARK.

REPORT BY CONSUL RYDER, OF COPENHAGEN, ON THE LAWS AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE EXPORTS AND IMPORTS OF LIVE STOCK FROM AND INTO DENMARK.

EXPORTS OF LIVE STOCK TO ENGLAND.

I have herewith the honor to report that a circular has in these days been issued from the ministry of the home department to the authorities of all the districts in the kingdom containing further regulations to be put in force in the shipment of all descriptions of live stock from this country to ports in Great Britain, these being supplementary to the stringent regulations already in existence.

The great importance of this trade, together with the deep anxiety felt by the agricultural classes in Denmark, has doubtless influenced the Government to enforce without delay these additional measures of safety, in face of the great pressure which is being brought to bear on the English Government for greater restrictions on the importation of live stock, tending toward the prohibition of entry of all animals from countries declared as infected by contagious cattle diseases.

It is here feared that the concession now forced from the British Government is but the introduction of the thin end of the wedge, and that the English landed interests will not rest satisfied before they have obtained the entire prohibition of all live stock.

It cannot be denied that British agriculturists during the later years have been subjected to heavy losses, arising partly from a succession of bad harvests, combined with very low prices of cereals, consequent upon the heavy free importations from foreign countries; and that with an annual falling off in acreage of arable land brought under the plow, their attention has now to be turned to an increased raising of live stock; and whilst they now come forward under the plausible pretext of seeking protection from the losses they sustain in their herds through the introduction of disease from abroad, it might perhaps have been more honestly asked for as a protection to this branch against a similar foreign competition as that which to their cost they have had to encounter in the branch of cereals. Foreign countries engaged in this trade will, under these circumstances and for the protection of their own interests, act prudently in taking all possible precautionary measures to prevent the shipment of any cattle whenever even the slightest symptom of disease may present itself.

The circular from the home department, under date of the 31st of last month, is of the following tenor:

(1.) The veterinary inspection of all animals exported shall at all times take place during daylight.

(2.) In all cases where stall accommodation is insufficient at the port of shipment strict care shall be taken that the animals, more especially during the cold seasons, are shipped immediately after inspection.

(3.) Whenever animals after inspection are allowed to remain more than twentyfour hours before shipment a fresh inspection shall be made before shipment is allowed.

For such new inspection, when the delay is not occasioned by any act of the shipper, no extra fee will, however, be charged.

(4.) The amount of animal fodder to be carried by the export ships shall be calculated at 16 pounds of hay at the least for each full-grown animal for every full day of an ordinary length of voyage, as also of 16 pounds of straw for the entire passage.