REGULATIONS FOR THE GUIDANCE OF OFFICERS CONCERNED IN THE COLLECTION OF DUTIES ON IMPORTS AND EXPORTS, TAXES, AND OTHER CHARGES AND EXACTIONS TO BE LEVIED AND COLLECTED AS A MILITARY CONTRIBUTION AT PORTS AND PLACES IN CUBA IN THE POSSESSION OF OR UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES.

CUSTOMS PORTS.

1. The port of Habana has been duly designated as the chief customs port of Cuba, and the following have been declared to be subports, viz: Matanzas, Cardenas, Cienfuegos, Sagua, Caibarien, Santiago, Manzanillo, Nuevitas, Guantanamo, Gibara, Baracoa, Trinidad, Santa Cruz, Zaza, and Batabano, in the island of Cuba, and the officer of the Army duly assigned to each of said ports as collector will have general jurisdiction of the collection of customs at such ports respectively. Every collector stationed at a subport will make weekly reports to the collector at Habana of all transactions at his subport, with copies of all entries of merchandise duly certified, and all moneys collected at subports must be deposited with the duly designated officer, whose receipt therefor must be taken in duplicate. Any questions arising at any subport will be referred to the collector at Habana for his decision, from which there shall be no appeal, except in such cases as he may refer for decision to the Secretary of War.

ENTRANCE AND CLEARANCE OF VESSELS.

2. Every vessel shall, on arrival, be placed under customs control until duly discharged. Passengers with no dutiable property in their possession may be permitted to land without detention.

If, upon the unlading of any cargo, there shall be found goods, wares, or merchandise not duly declared on the manifest, such articles in excess shall be required to pay additional duties of 25 per cent on the regular duties. Should any packages or articles named on the manifest be missing on the arrival of the vessel, the latter shall pay a penalty of $1 per ton measurement, unless such deficiency shall be satisfactorily explained or accounted for.

3. Within twenty-four hours after the arrival of any vessel the master must, under a penalty for failure of $1 per ton registry measurement, produce to the proper officer a manifest of her cargo, with the marks, numbers, and description of the packages and the names of the respective consignees, which manifests, if the vessel be from a port in the United States, shall be certified by the collector of the port of sailing. If the vessel be from any other than a United States port, her manifest must be certified by the United States consul or commercial agent at such port; if there be no United States consul or commercial agent at such port, then by the consul of any nation at peace with the United States; and the register of the vessel shall, upon her arrival in Cuba, be deposited with the consul of the nation to which she may belong, if any there be; otherwise with the collector of customs at the port, until the master shall have paid such tonnage taxes and other port charges as may be due under these regulations.

4. No vessel shall be allowed to clear for another port until all her cargo shall be landed or accounted for. All goods not duly entered for payment of duty within ten days after their arrival in port shall be landed and stored, the expense thereof to be charged against the goods. 5. Prior to the departure of any vessel from any of the ports herein designated, the master shall deposit with the proper officer a manifest of the outward cargo of such vessel, specifying the marks and numbers of packages, a description of their contents, with names of shippers and consignees, with a statement of the value of each separate lot; also names of passengers and their destination. A clearance will then be granted to the vessel. No prohibited or contraband goods shall be exported.

TONNAGE DUES.

6. At all ports or places in Cuba there shall be levied the following tonnage dues, until further orders:

(a) On entry of a vessel from a port or place not in Cuba
(b) On entry of a vessel from another port or place in Cuba, engaged at the
time of entry in the coasting trade of Cuba .............

(c) The rate of tonnage dues on a vessel which enters in ballast shall be one-
half of the rate imposed by subdivision (a) or (b), and one-half the tonnage
dues imposed on a vessel entering with cargo shall be refunded if the vessel
clears in ballast.

(d) A vessel which has paid the tonnage tax imposed on entry from a port or place not in Cuba shall not be liable to tonnage tax on entering another port or place in Cuba during the same voyage until such vessel again enters from a port or place not in Cuba.

(e) The tonnage tax on entries of a vessel from a port or place not in Cuba shall not exceed in the aggregate $2 per net ton in any one year, beginning from the date of the first payment.

The tonnage tax on entries of a vessel from other ports or places in Cuba, engaged at the time of entry exclusively in the coasting trade of Cuba, shall not exceed 40 cents per net ton in any one year, beginning from the date of the first payment.

Per net ton.

$0.20

.02

7. The following shall be exempt from tonnage dues:

A vessel belonging to or employed in the service of the Government of the United States; or a vessel of a neutral foreign government not engaged in trade; a vessel in distress; or a yacht belonging to an organized yacht club of the United States or of a neutral foreign nation. 8. The tonnage of a vessel shall be the net or register tonnage expressed in her national certificate of registry.

LANDING CHARGES.

The tax of $1 on each ton of merchandise imported or exported, hitherto imposed as a substitute for tonnage taxes, is abolished.

The present exemption of coal from this tax is continued.

The present export tax of 5 cents per gross ton on ore is abolished.

HARBOR IMPROVEMENT CHARGES.

The harbor improvement taxes at all ports of entry in Cuba will be levied as follows:

To facilitate the occupation and control of Cuba by the military forces of the United States and the restoration of order, the laws now in force restricting the coasting trade of the island to Spanish vessels are hereby modified as follows:

(a) Vessels of the United States may engage in the coasting trade of the island of Cuba.

(b) The officer of the Army of the United States in command at any port of Cuba in possession of the United States is empowered to issue a permit to a resident of Cuba who owns a vessel, which shall entitle such vessel to engage in the coasting trade of the island: Provided, That the owner and master of such vessel shall upon oath before such officer entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to the King of Spain or to any other foreign prince, state, or sovereignty whatever.

Such permits shall first be approved by the general in command of the forces of the United States in Cuba.

Vessels entitled under this paragraph to engage in the coasting trade of Cuba shall carry a distinctive signal, which shall be a blue flag and the union of the flag shall be a white field.

The form and manner of the issue of permits provided for in this paragraph shall be prescribed by the Secretary of War.

ENTRY OF MERCHANDISE.

9. All imported merchandise must be entered at the custom-house of the port of arrival, either for immediate consumption or in bond, by the person holding a bill of lading which names him as the consignee, or a bill of lading indorsed to his order by the consignee named therein. A banker holding a bill of lading as security for advances of money may transfer the same, by indorsement, to the actual importer. Underwriters will be recognized as consignees of merchandise abandoned to them and salvors as consignees of merchandise found by them derelict at sea.

A consignee holding a bill of lading drawn to his order, or assigns, may transfer the same to any person who can lawfully make the required declarations on entry, and the holder of a bill of lading drawn, in blank, "to order," and indorsed by the shipper or consignor, may make entry of the merchandise specified therein.

Whenever, from evidence furnished by the invoice or bill of lading, or, as in the case of custom-house brokers and forwarders, by the known business of the parties making entry, the collector has reason to believe that the consignees named in the bill of lading are, in fact, intermediary agents for the delivery of the merchandise to the ultimate consignees or real owners, there shall be required upon the entry a statement of the names of such ultimate consignees, and bonds must be taken for the production of the declaration of the owner or real importer. And collectors will, whenever they consider it expedient, require such ultimate consignees or owners to produce any invoices or bills of sale pertaining to the importation which they may have in their possession.

10. Merchandise of which entry is not perfected at the expiration of the period allowed by these regulations for the discharge of cargo of the importing vessel will be taken possession of by the collector as unclaimed and placed in store, to be disposed of as hereinafter provided.

Unless otherwise specially provided by regulation, duties accrue upon imported merchandise on arrival of the importing vessel within a customs port with intent to unlade.

11. Entries for bonding may be made either for placing the merchandise in warehouse or for its constructive warehousing and immediate transportation to other ports without appraisement; and merchandise in warehouse may be withdrawn either for consumption, for exportation, for transportation to another port, and rewarehousing. Two of these objects may in some cases be combined in one withdrawal. Whenever goods are so transported in bond without appraisement they must be consigned to the care of the collector or acting collector at the port of destination, who will allow entry to be made at his port by the actual consignee.

12. Entries shall be in duplicate in writing, according to prescribed form, and shall be signed by the importer or his duly authorized agent,

and shall declare the names of the importing vessel and her master, her port of departure and date of arrival, the number and marks of packages, or the quantity, if in bulk, and the nature of the merchandise contained therein; also the value thereof as set forth in an invoice to be presented with the entry, with all costs incident to placing the same, packed, ready for shipment to Cuba.

13. Every invoice must represent a distinct shipment to one consignee or firm of consignees by one vessel. If by reason of accident or short shipment a portion thereof should fail to arrive, an extract from the original invoice, certified by the collector, may be used for entering the remaining packages, but the consolidation of separate shipments on one invoice shall not be permitted. Invoices must be made out on firm and durable paper and legibly written in ink, and must contain the quantities of the merchandise in the weights and measures of the country of exportation. Press copies shall not be accepted for customs purposes.

14. The description on the entry of the merchandise shall be in terms of the tariff and in the currency of the invoice, and the values of the several classes of merchandise shall be separately placed under their respective rates of duty, as claimed by the importer, and the totals of each class duly shown. The rates of duty thus stated on the entry shall be advisory only, and shall not govern the collector's classification for the assessment of duty.

Numbers.

18-.

Packages and contents.
(For specifications see ac-
companying invoice.)

Quantity.

[Importer's signature.]

15. For the assessment of duty, the currency of the invoice must be reduced to the money of account of the United States upon the basis of the values of foreign coins, as proclaimed by the Secretary of the Treasury on the first days of January, April, July, and October of each