be deposited with the officer, previously to any document being The Tonnage issued or granted for unshipping any part of the cargo; and the Duties. duties are to be paid on every report inwards, and on every entry outwards of each vessel, for each voyage which the vessel shall report inwards or enter ouwards at any port in Great Britain. The tonnage of the vessel, when British-built or British-owned, is to be computed and taken according to the register, under the provisions of the registry act, 26 Geo. 3. c. 60; and the tonnage of any other vessel, when a doubt or dispute arises, is to be ascertained in Great Britain by admeasurement, in the mode prescribed by that act; but these provisions do not extend to. alter or repeal the regulations of the 56 Geo. 3. c. 9. which are still to be applied to the duties on such packets or passage vessels as are specified in the table annexed to the 59 Geo. 3. (1) No vessel, upon which the tonnage duty is payable, is permitted to be cleared inwards in any port of Great Britain, unless the tonnage duty has been duly paid to the proper officer of customs; and if the duty be not paid within thirty days from the report of a vessel arriving from foreign parts, the commissioners of customs are authorized, if they think fit, to cause the vessel and her tackle to be detained, and afterwards sold publicly to the best bidder, and the produce to be applied, first to the charges that may arise by such detention and sale, next to the tonnage duty, and the overplus to be paid to the proprietors of the vessel, or other person duly authorized by the proprietor to receive it, and the collector and other officers of the customs were forbidden, by the statute which contained this provision, to allow any vessel to be entered outwards for foreign parts, or any cocket or entry to pass for goods to be shipped on board any such vessel, unless the tonnage duty imposed on such vessel has been first duly paid (2). The tonnage duty, which was imposed by an old statute of William and Mary, having been made payable according to the dimensions of the vessel, as calculated from the midship, beam and from the deck, it was held, that no duty could be required in respect of a vessel which had no midship beam nor deck, but was made entirely open. For it was said, that no duty was created by the act but according to the measure; and therefore, as the ship could not be measured according to the statute, the duty could not be charged (3). The tonnage duty imposed by the late stat. 59 Geo. 3. does not extend to a vessel employed in the fisheries (1) 59 Geo.3. c. 52. s. 40. ; and see the duties on package vessels, (2) 42 Geo. 3. c. 43. s. 19& 20. The Tonnage Packets. on any part of the coast of Great Britain, and not entering outwards for foreign parts; nor to a vessel employed in bringing oysters from Jersey or Guernsey into a port in Great Britain; nor to British or Irish-built vessels owned by British subjects, and not required to be registered; nor to vessels which may enter outwards or inwards in ballast only (1). The only remaining provisions that are necessary to be noticed with respect to the tonnage duties, are those contained in the statute 56 Geo. 3. c. 9. with regard to foreign packets or passage vessels. This enactment made it lawful for the king, by his royal proclamation, to be issued by the advice of his privy council, or by his order in council to be published from time to time in the London Gazette, to direct such duty as shall be therein specified, to be paid in the ports of Great Britain on the entering or clearing out of the packets or passage vessels of such foreign countries (2) as shall be named in the proclamation or order in council isued or published as aforesaid, and to revoke, diminish, or increase such duties to the same amount as similar duties may be respectively revoked, diminished, or increased on British packets or passage vessels entering or clearing out from the ports or harbours of such foreign countries. This provision was made in consequence of British packets or passage vessels entering or clearing out from the ports or harbours of foreign countries, being subject to certain imposts in the nature of tonnage duties, port dues, harbour dues, or otherwise, which were continually varying in amount; and therefore it became expedient that the king should have a power of imposing corresponding duties on foreign vessels that might arrive in Great Britain. But the act does not extend to vessels used only for the purposes of pleasure, and which do not carry goods or passengers for hire and reward (3). A tonnage duty is charged on French vessels at the rate of 3 s. 6 d. for every ton burthen of every packet or passage vessel which shall lade or unlade goods, or take in or set on shore passengers, in any port, creek, harbour, or road of Great Britain; and the tonnage of the vessel, when a doubt or dispute may arise, is to be ascertained by the proper officer of the customs, by admeasurement in the manner directed by the registry act 26 Geo. 3. c. 60. The officers of the customs are empowered to detain a packet or passage vessel liable to the to a distinct tonnage duty of 3s. 6d. (1) 59 Geo. 3. c. 52. s. 41. (3) 56 Geo. 3. c. 9. s. S. Duties. payment of the duty, until the same is paid; if payment be not The Tonuage made for the space of thirty days after the arrival of such vessel at any such port, creek, harbour, or road in this kingdom, the commissioners of the customs are empowered to cause such packet or passage vessel, and her masts, apparel, and furniture, to be sold publicly to the best bidder, and the produce to be applied first to the charges that arise by such detention and sale, next to the payment of the tonnage duty, and the overplus to be paid to the proprietor of such packet or passage vessel, or other person duly authorized by the proprietor to receive the same (1). This tonnage duty is to be paid into the hands of the proper officers of the customs at the port or place where it shall become payable (2); and to the intent that the duty may be duly answered and paid, it is enacted that no officer of the customs at any port where the duty becomes payable shall take or receive any entry or report outwards for any such vessel liable to the duty, nor grant any cocquet for goods intended to be shipped on board such a vessel, nor is the vessel to be allowed to depart from such place, until the duty has been paid according to the directions of the act, to the collectors or other principal officers of the customs authorized to receive it, and the master has shewn the receipt to the officer (3). This statute, as before stated, does not extend to a vessel used only for the purposes of pleasure, and not employed in carrying goods or passengers for hire or reward. (4) The duties which are not affected by the consolidation act, and are consequently payable independently of those imposed by that statute, are the South Sea duties; 2. The quarantine duties; 3. The duties payable under the dock acts; and 4. The duties on merchandize employed in trade between Great Britain and Ireland. The duties on merchandize and ships engaged in trade within the limits of the late exclusive trade of the South Sea company, are under the management of the commissioners of customs, and are to be recovered as other custom duties of the same nature (6). All goods imported into the United Kingdom from any place within these limits (except blubber, train oil, head matter, or sthly. Of the South Sea Duties. (5) The South Sea 6thly, Of the Quarantine Duties. (3) 7thly, The Dock Dues. whale fins, sealskins, and other produce of fish or marine animals taken by the crews of British and Irish-built ships) are subject to a custom duty of £2 on every £100 value of the goods; and vessels entering outwards or inwards at any port in the United Kingdom to or from a place within the limits of the exclusive trade, are subject to a custom duty of 1s. 6d. upon every ton burthen (1). The South Sea duties will expire when the guarantee fund, as it is called, for securing to the company the price at which their exclusive trade was lately purchased by government, is completed. (2). Custom duties are also payable to his majesty on ships and their cargoes which have performed quarantine, as it is deemed reasonable that those who are obliged to perform quarantine should defray the charge to which that operation gives rise (4). The duties vary according to the place from which the ship has arrived, and are much lower when the importer is furnished with a clean bill of health than when she is unprovided with that document (5). The liability to perform quarantine, together with the mode in which it is enforced, will be the subject of future consideration. The tonnage duties payable to the crown under the provisions of the West India dock act, are expressly exempted from the operation of the 59 Geo. 3. c.52. These duties were payable to his Majesty in consideration of the benefit afforded to the trade to the port of London by the establishment of the docks, and were made to endure for the term of 14 years after the passing of the 39 Geo. 3. c. 69. (6) They were vested in the crown for the purposes of that act, and were to be paid at the time of the vessel's entering inwards or clearing outwards at the custom house in the port of London (7). Some exemptions were engrafted upon this general liability, but the duties themselves seem to be now expired, and therefore it is unnecessary to consider them any farther. Other rates were made payable to the city of London (8), and others to the West India dock company, for the accommodation afforded (9). The act contained the (1) 55 Geo. 3. c. 57. s. 5. (4) 45 Geo. 3. c. 10. (6) West India dock act, 39 Geo. 3. c. 69. s. 134. Loc. & Per. (7) 39 Geo. 3. c. 69. s. 134. (8) 39 Geo. 3. c. 69. s. 136. (9) 39 Geo. 3. c. 69. s. 137. Duties. following provision for securing the payment of the tonnage The Dock duties. No collector of customs inwards or coastwise in the port of London, could under this statute permit any vessel on which duties of tonnage were imposed by the act, to be entered inwards from foreign parts or coastwise, until the master had paid such duties, and had produced to the collector a certificate from the collector of the duties, certifying that such duties had been fully paid; nor could any collector of customs outwards or coastwise in the port of London permit a vessel on which ton-: nage duties were imposed by the act to be cleared outwards, until the master had paid to the collector the full duties, which payment might be made appear by the signature of the collector to the documents, which must necessarily be produced to him at the time of clearing the vessel either outwards to foreign parts or coastwise outwards, as the case might be, which certificates and signatures the collectors were required to sign and give, upon pain of forfeiture of £20 with costs of suit. (1) Ireland. The consolidation act also contains an exception of the counter- 8thly, Of the vailing duties charged in respect of goods employed in trade and other Duties Countervailing between Great Britain and Ireland. The sixth article of the between Great Britain and act of union was framed with a view to secure to each country a reciprocity of advantage in matters of trade; and the countervailing duties were imposed in furtherance of this object. This provision, by virtue of which these duties are charged, enacts that any articles, of the growth, produce, or manufacture of either country, which are subject to internal duty, or to duty on the materials of which they are composed, may be made subject, on being imported into either country from the other, to such countervailing duty as shall appear to be just and reasonable, in respect of such internal duty or duties on the materials; and that for those purposes the articles specified in the Schedule number one, A. and B. shall be subject to the duties set forth therein, which are liable to be taken off, diminished, or increased in the manner therein specified; and that upon the export of those articles from either country to the other respectively, a drawback shall be given equal in amount to the countervailing duty payable on such articles on the import thereof into the same country from the other; and that in like manner in future, it shall be (1) 39 Geo. 3. c. 69. s. 144. Pope, tit. 239. |