4. COAL PRODUCTION. [British Board of Trade return, 1898.] With regard to the production of coal in Europe, it will be observed that the country which has the largest production, after the United Kingdom, is Germany. The quantity produced, however, in the latter country does not amount to half of what is at present produced in the United Kingdom, the respective figures for 1896 being: The United Kingdom. 195,361,000, and the German Empire, 85,690,000 tons. Next in point of product on after Germany comes France, with 28,750,000 tons, or about a third of the production of Germany, while the production in Belgium is slightly below that of France, amounting in the year 1896 to 21,252,000 tons. In the years 1891 to 1894 the average value of the coal produced, taken as the pit's mouth-and it should be remarked that the average value at the pit t mouth has been taken in all cases where it is stated-compared very closely as regards the United Kingdom and Germany, but in 18 5 the average value in the United Kingdom was 6s. d. and in 1896 5s. 101d., while in Germany its value was 6s. 9 d. in 1895 and 6s. 11d. in 1896, or distinctly above the value of British coal. In France the average value at the pit's mouth was, in 1894, 9s. d.; in 1895, 8s. 10d., and in 1896, 8s. 84d., while in Belgium it was, in 1894, 7s. 54d., in 1895 7s. 6d., and in 1896, 7s. 74d.; but these figures relating to Belgium appear to be the value when on the truck for transportation rather than the value taken at the pit's mouth. It will be seen that the average value per ton, certainly in France, and to a lesser extent in Belgium also, is stated to be considerably higher than it is either in the United Kingdom or in Germany. It is of interest also to compare the output in European countries with one other country, viz, the United States. In the latter country the quantity of coal produced has in recent years very much increased, and indeed in the year 1893 it almost equaled the output or the United Kingdom, while in the years 1895 and 1896 it shows a still further increase, although the total output has not equaled that of the United Kingdom, which since 1893 has been very large. In the earlier years dealt with in the present tables, viz, 1883-1885, the average output of the United States was 103,000,000 tons; in the later years, 1894-1896, it averaged 165,000,000 tons. The average output of the United Kingdom during the latter period was 191,000,000 tons. During the same period the cost of production of coal in the United States decreased considerably, the value, which in 1883-1885 averaged 6s. 3d., having decreased in the years 1894-1896 to 4s. 104d., or lower than the value at the pit's mouth in either the United Kingdom or Germany. With regard to the production of coal in the British colonies and possessions, it will be seen that New South Wales is the largest producer, the output being nearly 4,000,000 tons. Canada, however, is not far behind, producing about 3,750,000 tons annually; but, although increasing, the amount is still insufficient for the requirements of the country, and considerable quantities, amounting to nearly half the total consumption, are imported annually from the United States. In Victoria, Queensland, and Tasmania the production of coal has increased, although the amount in each case remains small; but in New Zealand a considerable quantity, amounting to over three-quarters of a million of tons, is produced annually. Here, also, as in New South Wales, the production during the year 1896 shows a distinct increase. The Cape Colony also produces a small but increasing amount of coal, while in Natal the production, though as yet not large, shows considerable increase, having been 26,000 tons in 1889 and 216,000 tons in 1896. With regard to British India, the production of coal in 1896 amounted to 3,848,000 tons, showing a large increase in the output since the year 1883, when it was only 1,316,000 tons. The quantity of coal imported into India, it should be remarked, shows signs of decreasing, while the exports of that article from India are distinctly increasing. The average value at the pit's mouth of coal produced in the British colonies has been, speaking generally, far higher than in the mother country. Thus the average value of coal in New Zealand, in Victoria, and in Natal, viz, 10s. a ton, is of late years distinctly high, and the same remark applies to that produced in Canada, where the average value in 1896 was 8s. 9d. a ton. In New South Wales the average value per ton from 1883 to 1888 was over 9s., but in 1896 the average had fallen to 5s. 9d. per ton, or very much the same as in the United Kingdom. In British India the average value of the coal produced ranges low. In 1896 it amounted to 3 rupees, or 3s. 8d. per ton, when converted into sterling at the current rate of exchange of that year. The following table shows the quantity of coal produced in the principal countries of Europe and in Japan and the United States in each year from 1883 to 1896, inclusive: Your attention is invited to the following special and stamp taxes imposed on shipping interests by the act approved June 13, 1898, entitled "An act to provide ways and means to meet war expenditures, and for other purposes. You will please bring them to the notice of those concerned. The provisions following take effect from and after July 1, 1898, and for further information concerning them you may refer inquirers to the nearest collector of internal revenue, or, if necessary, to the Department. Beyond the taxes following, which relate specially to shipping interests, other taxes, such as stamp taxes on checks, etc., are imposed, which shipping men as well as others must pay. For information concerning these inquirers may be referred to the act itself, or to officers of the internal revenue, or, if necessary, to the Department. SPECIAL TAXES. SEC. 2. That from and after July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, special taxes shall be, and hereby are, imposed annually as follows, that is to say: Four. Commercial brokers shall pay twenty dollars. Every person, firm, or company whose business it is as a broker to negotiate sales or purchases of goods, wares, produce, or merchandise, or to negotiate freights and other business for the owners of vessels, or for the shippers or consignors or consignees of freight carried by vessels, shall be regarded as a commercial broker under this act. Five. Custom-house brokers shall pay ten dollars. Every person, firm, or company whose occupation it is, as the agent of others, to arrange entries and other custom-house papers, or transact business at any port of entry relating to the importation or exportation of goods, wares, or merchandise, shall be regarded as a custom-house broker. And every person who carries on any business or occupation for which special taxes are imposed by this act, without having paid the special tax herein provided, shall, besides being liable to the payment of such special tax, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall pay a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or be imprisoned not more than six months, or both, at the discretion of the court. ADHESIVE STAMPS. SEC. 6. That on and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, there shall be levied, collected, and paid, for and in respect of the several bonds, debentures, or certificates of stock and of indebtedness, and other documents, instruments, matters, and things mentioned and described in Schedule A of this act, or for or in respect of the vellum, parchment, or paper upon which such instruments, matters, or things, or any of them, shall be written or printed by any person or persons, or party who shall make, sign, or issue the same, or for whose use or benefit the same shall be made, signed, or issued, the several taxes or sums of money set down in figures against the same, respectively, or otherwise specified or set forth in the said schedule. SEC. 7. That if any person or persons shall make, sign, or issue, or cause to be made, signed, or issued, any instrument, document, or paper of any kind or description whatsoever, without the same being duly stamped for denoting the tax hereby imposed thereon, or without having thereupon an adhesive stamp to denote said tax, such person or persons shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall pay a fine of not more than one hundred dollars, at the discretion of the court, and such instrument, document, or paper, as aforesaid, shall not be competent evidence in any court. SEC. 9. That in any and all cases where an adhesive stamp shall be used for denoting any tax imposed by this act, except as hereinafter provided, the person using or affixing the same shall write or stamp thereupon the initials of his name and the date upon which the same shall be attached or used, so that the same may not again be used. And if any person shall fraudulently make use of an adhesive stamp to denote any tax imposed by this act without so effectually canceling and obliterating such stamp, except as before mentioned, he, she, or they shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall pay a fine of not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars or be imprisoned not more than six months, or both, at the discretion of the court. SEC. 14. That hereafter no instrument, paper, or document required by law to be stamped, which has been signed or issued without being duly stamped, or with a deficient stamp, nor any copy thereof, shall be recorded or admitted or used as evidence in any court until a legal stamp or stamps, denoting the amount of tax, shall have been affixed thereto, as prescribed by law: Provided, That any bond, debenture, certificate of stock, or certificate of indebtedness issued in any foreign country shall pay the same tax as is required by law on similar instruments when issued, sold, or transferred in the United States; and the party to whom the same is issued, or by whom it is sold or transferred, shall, before selling or transferring the same, affix thereon the stamp or stamps indicating the tax required. SEC. 15. That it shall not be lawful to record or register any instrument, paper, or document required by law to be stamped unless a stamp or stamps of the proper amount shall have been affixed and canceled in the manner prescribed by law; and the record, registry, or transfer of any such instruments upon which the proper stamp or stamps aforesaid shall not have been affixed and canceled as aforesaid shall not be used in evidence. SEC. 16. That no instrument, paper, or document required by law to be stamped shall be deemed or held invalid and of no effect for the want of a particular kind or description of stamp designated for and denoting the tax charged on any such instrument, paper, or document, provided a legal documentary stamp or stamps denoting a tax of equal amount shall have been duly affixed and used thereon. SCHEDULE A.-STAMP TAXES. Bills of lading or receipt (other than charter party) for any goods, merchandise, or effects, to be exported from a port or place in the United States to any foreign port or place, ten cents. Express and freight: It shall be the duty of every railroad or steamboat company, carrier, express company, or corporation or person whose occupation is to act as such, to issue to the shipper or consignor, or his agent, or person from whom any goods are accepted for transportation, a bill of lading, manifest, or other evidence of receipt and forwarding for each shipment received for carriage and transportation, whether in bulk or in boxes, bales, packages, bundles, or not so inclosed or included; and there shall be duly attached and canceled, as is in this act provided, to each of said bills of lading, manifests, or other memorandum, and to each duplicate thereof, a stamp of the value of one cent: Provided, That but one bill of lading shall be required on bundles or packages of newspapers when inclosed in one general bundle at the time of shipment. Any failure to issue such bill of lading, manifest, or other memorandum, as herein provided, shall subject such railroad or steamboat company, carrier, express company, or corporation or person to a penalty of fifty dollars for each offense, and no such bill of lading, manifest, or other memorandum shall be used in evidence unless it shall be duly stamped as aforesaid. Certificate: Any certificate of damage, or otherwise, and all other certificates or documents issued by any port warden, marine surveyor, or other person acting as such, twenty-five cents. Certificate of any description required by law not otherwise specified in this act, ten cents. Charter party: Contract or agreement for the charter of any ship, or vessel, or steamer, or any letter, memorandum, or other writing between the captain, master, or owner, or person acting as agent of any ship, or vessel, or steamer, and any other person or persons, for or relating to the charter of such ship, or vessel, or steamer, or any renewal or transfer thereof, if the registered tonnage of such ship, or vessel, or steamer does not exceed three hundred tons, three dollars. Exceeding three hundred tons and not exceeding six hundred tons, five dollars. Exceeding six hundred tons, ten dollars. Entry of any goods, wares, or merchandise at any custom-house, either for consumption or warehousing, not exceeding one hundred dollars in value, twenty-five cents. Exceeding one hundred dollars and not exceeding five hundred dollars in value, fifty cents. Exceeding five hundred dollars in value, one dollar. Entry for the withdrawal of any goods or merchandise from customs bonded warehouse, fifty cents. Insurance (marine, inland, fire): Each policy of insurance or other instrument, by whatever name the same shall be called, by which insurance shall be made or renewed upon property of any description (including rents or profits), whether against peril by sea or on inland waters, or by fire or lightning, or other peril, made by any person, association, or corporation, upon the amount of premium charged, one-half of one cent on each dollar or fractional part thereof: Provided, That purely cooperative or mutual fire-insurance companies carried on by the members thereof solely for the protection of their own property and not for profit shall be exempted from the tax herein provided. Manifest for custom-house entry or clearance of the cargo of any ship, vessel, or steamer for a foreign port If the registered tonnage of such ship, vessel, or steamer does not exceed three hundred tons, one dollar. Exceeding three hundred tons, and not exceeding six hundred tons, three dollars. Exceeding six hundred tons, five dollars. Passage ticket, by any vessel from a port in the United States to a foreign port, if costing not exceeding thirty dollars, one dollar; Costing more than thirty and not exceeding sixty dollars, three dollars; Protest: Upon the protest of every note, bill of exchange, acceptance, check or draft, or any marine protest, whether protested by a notary public or by any other officer who may be authorized by the law of any State or States to make such protest, twenty-five cents. Warehouse receipt for any goods, merchandise, or property of any kind held on storage in any public or private warehouse or yard, except receipts for agricultural products deposited by the actual grower thereof in the regular course of trade for sale, twenty-five cents: Provided, That the stamp duties imposed by the foregoing schedule on manifests, bills of lading, and passage tickets shall not apply to steamboats or other vessels plying between ports of the United States and ports in British North America. O. L. SPAULDING, Assistant Secretary. To Collectors of Customs and Others: Your attention is invited to the following supplement, concerning mortgages on shipping, to Department Circular 109, Bureau of Navigation, June 15, 1898: Mortgage or pledge of lands, estate, or property, real or personal, heritable, or movable, whatsoever, where the same shall be made as a security for the payment of any definite and certain sum of money, lent at the time or previously due and owing or forborne to be paid, being payable; also any conveyance of lands, estate, or property whatsoever, in trust to be sold or otherwise converted into money, which shall be intended only as security, either by express stipulation or otherwise; on any of the foregoing exceeding one thousand dollars and not exceeding one thousand five hundred dollars, twenty-five cents; and on each five hundred dollars or fractional part thereof in excess of fifteen hundred dollars, twenty-five cents: Provided, That upon each and every assignment or transfer of a mortgage, lease, or policy of insurance, or the renewal or continuance of any agreement, contract, or charter, by letter or otherwise, a stamp duty shall be required and paid at the same rate as that imposed on the original instrument. O. L. SPAULDING, Acting Secretary. CERTIFICATES NOT SPECIFIED IN THE ACT (10 CENTS). TAXABLE. EXEMPT. Certificate of registry. (Cat. 534.) Certificate of enrollment. (Cat. 5385384.) Certificate of record of American-built vessel owned by aliens. (Cat. 551.) Master carpenter's certificate. (Cat. 532.) Certificate of issue of temporary docu ment. (Cat. 527.) Certificate of ownership. (Cat. 526.) United States bill of hea'th. (Cat. 494.) by section 4512, Revised Statutes. Certificate as to wages and effects. Certificate of discharge. (1619.) Seamen's protection certificate. 507.) (Cat. Certificate of acknowledgment attached to bill of sale of vessel. Charter party of a registered vessel. Certificate of damage by port warden or marine surveyor requires 25-cent stamp on the original and no stamp on copies. Shipper's manifest (synopsis 19803): It is the duty of a common carrier to furnish a stamped bill of lading, receipt, or manifest to the shipper, which is subject to a 1-cent stamp tax. Permit to vessel to proceed to another district. (Cat. 504.) Permit to vessel to proceed coastwise. Coastwise permit to land cargo. (Cat. (Cat. 1605.) Oath of master applying for new documents. (Cat. 547.) Detailed report of official services. Receipt for crew list. (1609.) Supplementary crew list. (1610.) Agreement as to arbitration. (1617.) Seamen's allotment note to relative. Seamen's allotment note to creditor. (1622b.) Deserted seamen's account. (1624.) Account of deserted seamen's wages and effects. (1625.) Next of kin's claim. (1626.) |