(3377.) Sleeve-buttons and Inkstands-Duty on. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, September 21, 1877. SIR: The Department is in receipt of your letter of the 15th instant, submitting the appeal (5712e) of Messrs. Strasburger, Pfeiffer & Co. from your assessment of duty at the rate of 35 per cent. ad valorem on certain shell sleeve-buttons, and 40 per cent. ad valorem on certain inkstands, imported by them, per "Rhein," June 25, 1877. The sleeve-buttons, it appears, were classified as "manufactures of shells,” under the Department's decision of March 27, 1877, (Synopsis 3169,) and your assessment of duty thereon is hereby affirmed. The appraiser reports that the inkstands were classified as "manufactures of brass, leather, and glass," subject to duty at the rate of 40 per cent. ad valorem, but states that in view of the Department's decision of September 13, 1876, (Synopsis 2967,) he is now of opinion that they were entitled to entry at the rate of 35 per cent. ad valorem. In this opinion the Department does not concur, inasmuch as the cups containing the ink, and constituting the principal feature of utility, are of glass, and, though not of great value, appear to be of sufficient importance to require notice in the classification of the inkstands, under the specific provision of law imposing duty on all manufactures not otherwise provided for, "of which glass shall be a component material." Barytes Earth or Ore-Duty on. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, September 22, 1877. SIR: The Department duly received your letter of the 13th instant, in which you transmitted a report of the appraiser, with evidence taken by him, as to the proper classification for duty of imported barytes earth, or ore, so called, imported by Mr. D. C. Hood into your port. The Department has carefully considered the evidence presented, and is of opinion that, under the acts of Congress now in force, barytes, whether sulphate or carbonate, in the condition in which it is taken out of the earth, irrespective of its degree of purity, is entitled to entry at the rate of 20 per cent. ad valorem, as a mineral substance in a crude state, not otherwise provided for, under Schedule M of the Revised Statutes. The duty of one-half cent per pound imposed on barytes and sulphate of barytes, in Schedule M, will be considered as applicable only to the manufactured article. In the decision of the Department of April 5, 1877, a clerical error occurred by substituting the word "carbonate" for the word "sulphate," the article then under consideration being the native sulphate of barytes. Very respectfully, H. F. FRENCH, Assistant Secretary. COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, New York. (3379.) Repairs on American Vessel in England not Dutiable. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, September 22, 1877. SIR: The Department is in receipt of your letter of the 5th instant, transmitting the appeal (5614e) of Captain E. F. Cameron from your decision assessing duty on the cost of certain repairs made at Grimsby, England, on the American schooner "Columbian," while on a voyage from your port to Grimsby and return. It appears that you assessed such duty under section 3114 of the Revised Statutes, which is not treated by the Department as embracing a case like the present, in which necessary repairs in a foreign country, not contiguous to the United States, were put upon a registered vessel engaged bona fide in commerce, by sea, between Detroit and such foreign country. You are therefore instructed to take the necessary measures for refunding the duties erroneously collected. Very respectfully, COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, Detroit, Mich. H. F. FRENCH, Assistant Secretary. (3380.) Countable Cottons-Duty on. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, September 27, 1877. SIR: The first paragraph of Schedule A, Title XXXIII, of the Revised Statutes, imposes on certain descriptions of manufactures of cotton which do not exceed one hundred threads to the square inch, counting the warp and filling, and which exceed in weight five ounces to the square yard, a duty of 5 cents per square yard; if bleached, 5 cents per square yard; if colored, stained, painted, or printed, 51⁄2 cents per square yard; and, in addition thereto, 10 per cent. ad valorem. The next paragraph imposes on finer and lighter goods of like description, not exceeding two hundred threads to the square inch, counting the warp and filling, if colored, stained, painted, or printed, a duty of 5 cents per square yard, and 20 per cent. ad valorem; if unbleached, or bleached, the same rates of duty respectively that are imposed on the coarser kinds of unbleached and bleached goods under the preceding paragraph. Decision 1919 of August 29, 1874, held that cotton goods (woven fabrics) must in all cases be classified under some one of the countable clauses in Schedule A of the Revised Statutes, unless it is manifest that they have no reasonably close assimilation to the description of goods therein specified, as, for instance, nettings, open linings, &c., which were held subject to duty at the rate of 35 per cent. ad valorem, as manufactures of cotton not otherwise provided for. Under this decision, goods, with the exceptions noted therein which were finer and not lighter, or lighter and not finer, than those named in the first paragraph, were charged by virtue of the assimilation clause, contained in section 2499 of the Revised Statutes, with the rate of duty imposed by some one of the countable clauses, the goods so classified by assimilation, corresponding in all respects with those in terms covered by such clause, except as to count and weight. The doctrine laid down in decision 1919 has, however, been departed from in very many decisions since made by the Department, and the exceptions noted in that decision have been gradually enlarged, and the rule therein made has been correspondingly restricted in its application, until, at the present time, it appears to be the general practice to classify all goods which do not in terms meet the requirement of the provisions of law cited, or some of the other specific provisions of said schedule, as manufactures of cotton not otherwise provided for, duti able at 35 per cent. ad valorem. In Department's instructions, dated January 25, 1876, to the collector of customs at New York, in relation to the classification of certain cotton grenadines, imported by H. A. Fanshaw, it was stated that the goods consisted of colored cottons not exceeding one hundred threads to the square inch, weighing less than five ounces, and costing less than twenty-five cents per square yard; and that, consequently, not being provided for under the countable clauses of Schedule A, they were dutiable at the rate of 35 per cent. ad valorem, as manufactures of cotton not otherwise provided for. In order to make the duties at the various ports uniform upon this class of goods, I have to state that the rule prescribed in the decision of January 25, 1876, (followed in No. 2659 of the published decisions,) is recognized as the prevailing construction given to the law by this Department; and that, in cases where cotton goods of the character referred to are not, in terms, embraced in any of the other provisions of Schedule A, they should be classified under the provision for “manufactures of cotton not otherwise provided for," contained in the last paragraph of said schedule. Very respectfully, JOHN SHERMAN, Secretary. COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, Boston, Mass. TO COLLECTORS OF CUSTOMS TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., November 2, 1877. The following Decisions of the Department for the month of October, 1877, upon the construction to be given to Acts of Congress, relating to the Tariff, Navigation, and other subjects, are published herewith for the information and guidance of Officers of the Customs. JOHN SHERMAN, Secretary. (3381.) Examinations of Officers in the Revenue-Marine Service. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, October 1, 1877. The following, relative to the examination of candidates for promotion in the Revenue-Marine Service, is hereby published for the information of the officers of the service: An examination of officers of the Revenue-Marine for promotion in the several grades will soon be ordered, with the view of filling existing vacancies and obtaining an eligible list from which to make promotions to vacancies that may arise before the convening of another board of examination. The success which is attending the efforts of the Department to secure higher qualifications for admission of officers into the service, makes it necessary to raise the standard of examination for promotion to the higher grades, and officers are notified that the scope of examination for promotion to the grades of Captain and First and Second Lieutenant will hereafter be as detailed below: EXAMINATION OF CANDIDATES FOR PROMOTION TO THE GRADE OF SECOND LIEUTENANT. Navigation. Day's work; course and distance by Mercator's sailing. |