place whence proceeding, the contents in quantities per dozen or gross, pair, yard, quintal, etc., the gross weight of every package, if of dif ferent weights, and the value. Should the manifests not comply with the above conditions, and should the prescriptions established in the Form No. 1 not be observed, the manifests shall be refused.

Under article 45 the manifests must state the withdrawal of the goods according as their clearance is requested; in filling up these documents the interested parties must leave a space of a few lines between one article and another or one category and another which they propose to clear, such space being deemed necessary to make entry of the clearance, unless they propose to request at one time the clearance of the whole category, in which case they need only leave a blank of one line.

The importer neglecting the formality prescribed by the first paragraph of this article shall, according to the importance of the manifest, be subject to a penalty of from $10 to $100, pronounced by the administrator.

The customs administrator must, however, grant an equitable delay, when the importer or consignee declares under oath that he has not received the consular invoice, or if this document has not reached the customs.

The importer can in all cases avoid the penalty by abandoning the goods within six days granted to him for production of the partial manifest.

The partial manifests must be accompanied by the bills of lading establishing the ownership of the cargo; or, in default of these docuuments, by the certificate of the consignee of the vessel.

ART. 93. The consular invoices addressed by consuls to the customs administrator at the port of destination must be the same as those annexed to the partial manifest. When, owing to any circumstance whatsoever, the consular invoices have not reached the customs the administrator shall exact from the importer the copy which he ought to have received and annex it to the register kept for this purpose, but he will, nevertheless, request from the consul the lost invoice or an attested copy thereof.

Should the invoice not have been received by the importer either, the administrator shall exact a bond in double the duties to guarantee the presentation of this document within ninety days, for vessels arriving from Europe or North America, and sixty days for those proceeding from South America. At the expiration of such periods the bonds shall be forfeited to the treasury. The same penalty will be incurred by an importer who failed to apply for an extension of the time allowed for production of the consular invoice and did not present same within the period determined by this article, to be reckoned

from the date of the ship's arrival; but if said document is produced before the expiration of such term, the fine incurred for failure to produce the manifest in due time will alone be applied.

Should the interested party desire to clear the goods in the meantime, he shall be authorized to do so, provided that the duties be paid and the above-mentioned bond given to guarantee the payment of double the duties. In case the invoice is not furnished in due time, the amount of the bond is forfeited to the treasury, as above prescribed. The lost invoice may also be replaced by a legalized copy furnished by the minister of finance.

Goods cleared without consular invoices must be verified by two examiners who shall sign the request.

ART. 94. One copy of the partial manifest shall be annexed to the register in which the general manifest is to be entered, another copy shall be remitted to the warehouse keeper and the third to the Controller.

ART. 95. The interested party can only demand the clearance or reshipment of all or part of the packages entered in the general manifest until after having presented a partial manifest for the same.

The contents of a package must be cleared at one time and never in fractions, and no portion of the cargo can be reshipped if the cleared portion is not found to agree with the application and partial manifest.

The requests must, to avoid being rejected, contain the same details as those exacted for partial manifests, and Form No. 3 must always be complied with.

No request shall be entertained for clearance of such a number of packages as would be difficult to set forth in the space left in the partial manifest.

ART. 96. The requests for clearance must be in quintuple copies. On the first copy the Administrator will give the order for clearance, the Examiner shall enter therein the nature and weight of the goods, including package, and the Controller shall enter the amount of duties, in such manner that this document shall serve as a voucher for the entry in the journal of Customs receipts.

Two of the five copies must be presented legalized, and one of these two shall be preserved in the archives.

ART. 97. On the second copy of the request the Examiner shall inscribe the nature of the goods, the weight of the packages, and file the same in the archives; on the third the Controller shall state the weight and nature of the goods and the amount of duties, and file the same in the archives; on the fourth, destined to the archives of the warehouse keeper, must be legibly and indelibly inscribed in the margin, the packages which the Examiner has received for inspection and weighing.

This copy the Examiner must sign and add the date of placing in

the custody of the warehouse keeper, and the interested party will affix thereon his receipt for the goods delivered to him by the warehouse keeper.

On the fifth copy the amount of duties shall be copied and delivered to the merchant for his examination and for payment of the duties within six days, conformably to paragraph 3 of article 39. The merchant should, after effecting payment, preserve this document as the Customs receipt is inscribed thereon.

Errors of figures resulting from weighing or calculation of duty must be corrected immediately. Should this not be done the amount of these errors may be claimed at any time with an annual interest of 9 per cent, either in favor or to the prejudice of the merchant.

The Controller shall collect the amount due to the Treasury as soon as the errors are detected, and the sums so taken shall be entered in the receipts.

ART. 98. Samples, small orders or commissions, new articles intended for personal use whoever be the owner or consignee, with the exception of foreign Diplomatic Agents, shall not be exempt from duty.

ART. 99. Sales effected on board vessels shall not exempt the goods from payment of duty nor from the clearance formalities.

Retail sales on board are prohibited under penalty of immediate confiscation.

ART. 100. For the transfer of goods or packages to order the purchaser or indorser shall be subject to the same obligations, time limits, and penalties as the principal importer.

Transfers of goods may be effected for the whole or part of a manifest.

It is not necessary in cases of transfers that the request be signed by the principal importer and the purchaser or indorser; the signature of the latter is sufficient.

These transfers can be effected even after the partial manifest has been presented.

Goods not imported to order can likewise be transferred, but in such case the request must be signed both by the vendor and purchaser or by the indorser and indorsee, and the second of them in either case will be subject to the same obligations, time limits, and penalties as the first.

Goods, partial manifest for which has already been deposited, can also be transferred at the customs and remain on deposit on transferee's account. For this purpose the consignee will make an application on Form 11, upon which the Administrator will order entry thereof in the respective register, unless there should exist legal reasons for disallowing the application, as, for instance, in the case of indebtedness to the Fiscal, etc., whereupon copy of the decision shall be handed to the applicant. The transferee will state in his application that he

accepts the transfer and agrees to be substituted in the claims and liabilities of transferrer.

ART. 101. When, at the moment of remitting the packages, it is ascertained that articles are missing or have been damaged, mention of this fact shall be made in the receipt and notice shall be given to the Administrator, the controller, and interested party to enable them to commence proceedings against transgressors; provided always that Treasury can not avoid responsibilities incurred through damage to or loss of the goods.

ART. 102. The sixth day after receiving the account of customs duty to be paid the merchant must remit the sum to the administrator or collector if he does not wish to be exposed to coercitive measures.

ART. 103. A guaranty can not be accepted from an agent for the responsibility of his principal, nor from a member on behalf of any firm or company in which he is interested, and, reciprocally, the bond of a company for one of its members.

ART. 104. Debtors in arrear in the payment of duties can make no further request for customs clearance nor proceed to reship or transfer any goods until they have paid their indebtedness, without prejudice to the interest of 12 per cent per annum up to the date of final payment.

ART. 105. After giving receipt for customs-cleared goods no claim for damaged or missing goods shall be admitted.

ART. 106. Complaints of merchants relating to the classification of goods under the tariff shall be determined by the customs administrator, verbally and summarily, after taking the opinion of the examiners and of the interested party, the latter always being entitled to have recourse to a customs jury should he be dissatisfied with the decision of the administrator.

ART. 107. The decisions which the customs administrator is competent to give may be amended or canceled by the customs jury when the fact seems indisputable and conforms to good faith.

ART. 108. The jury shall meet at least once every week.

The treasurer shall fix the days of meeting and convoke the other members.

ART. 109. The decisions of the customs administrators relative to administrative and nonpenal affairs can only be reversed by the Executive.

Export duties.

ART. 110. The export duties shall be in accordance with the following tariff:

The foregoing tariff includes all such charges as are levied on the goods therein enumerated, as provided in the customs law dated June 3, 1897.

All other national products and articles may be exported duty free, subject only to paying one-half centavo per kilogram in pursuance of article 115. This last-mentioned tax shall, however, not apply to corozo nuts, whole or split sugar cane (“cana rolliza y picada”), mangrove bark, hats, cotton, orchilla, sarsaparilla, and sole leather.

ART. 111. The exportation of straw known under the names of "toquilla" and "mocora" is prohibited.

ART. 112. Export duties shall be collected in all ports of the Republic. With regard to the tax of a half centavo referred to in article 115 the proceeds thereof shall be applied, viz, at Port Bolivar to railways works; at Manta and Bahia to a potable water supply: at Guayaquil to the municipality, who will deal with it after meeting the liabilities incumbent upon them under decrees dated November 7, 1896, and October 12, 1898; at Esmeraldas, Macará, and Tulcan to the respective municipalities of these places.

OTHER TAXES COLLECTED BY THE CUSTOMS.

ART. 113. Building wood, unwrought, of foreign origin, imported in pieces, beams, and planks, even planed and dovetailed, shall be liable to one-half centavo per kilogram for the benefit of "Vicente Rocafuerte" College.

ART. 114. On importation, 20 centavos per quintal shall be collected on sugar of foreign origin and 2 per cent on foreign liqueurs, with the exception of wines.

The proceeds of the above taxes shall, every fortnight, be paid direct by the Collector of Customs at Guayaquil to the Treasurer of the "Vicente Rocafuerte" College and to the Treasurer of the Charity Committee of that city, respectively.

ART. 115. In virtue of the Decrees laws of October 3, 1894, November 7, 1896, and October 12, 1898, the undermentioned taxes shall be collected for the building of railways and on behalf of the Municipal Funds inclusive of the expropriation expenses incumbent upon the Municipality of Guayaquil, viz:

For the payment of interest and redemption bonds of the Southern Railway, 20 centavos per 100 kilograms gross weight on the handling of packages and articles imported or exported, save on the exportation of the following articles: Corozo nuts, pitch, hides, whole or split sugar cane (“cañas picadas rollizas"), provisions, charcoal, cascarilla, fruits, wood of all kinds, plants, fibers for cordage making ("cabuyas"), and tamarinds.

For municipal funds there shall be collected one-half centavo per kilogram, which receipts are to go to Municipalities for the purpose