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in order that the parties interested, shippers as well as shipowners, may adopt such measures for their protection as they may deem expedient :

SUMMARY OF CASE SUBMITTED BY ORDER OF THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AT LIVERPOOL, TO JUSTICE JAMES WILDE, Q. C., AS TO THE RIGHT OF SHIPOWNERS TO CHARGE WAREHOUSING AND STORAGE EXPENSES, INSURANCE AND COMMISSION, ON GOODS NOT CLAIMED IN DUE COURSE.

On the arrival at Liverpool of a ship with a general cargo, it sometimes happens that some of the goods are not claimed, and the shipowner is obliged to warehouse them. To protect his claim for freight, he insures them against fire. As goods are frequently insured aboard by the shipper for some period, say a month after arrival, it may thus happen that the goods are doubly insured. When eventually, the holder of the bill of lading claims delivery, questions arise as to the shipowner's right to be repaid the charges, warehouse rent, and insurance, and to receive a commission for the extra trouble thus incurred.

The holder of the bill of lading denies the shipowner's right on the following grounds :

1st. That under the bill of lading, which is the only contract, the shipowner is bound to deliver on being paid freight.

2d. That the shipowner has no authority to warehouse the goods.

3d. If under the circumstances the shipowner has authority to warehouse, he has no authority to insure.

4th. That the shipowner cannot claim commission for doing what he was not employed to do.

On the other hand the shipowner contends

1st. That his contract is only to carry and deliver the goods in due course; and there is an implied obligation on the part of the shipper or consignee to take delivery in due course, and if through his default it becomes necessary for the shipowner to warehouse the goods, he should not only pay the charges but compensate the shipowner for the trouble forced upon him for the benefit of the owner of the goods.

2d. That, though not necessary, it is a proper precaution for the shipowner to insure against fire, as he cannot know whether the goods are already insured. Further, that it is unreasonable that by the default in not taking delivery the shipowner's lien should be jeoparded by the risk of fire.

QUERIES.

1st. Has the shipowner or his consignee a right, under the circumstances stated, to land and store goods not claimed, and to charge the shipper or his consignee, who may afterwards claim them, with the charges of storing and warehouse rent? Can he also effect fire insurance, and charge the premium; and is he entitled also to charge commission?

2d. Has he, or the warehouse keeper employed by him, a lien on the goods, and can he retain them for payment not only of the freight, but also of the charges above mentioned, or any, and which of them?

OPINION.

1. I am of opinion that the shipowner is justified, both by law and usage, in protecting the goods by landing and storing them, under the circumstances suggested; and that the holder of the bill of lading, or the shipper, would be bound to pay the charges so incurred; but as to fire insurance or commission, I think neither of them are chargeable. Any insurance made by the shipowner is, in truth, made to protect the subject of his own lien, and for his own benefit. It has been quite lately held in the Queen's Bench, that a man could not charge rent for keeping the subject of his lien, and insurance would be going a step farther; so as to commission, there is no contract for it, and the storing and keeping of the goods is, in truth, done as a collateral duty arising out of the contract of carriage, and remunerated by the freight.

2. I am of opinion that the warehouse keeper has a lien upon the goods for the warehouse rent, but not the other charges.

LIVERPOOL, Summer Assizes, 1859.

JAMES WILDE.

POSTAL DEPARTMENT.

DEAD-LETTER OFFICE.

The Washington Constitution makes the following remarks upon the singular contents of the Dead-letter Office :

We examined yesterday the catalogue of articles which have accumulated in the above named office since 1848. The department has used every effort to restore them to their proper owners, and, being unable to deliver them, they are now to be sold for the postage; the proceeds, if any, after paying charges, to be deposited in the United States Treasury, subject to order should the proper owners hereafter be found.

The catalogue embraces coats, hats, socks, drawers, gloves, scarfs, suspenders, patent inhaling tube, gold pens, pencils, and all kinds of small jewelry imaginable, undersleeves, fans, handkerchiefs, box of dissecting instruments, pocket bibles. children's dresses, lace collars, books, buttons, cloth. purses, slippers, chemises, bed-quilts, boots, shirts. gaffs for game fowls, corn-field hoe, black silk basque, hoods, shawls, gaiters, cigar case, snuff box, spectacles, false teeth, night-caps, brogans, aprons, pantalettes, ear-trumpet, shoulder-braces, silk flag, razors, 100 catechisms, watch chrystals, nipple-glasses, demi-veils, edging, and a thousand other things too numerous to mention. No pawnbroker's shop ever excelled,

in variety, the collection of the Dead-letter Office.

POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. WASHINGTON, November 3, 1859.

The Postmaster-General has concluded an arrangement with the Canadian Post-office Department by which the mails are to be transported for the sea postage, weekly, between Detroit and Liverpool, via Portland, in winter, and the River St. Lawrence in summer.

The service is to commence by the trip of the first steamer outward from Portland on the 26th inst. It is intended to have the mails, or such as may be thereby expected, for and from the Western, Northwestern, and probably some of the Southwestern States, sent in closed bags between Chicago and Detroit on the one side, and Liverpool and London on the other; and for this purpose, the British Post-office Department has been requested to constitute Chicago and Detroit exchange offices for the United States and British mails.

On the one side of Britain, Cork may also be constituted an exchange office. By the schedule, the time between Portland and Chicago is to be forty-eight hours, and when the service commences there will be an unbroken line of railroad the whole way. This will be a very direct line between the Far West and Europe.

HAVANA POST-OFFICE.

The Consul-General HEIM, says the New York Journal of Commerce of a late date, has presented to the attention of General CONCHA the subject of a postal arrangement between the United States and Cuba, in which he has been met with equal intelligence and frank affirmation of his views-the details of which are not yet determined for official report and publication; but it is settled that all mails for the United States shall be made up in the consulate of the United States, under the charge of the Consul-General, aud be dispatched by him on board of the steamers of the United States or other vessels, from and after the first of November.

RATES OF POSTAGE BY FRENCH MAIL.

We are requested to state, says the Washington Constitution, that letters addressed to Corsica, Japan, Java, Jerusalem, Majorca, Minorca, the Venitian States, and Victoria, may be forwarded from the United States to destination in the French mail; the rates of postage per quarter ounce being as follows, viz. :

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The postage on a letter over one-quarter but not exceeding half an ounce is double the above rates in each case; and so on, an additional rate being charged for each additional quarter ounce or under.

COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS.

COTTON AT NEW ORLEANS.

At the meeting of cotton buyers and cotton brokers held on the 29th October last, and convened for the purpose of devising means to redress certain abuses and grievances existing in connection with the cotton trade of New Orleans, the following resolutions were adopted :—

1st. That the practice followed hitherto by factors of offering for sale dusty and sandy parcels of cotton along with other parcels free from such defects, be discountenanced by buyers; and in order to do this the more effectually, dusty and sandy cotton are hereby declared unmerchantable, and factors are recommended to sell them separately on their own merits.

2d. That sellers of cotton shall be held responsible for any just reclamations for false packed cotton, the following clause to that effect being inserted in the broker's sale note and also on every invoice rendered to the buyer, “subject to clains for false packed cotton."

3d. That the practice of the presses of replacing lost bales of cotton without the consent of the owner be tantamount to a fraudulent substitution; that it shall be treated as such and the fact reported to the committee to be hereby appointed for that and other purposes for such action, as the gravity of the case may require, and buyers and shippers of cotton engage themselves to uphold the action of the committee, even if it carry with it the necessity to discontinue receiving cotton at such delinquent press, or so long as it remain under the open or covered control of the offending party.

4th That the charge of five cents per bale made by the presses on cotton not ordered for shipment the day it is received be no longer paid, provided the shipper gives the compressing order on the day the cotton is received and name the vessel the day following.

5th. That buyers agree not to pay the charge of fifteen cents per bale which the cotton presses attempt to exact from those buyers who wish to remove their cotton uncompressed on the day it is delivered.

6th. That factors shall replace iron hoops with ropes unless a special contract is made to the contrary.

7th. That a standing committee, comprising fifteen cotton brokers, be appointed to take action on any violation of rules adopted at this meeting, and also

to adopt such other rules amongst themselves to secure a more uniform and satisfactory method of receiving cotton.

A resolution reformatory of the method of weighing cotton now in practice was also introduced, but having been carried by a small majority only, it is here omitted, leaving the question open for further action to be taken as soon as practicable.

The rate of drayages charged by the presses has not been touched upon, as by the established city ordinance every buyer has the remedy in his own hands. The standing committee of fifteen brokers to be appointed in pursuance of the above resolution has been named and will shortly organize.

A document embracing the above resolutions is deposited for signature at the parlor of the Crescent City Bank, and will be left there until Saturday the 19th instant, it being understood that the proposed arrangement shall be binding only if a sufficient number of signatures be obtained. A list of those who will have signed up to the 19th instant will then be made public, and the present arrangement be declared final or left open for further action as the case may be.

AUGUST BOHN, of J. Lecesne & Co.

G. HUBBARD, of Greenleaf & Hubbard.
ARMAND HEIN, of A. & M. Heine.
GABL. WM. COUVES, of Peter Maxwell & Co.
J. KRUTTSCHNITT, of Richardson & Co.

Committee.

NEW ORLEANS, November 4th, 1859.

CLOSING OF THE PORT OF CARTHAGENA, NEW GRANADA.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, November 12, 1859.

The following translation of a resolution closing the port of Carthagena, New Granada, received from the United States Consul at that place, is published for the information of those whom it may concern. The consul states that the port of Savanilla has also been closed, though the fact has not been officially communicated to him :—

GRANADIAN CONFEDERATION.-COMMISSION OF TREASURY.

In view of the resolution of the executive power of the confederation of the 12th of September last, by which the ports of this city and Savanilla are ordered to be closed on the 20th of October, in case neither of the two conditions of paragraph second should have taken place; and considering—

1st. That constitutional order has not been re-established in this city.

2d. That the arms and other property of the confederation which were seized by the insurgents of the 15th of August have not been given up, they having been taken from officers of the customs guard and abstracted from the National Arsenal, and the insurgents not having submitted themselves for trial, it is resolved

Only article. The port of Carthagena is from this date closed to importation and exportation; consequently the officers of the Custon-house and of the customs guard will have to comply with this order in the terms in which it has been notified to them.

Let it be printed, communicated, published, and reported to the Intendant. MANUEL DEL RIO,

CARTHAGENA, October 20th, 1859.

FELIPE DE PENARREDONDA, Auditino Clerk.

PASSPORTS TO PRUSSIA AND GERMANY.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, November 10, 1859. Information has been received at this Department, from an official source, that "certificates from notaries in the United States, issued to naturalized or unnaturalized inhabitants, do not confer the right of entrance into Prussia, nor through Prussia into Germany, nor, even with the visa of ministers or consuls, would they have any validity as passports. Furthermore, the only passports in the United States which are of any validity are those issued by the General Government at Washingtou."

PORT REGULATIONS OF HAVANA.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, November 9, 1859.

Information has been received at this department from THOMAS SAVAge, Esq., the United States Vice-Consul-General at Havana, of the publication on the 26th ultimo of a decree, of which the following is a translation:

In compliance with the fifty-first article of the Custom-house regulations, the commercial community are advised for their information and government, that in future, and from and after the 1st day of November, proximo, the clearance register will not be issued to any vessel until the captain or his consignee shall have paid not only the register dues, but also those upon the tonnage. The mail steamers only are excepted, because the rapidity with which they enter and leave allows not time enough for that purpose; but with the necessary condition that the consignees must settle those liquidations during the days intervening until the return of the steamer, the officers dispatching such registers, as well as the agents of the captains, being held strictly responsible for the exact fulfillment of this regulation.

TOBACCO AND CORN AT CANARY ISLANDS.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, November 15, 1859. Information has been received at this Department from BERNARD FORSTALL, Esq., the United States Vice-Consul at Teneriffe, Canary Islands, that," although the ports in the Canary Islands have been declared free since the year 1851 by the Spanish Government, for all sorts of merchandise imported from foreign countries, yet there are two articles which have been, and still are, subject to a heavy duty-namely, tobacco and corn; the former paying a fixed duty of five Spanish dollars per one hundred pounds weight from foreign nations; the latter being regulated by a sliding scale, according to prices in the market of these islands, and generally ranges from seventy-five to one hundred cents per fanega (Spanish measure) of eighty pounds weight of maize, and one hundred pounds (one Spanish quintal) in wheat; flour in the same proportion in foreign bottoms."

FREE IMPORTATION OF RYE INTO PORTUGAL.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, October 26, 1859. The following translation of a decree issued by the Portuguese government for the free importation of rye till the 15th of November next, has been received from the United States Consulate at Oporto, viz:—

GENERAL DIRECTION OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.

Considering the representations that have been addressed to me, and the information about the great scarcity and the high price of rye, which in some districts of the kingdom composes the habitual food of the laboring classes, I, therefore, making use of the authorization conceded to the government by the law of the 3d of June of this year, and having consulted the general council of commerce, agriculture, and manufactures, do decree the free admission of rye by all the ports and ways in the kingdom till the 15th November next.

The minister and secretary of the public works, commerce, and industry, will so understand and make it executed. Palace, 25th August, 1859.

THE KING.

ANTIDE SUPA PIMENTET.

CUBA TRADE.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, November 4. Information has been received at this department from THOMAS SAVAGE, ESQ., the United States Vice-Consul-General at Havana, of the publication on the 8th of October, of a decree of which the following is a translation :—

1st. The exemptions granted by decree of this government superintendency of the 7th April of the current year, and approved by Her Majesty in the royal or

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