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 80 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

der of the 4th of May following-to live cattle of all kinds, as well as to fowls and eggs, that may be imported into the island, are hereby continued for an indefinite time.

2d. The opening of the port of Batabano', resolved by decree of the 10th of said month of May, solely for the commerce in those articles, and likewise approved by royal order of the 7th July last, is continued in the same manner.

3d. The term of four months is designated as the minimum time for terminating the effects of the continuations granted in the foregoing orders, whenever by a change of circumstances, or other measures of a normal and stable character, it may be necessary to order their termination.

These measures will be reported to Her Majesty's government for the definitive resolution that the same may deem proper to adopt.

SPANISH TONNAGE DUTIES.

This Department has been officially advised by the Secretary of State, that by an order of the Spanish Government, vessels of the United States arriving in ports of Spain and adjacent islands, are placed on the footing of national vessels, as regards the duties of port and navigation. In consideration of this exemption, and to prevent any misapprehension with respect to the subject, Spanish vessels arriving in ports of the United States, from Spanish or other foreign ports, (those of Cuba and Porto Rico excepted,) will be permitted to enter on the same footing with vessels of the United States, as regards tonnage duties, light money, and all other dues to the United States, so far as respects the vessels. Spanish vessels arriving in ports of the United States from Cuba or Porto Rico, not being embraced in the foregoing regulation, are specially provided for by the acts of July 13, 1832, and June 30, 1834, and the instructions of the Department in pursuance thereof, which will continue to be enforced as hereto

fore.

FRENCH TARIFF.

One of the Havre journals calls attention to one of the many absurdities of the French tariff-that on indigo. The import duty on that article is not less than 60 francs the 100 kilogs. when brought in French ships direct from India or other countries in which it is produced, and 480 francs (!) when brought in foreign ships. Moreover, the duty on indigo brought from non-producing countriessay, for example, the United States, Holland, or England, is so exorbitant, that scarcely any importer ever thinks of purchasing it there, however cheap it may be obtained. What makes these excessive duties the more vexatious is, that in the benighted times of Louis XIV., when tariff questions were not at all understood, the great Minister COLBERT contented himself with imposing a duty, equal in present money and present measures, of only about 20 francs the 100 kilogs.

COTTON SEED.

The quantity and value of cotton seed when the oil has been expressed from it, has been computed as follows:-A crop of 3,000,000 bales of cotton as 500 pounds to the bale is 1,800,000,000 pounds of fiber, the cotton seed of which would be 3,960,000,000 pounds, or 1,980,000 tons; 3.960,000,000 pounds is equal to 1,980,000,000 pounds of kernel, which will give 87,120,000 gallons of oil, and 762,800 tons of oil cake. Value 87,120,000 gallons of oil at $1 per gallon, $87,120,000; 762,800 tons of oil cake at $25 per ton, $19,057,000. Total, $106,177,000.

NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE.

HARBOR ENCROACHMENTS.

A special meeting of the Chamber of Commerce was held in October, to take into consideration the subject of Harbor Deposits and Encroachments. PELATIAH PERIT, ESQ., President, presided. The president having called attention to the evil complained of, Mr. GEO. W. BLUNT, one of the Pilot Commissioners, rose and stated that the washing out of mud and rubbish had become more serious than the Harbor Commissioners had any idea of. The deposits had extended in some places nearly 200 feet. Southwest of the Battery a flat of over 200 yards was forming; another serious flat was forming north of Governor's Island, and the channel between the wharves and Governor's Island had narrowed several hundred feet. Much of this was attributed to the slow progress of the Battery enlargement. He presented the following paper on the subject, being the official report of Lieut -Com. CRAVEN, U. S. N., to whom had been confided, by Professor BACHE, of the coast survey, the preparation of a chart to illustrate the past and present condition of the harbor.

NEW YORK, September 20.

SIR-In compliance with your directions in July last, I made an examination of the shoal off the Battery, New York, for the purpose of ascertaining what changes had taken place in that locality, and I herewith submit to you a map of the survey, scale 1-5000, on which I have also had the soundings placed, from the surveys of 1855 and 1856, for comparison.

The soundings of 1855 and 1856 are in red figures, and the curves are also distinctly drawn.

In order to make this discussion as explicit as possible, I divide the shoal into sections, and call your attention to each portion separately; you will be much interested in observing the rapidity with which the shoal is accumulating, and with what regularity the deposits are being made.

SEC. 1. From Pier No. 1 North River to Castle Garden. In the angle formed by the line of the Battery and the pier, there has been a very rapid filling up; the three fathom curve has been pushed outward eighty yards beyond the line of 1856; the seventeen feet spot in the outer part of this section is extending towards pier No. 1, and there is an average decrease of THREE FEET in depth throughout this section.

SEC. 2. Extends to the three fathom curve of 1856. In this portion of the shoal the change has been not less considerable than in the angle of pier No. 1. The three fathom curve was, in 1856, about seventy-five yards south of the castle. It will be seen that it has extended towards the castle wharf, and embraces a considerable area, where formerly we had five fathoms. Outside of this curve we find in this section a general decrease of five feet in the depth.

SEC. 3. Embraces the general shoal to the southeastern portion of the curve of three fathoms. Excepting in the part already indicated, there has been no material change in the general contour of the shoal, but in following the curve to the southernmost point, it will be seen that it has extended about one hundred feet to the southward.

SEC. 4. Extends from last section to East River Piers. In calling your attention to this section, I will merely refer to the knoll lying about W. Š. W. from pier No. 1, East River. This knoll has eighteen feet water upon it, is very small, and has deep water outside, and close to it. There is no change in depth on the

knoll, but it is extending itself towards the north, and it will be seen that in that direction there is a decrease of two feet in the depth near the shoal.

East of the knoll there is no apparent change. Drawing a waved line from the last mentioned knoll to Castle Garden, you mark out the eddy waters of this part of the river; the current of the two rivers meeting here at ebb, and dividing at flood; this portion of the stream being too sluggish to carry off matters held in suspension, they are rapidly and constantly deposited.

Although from natural causes there must always have been a shoal off this point of the island, its accumulation has been evidently added, to a startling degree, by the extension of the Battery. The currents which formerly flowed between the Castle Garden and the shore, made the greater portion of their deposit so near the shores as to cause no great injury to the operations of commerce. and the process of deposit was so gradual that it would have required an interval of many years ere the shoal would have seriously encroached on the waters of the bay. But the Battery extension has already accomplished that which would have required a half century of the operations of nature, having pushed the shoal out as the shore line was changed.

In illustration of this assertion, we have but to look at the extraordinary heaping up of the earth in the angle formed by the Battery wall and pier No. 1-a heaping up made by the ebb current of the North River, which, as it comes around the pier is now turned back and forward into eddies by the Battery walls. This current formerly ran through the space now covered by the filling in, and poured the suspended matter into the East River, off Whitehall, from whence it was carried away and distributed in the deep waters of the bay. But now a large portion of the sediment brought down by the ebb is doubtless filling in the space here with great rapidity. Its effects are still more strongly visible in the section off the castle, where we see changes of SIX AND EIGHT FELT IN THE SPACE OF THREE YARDS. This is due to the united efforts of the ebbs from the two rivers, and the time cannot be far distant when, unless dredging is resorted to, the entire space from the castle to the head of pier No. 1 will be quite filled in.

In addition to the material damage done by thus forcing out into the stream a shoal which was heretofore of little consequence, it may safely be presumed that, in filling in for the Battery extension, very liberal supplies have been contributed to the shoals from the dirt carts, as without the security of a regular sea wall, immense quantities of the loose earth must, from time to time, be washed away and added to the shoal; and it is probable that when the slowly progressing enlargement is completed and the walls finished, the changes will be less rapid. The injury is now without other remedy than that of hastening to its completion a work which has proved so seriously disastrous to this already crowded part of the harbor. and, by legislation, preventing any extensions beyond the lines of the city as defined by the Harbor Commissioners.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

T. AUGS. CRAVEN, Lieut.-Commanding.

Prof. A. D. BACHE, Sup. United States Coast Survey. Letter from Professor BACHE to the President of the New York Chamber of Commerce.

LANE'S BROOK, Washington County, Maine, Sept. 27. DEAR SIR-The report that one or more vessels had struck upon the shoal off the Battery, where it was generally supposed there was deep water, induced one of the Pilot Commissioners, GEORGE W. BLUNT, ESQ., to call my attention to the desirableness of a re-survey of the shoal. It was assigned to Lieut.-Commanding T. A. CRAVEN, U. S. Ñ., the assistant in the coast survey, who, having been charged with the hydrography of the New York harbor for the commissioners on harbor encroachment, was familiar with every part of the shoal. His report, recently presented to me, gives in detail the changes which have occurred, and shows prospectively those which may be expected. It is important, and

I therefore beg leave, through you, to call the attention of the Chamber of Commerce to it. The filling between pier No. 1 and the castle may readily be amended by dredging, and no doubt the entire completion of the Battery work would retard the now rapid increase of the shoal. The shoal must, however, in a general way, be related to the present shore line, as the old was to the former shore; and thus the shoal, changed somewhat in form, must be pushed out to a distance not equal but corresponding to the addition of the shore line of the Battery.

Yours, respectfully,

A. D. BACHE, Supt. United States Coast Survey.

TO PELATIAH PERIT, ESQ., President Chamber of Commerce.

Some of the members thought many of the deposits were in consequence of washings from sewers and from dumping, as managed by the city corporation. Mr. BROWER thought seven-eighths of the deposits in slips were from the sewers. The Legislature had often been petitioned to remedy this difficulty. As for the flat making north of Governor's Island, there was no doubt but it was from the Battery extension materials.

The report and resolution were ordered referred to a special committee. Mr. PHELPS Suggested that the Pilot Commissioners would be the most proper committee to attend to the subject, as they knew all about it. Mr. BLUNT suggested that some of the ship owners be also put on that committee. Mr. MARSAALL moved that the committee consist of nine, which was carried. The committee is composed of the following gentlemen :—

GEORGE W. BLUNT,

CHARLES H. MARSHALL,

RUSSELL STURGIS,

THOMAS L. TAYLOR,

ROYAL PHELPS.

EDWIN E. MORGAN,

JOHN D. JONES,
GEORGE OPDYKE,
ROBERT B. MINTURN,

It is proposed to publish this map for distribution among the members. Mr. R. PHELPS moved that the report of Lieut. CRAVEN be entered on the minutes of this body, which was carried.

Mr. JOHN H. BROWER spoke of the possibility of the channel between the city and Governor's Island narrowing down to a mere creek if something was not done. He hoped this danger would be pointed out to the proper authorities.

Capt. C. H. MARSHALL stated that he had noticed where some of the sewers emptied, that the filling of slips were at the rate of twelve feet in six months. The attention of the city corporation to this evil was therefore highly necessary. After some other remarks on the subject, the chamber adjourned.

ENTRANCE TO BOSTON BAY,

The lighthouse on Little Brewster Island, at the entrance to Boston Harbor, has lately been repaired and refitted, and will be relighted at sunset on the night of the 20th December, 1859. The tower is white, and sixty-six feet in height. The focal plane is 100 feet above mean low water. The illuminating apparatus is catadioptric, of the second order, system of Fresnel, and will show a white flash every 30 seconds, which should be seen in ordinary weather a distance of 15 nautical miles. By order of the Lighthouse Board,

WASHINGTON, December 3, 1859.

W. F. SMITH, Secretary.