Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 20.djvu/196

FORTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. Sess. 11. Ch. 316, 317, 318,319. 1878. 171 Sno 7. This act shall take effect on and aiter the first day of July, Date of effect. anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-eight. Approved, June 19, 1878. CHAP. 317.-An act to protect public libraries in the District of Columbia, and for June 19, 1878. other purposes --————————— Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who shall steal, Public libraries, wronglull y deface, injure, mutilate, tear, or destroy any book, pamphlet, District of Columor manuscript, or any portion thereof, belonging to the Library of Con- b‘“· gress, or to any public library in the District of Columbia, whether the property of the United States or of any individual or corporation in said District, or who shall steal, wrongfully deface, injure, mutilate, tear, S the al ing, etc., or destroy any hook, pamphlet, document, manuscript., print, engraving, l><><>k¤ ofmedal, newspaper, or work of art, the property of the United States, shall be held guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall, when the offense is not otherwise punishable by some statute of the P n lt United States, be punished by a fine of not less than ten dollars nor ° ° y' more than one thousand dollars, and by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than twelve months, or both, for every such offense. Approved, June 19, 1878. CHAP. 318.-An act to amend section twenty-nine hundred and thirty-one of the June 19, 1878. Revised Statutes of the United States so as to allow repayment by the Secretary of ———— the Treasury of the tonnage-tax where it has been exacted in contravention of treaty provisions Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the provisions of section Refund of wutwenty-nine hundred and thirty-one, of chapter six, title thirty-four, of ““1l§°§l‘é*gg1 ,,,0 the Revised Statutes, shall not apply to cases of the payment of tonnage- 12:8:3012; EQ gg3Q tax on vessels where the Secretary of the Treasury and Attorney-Gem ' eral shall be satisfied that the exaction of such tax was in contravention of treaty provisions; and he may draw his warrant for the refund of the tax so illegally exacted, as is provided in section three thousand twelve and one half of said statutes: Provided, That this act shall. not PTM60- bc construed to authorize the refunding of any tonnage·duties whatever exacted prior to the tirst day of June eighteen hundred and sixty-two, nor shall it apply to cases of the payment of tonnage-tax heretofore made on vessels other than those of the Hanseatic Republics and Sweden and Norway. Approved, J UDB 19, 1878. CHAP. 319.-An act supplementary to the act entitled "An act to carry into effect J mw 19, 1878- tlic convention between the United States and China concluded on the eighth day ’_";”`°`“"' of November, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, at Shanghai", approved March third eighteen hundred and fifty-nine and to give the Court of Claims jurisdiction in cer- _ tain cases Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person or persons, or Bark “Caldera." body corporate holding and making any claim upon the balance of the Claim for l¤¤¤· fund usually designated and known as “the Chinese indemnity fund ", *° under the control of the Department of State of the United States and 18;,9,,,h_75, ` now unappropriated, for loss sustained by the plunder and destruction, 11 Stat., 408. in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-tour, of the bark Caldera, and property on board of said vessel, may, at any time within twelve months after the passage of this act commence proceedings in the United States Court of Claims against the United States, in the same manner as other suits are brought, pursuant to and in virtue of the statutes of the United