Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 5.djvu/602

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package or packages of goods, a deficiency of any article shall be found, on examination by the appraisers, the same shall be certified to the collector on the invoice, and an allowance for the same be made in estimating the duties.

Where there are no appraisers, appraisement to be made, by whom.Sec. 22. And be it further enacted, That where goods, wares, and merchandise shall be entered at ports where there are no appraisers, the mode hereinbefore prescribed of ascertaining the foreign value thereof, shall be carefully observed by the revenue officers to whom is committed the estimating and collection of duties.

Sec. Treas. to establish rules for the appraisal of goods.Sec. 23. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury from time to time to establish such rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the laws of the United States, to secure, a just, faithful, and impartial appraisal of all goods, wares, and merchandise, as aforesaid, imported into the United States, and just and proper entries of such actual market value or wholesale price thereof, and of the square yards, parcels, or other quantities, as the case may require, and of such actual market value or wholesale price of every of them.

Officers of the customs to execute instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury.Sec. 24. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all collectors and other officers of the customs to execute and carry into effect all instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury relative to the execution of the revenue laws; and in case any difficulty shall arise as to the true construction or meaning of any part of such revenue laws, the decision of the Secretary of the Treasury shall be conclusive and binding upon all such collectors and other officers of the customs.

Act not to apply to vessels having left their last port of lading, beyond the Cape of Good Hope, &c. before 1st Sept. 1842―laws applicable thereto.Sec. 25. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act contained shall apply to goods shipped in a vessel bound to any port of the United States, actually having left her port of lading eastward of the Cape of Good Hope or beyond Cape Horn prior to the first day of September, eighteen hundred and forty-two; and all legal provisions and regulations existing immediately before the thirtieth day of June, eighteen hundred and forty-two, shall be applied to importations which may be made in vessels which have left such last port of lading eastward of the Cape of Good Hope or beyond Cape Horn prior to said first day of September, eighteen hundred and forty-two.

Laws existing on 1st June 1842, in force for certain purposes.Sec. 26. And be it further enacted, That the laws existing on the first day of June, eighteen hundred and forty-two, shall extend to and be in force for the collection of the duties imposed by this act on goods, wares, and merchandise, imported into the United States, and for the recovery, collection, distribution and remission of all fines, penalties, and forfeitures, and for the allowance of the drawbacks by this act authorized, as fully and effectually as if every regulation, restriction, penalty, forfeiture, provision, clause, matter, and thing, in the said laws contained, had been inserted in and re-enacted by this act.Laws inconsistent herewith repealed. And that all provisions of any former law inconsistent with this act, shall be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

Sec. Treas. to ascertain whether the duty on any article has exceeded 35 per cent., and report to Congress.Sec. 27. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, annually, to ascertain whether, for the year ending on the thirtieth of June, next preceding, the duty on any articles has exceeded thirty-five per centum ad valorem on the average wholesale market value of such articles, in the several ports of the United States for the preceding year; and, if so, he shall report a tabular statement of such articles and excess of duty to Congress, at the commencement of the next annual session thereof, with such observations and recommendations as he may deem necessary for the improvement of the revenue.

Indecent prints and paintings prohibited.Sec. 28. And be it further enacted, That the importation of all indecent and obscene prints, paintings, lithographs, engravings, and transparencies is hereby prohibited; and no invoice or package whatever,