Directory_and_Chronicle_1879 — Page 784

REGULATIONS FOR FOREIGN TRADE IN SIAM.

His Royal Highness Prince Krom Hluang Wongsa-dirat-sanidt, Superintendent of Customs, begs to inform all who are interested in this document, that having consulted with all the Consuls in Siam about the Imports and Exports, he has agreed with them upon the following Regulations, which, from this date, are the law of the land :---

20th January, 1863.

I. Merchants or other persons importing merchandise for sale into Bangkok, shall pass sight entries at the Custom-house within twenty-four hours after the vessel shall have entered in the Consulate or Master-attendant's office, and upon such entries being made permission 8 all be granted to land the goods. But in order that the discharge of the importing vessel shall not be delayed, the Siamese Custom-house authorities are at liberty to land and store all goods for which permits have not been lodged with the Custom-house officer on board in time for good delivery, and all charges for so landing and storing shall be paid by the importers or consignees.

II. Forty-eight hours after the discharge of the gods shall be allowed the consignees for completing the entries.

III.-Munitions of war are prohibited from being sold by merchants or other persons without reporting to the authorities and obtaining permission to do so.

IV.-Mat bags, imported by merchants or other persons, shall pay a duty of three per cent. either in kind or money, but upon proof being given of their having been used by the importer for his own exportation, a drawback to the full extent of the duty on the bags so used shall be allowed by the former.

V.-Masters of vessels shall report to the inspector of customs any ship stores, provisions, or other merchandise they may have for sale, and obtain a permit to dis- charge the same previous to doing so.

VI.-Merchants or other persons having imported merchandise, and found it unsaleable, and desiring to re-export it, shall report the particulars to the inspector of customs, and receive drawback to the full amount of the duty paid by them on the said goods.

VII.-Masters of vessels, or supercargoes purchasing produce generally liable to export duty, to be consumed by the crews of vessels on a voyage, shall report to the inspector of customs the quantity purchased.

VIII-Merchants or other persons exporting produce either in foreign or native vessels, shall enter with the inspector of customs the quantity, description, and value of export previous to the vessel's obtaining port clearance.

IX. The inspector of customs shall have authority to search passengers' baggage when he deems it necessary, but it shall be passed within half-an-hour after the vessel's arrival in Bangkok. The cargo shall also be discharged under the inspection of a Custom-house officer according to the manifest furnished by the inspector of customs, in the absence of the Custom-house officer appointed to be on board during legal hours, the master shall nevertheless have liberty to deliver cargo.

X.-Should the inspector of imports and exports have reason to doubt the correct- ness of any entry, he may place under seal the goods so suspected, to be afterwards examined, but such examination shall not be delayed by the inspector or consignee beyond the period of three months, and the merchandise thus under seal shall not be transferred nor exported; if upon examination the goods are found to have been in- correctly entered, they shall be reclosed under the joint seals of the Inspector of Customs and the consignee or importer, and shall be at once removed to the Custom- house godowns pending adjudication by the Consul, to whose jurisdiction the case belongs, and the Superintendent of Customs jointly.