No. 402.
Mr. Evarts
to Mr. de Pestel.
Washington, March 28, 1878.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 27th ultimo, respecting the application of the Moorsom system of admeasurement of vessels in the Netherlands and the United States, with inclosures, and to observe in reply that the substance of the same having been communicated to the Secretary of the Treasury, that officer has addressed a letter to the Department, in which he states that, after mature consideration, “it does not appear that there is any difficulty in admeasuring vessels in the Netherlands under the Moorsom system.” Referring to a copy of one of the inclosures in your note, which accompanied the letter of this Department addressed to him, he adds:
In the inclosure entitled “Proposed arrangement between the Netherlands and the United States,” &c, it is correctly stated “that the method of making out the capacity of the different parts of the vessel is the same in both countries; with this difference, however, that in the United States a greater number of divisions of the length and breadth of a vessel is taken as the basis for the calculation of tonnage than is required by the Netherlands law. This difference,” it is said, “in the method of calculation, however, cannot give any important difference in the results.”
The questions presented by the Government of the Netherlands for the consideration [Page 707] of our government arise from the different manner of expressing the tonnage of a vessel.
By the law of the United States it is provided that “the register tonnage of a vessel shall be her entire internal cubical capacity in tons of one hundred cubic feet each.” In ascertaining the “entire internal cubical capacity,” separate measurements are made of the space under the “tonnage-deck,” of the space between the “tonnage-deck” and the “spar-deck” (if any), and of “the several permanent closed-in spaces on the upper deck, or on the spar-deck, available for cargo or stores, or for the berthing or accommodation of passengers or crew.”
The capacity of the water-closets and galleys (kitchens) is omitted from the measurement, and the register of the vessel, after stating what spaces are included, also states what are omitted from the tonnage.
The Netherlands law, it is understood, recognizes gross and net tonnage, the first being the aggregate of the capacities of all measurable spaces; the second the remainder after deducting from the gross tonnage the capacity of “the spaces used for the accommodation of the crew, and also the spaces taken in by the engine and coal-bunkers in steamships, without any difference whether these spaces are under or on the upper deck.”
The Netherlands law includes, in the gross tonnage, not only the closed-in spaces on the upper or spar-deck available “for cargo or stores, or for the berthing or accommodation of passengers,” but “all fixed, covered, and closed spaces, without any difference as to their destination “or use, while it is remarked “in the United States there is, properly speaking, no difference between net and gross capacity.”
These different methods of stating the tonnage of a vessel are claimed in the proposed arrangement to be detrimental to the Netherlands navigation; and the reasons are given and the remedy suggested.
This government has, in fact, anticipated the objections expressed and the remedy proposed, so far as those objections and the remedy relate to the taxable tonnage of Netherlands vessels arriving at the ports of the United States, by its circular instructions relative to ascertaining the tonnage of foreign vessels, dated November 27, 1876, a copy of which is inclosed herewith. By this document you will see that collectors of customs and others are directed that “whenever it is found that the registers or certificates of admeasurement of foreign vessels include spaces which are not subject to admeasurement under our laws, such spaces shall be deducted from the registered tonnage in computing the basis for assessment of tax. It is assumed in these instructions that the gross tonnage of the vessel is stated in the register. If not, a reference to the foreign certificate of admeasurement is directed.”
These instructions place vessels of the United States and vessels of the Netherlands upon the same footing, for the purposes of the exaction of tonnage-tax under United States law, and afford vessels of the Netherlands equal treatment with American vessels while within the jurisdiction of the United States.
As regards the proposed “Decree,” it seems to contemplate the estimate of the tonnage of American vessels arriving at ports in the Netherlands according to the method of stating the tonnage of vessels of that country. This method, as I have already stated, provides for both gross and net tonnage; the net tonnage being considered in the Netherlands as the taxable capacity of the vessel. This, however, cannot be reciprocated by this government, for the reason that the United States law does not authorize the deductions from the register tonnage of a vessel which are allowed by the Netherlands law, and does not recognize the distinction of gross and net tonnage; and, looking at all the circumstances of the case, I do not see any grounds for altering the instructions now in force.
I inclose a copy of the circular referred to.
Accept, &c.,