Mr. Pitkin to Mr.
Blaine
.
Legation of
the United States,
Buenos
Ayres
,
July 7, 1891. (Received August
19.)
No. 141.]
Sir: Referring to dispatch No. 129, I have the
honor to transmit a translation of a communication from the foreign office,
embodying a note thereto from the ministry of the hacienda, in relation to
the question of port charges levied upon vessels entering this port in
distress, and to invite attention to a suggestion in said dispatch No. 129,
and renewed in said note, that specific cases of undue charges be exhibited
in order to assist the authorities here to the end of discovery and
redress.
I have to add that the Government has reconsidered the policy of issuing an
executive decree inhibiting such charges, but that personal interviews at
the hacienda department satisfy me of an earnest official purpose to forbid
further inequitable exactions in the case of distressed vessels.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure in No.
141—Translation.]
The minister of foreign
affairs to Mr. Pitkin
.
Argentine Republic,
Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.
The minister of foreign affairs has the honor of saluting Mr. R. G.
Pitkin, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United
States, and to transmit to him with reference to former communications
of his excellency the following documents which the minister of hacienda
has just sent to him. They say the following:
“Ministry of
Hacienda,
“Buenos Ayres, June 25,
1891.
“Mr. Minister: I have the honor to
address myself to you inclosing a copy of the information
furnished by the collector of customs of the capital concerning
the supposed imposition of taxes upon vessels of forced entry
which impels the request of the minister of the United States
communicated by your excellency to this ministry by note of the
4th of last May.
“The information of the management is conclusive in that no such
taxes have been imposed except in the case of ships loading or
unloading in the ordinary conditions. In addition to this, the
ordinances of the custom-house in force have foreseen the case
and prescribed especially that ships of forced entry should be
exempt from all port charges, except in case they discharge with
this market as their destination, in which case the special
nature of the situation ceases and they are left equipped for
ordinary navigation. Meanwhile, as the note of the minister of
the United States indicates [Page 13] that it has been alleged that port charges
have been imposed upon vessels of forced entry, and this
ministry is interested in ventilating every charge of an abuse,
I ask your excellency to indicate to the said minister that I
should be pleased to have him indicate the precise case or cases
in which such charges have been imposed and collected, in order
to institute a fit inquiry.
“I salute your excellency, etc.,
“Vicente F. Lopez.”
“Mr. Collector: Ships anchoring in the
roads can remain three days without being subject to any charge
(article 53) and are likewise exempt from the payment of port and
dock charges, according to article 4 of the same law, when they
enter the Riachuelo by reason of bad weather, and remain in the bay
during the course of the tempest. But if the minister did not refer
to any of these cases, as it is to be supposed, there is then a
decree of the 14th of October, 1890, by which it is established that
vessels entering merchandise through the custom-house of the
capital, whether they enter the docks, the Riachuelo, or drop anchor
because of the deep water in the outside anchorings of the river,
shall pay a daily tax of 2 cents in form prescribed by the decree of
the 24th of May of the current year. In addition to this
stipulation, the collector of customs, under whose control the
collection of these taxes is placed, has exacted the payment of the
said charge as well from ships that effect an entrance to discharge
on the docks as from those remaining outside and using lighters.
Upon these last, which are the fewest, because there can only be
counted among them those of heavy draft and those placed in
quarantine, there has not been imposed in the light of a port charge
a greater tax than the 2 cents stipulated in in that decree, and
only while in active operation; that is, that it shall not be
collected except for the days when the ship is discharging or
receiving a cargo. This is as much as I think should be explained in
this regard.
“June 17, 1891.
“R. Igarzabal.”
