It is hoped that Her Britannic Majesty’s Government will see its way to
promptly equalize the charges on American vessels entering and clearing
from Canadian ports with the entrance and clearance fees imposed on
Canadian shipping in ports of the Dominion, to the end that the
President may not have to issue the proclamation which this
discrimination against United States shipping calls for.
[Inclosure in No. 151.]
Mr. Wike to Mr.
Olney.
Treasury Department,
Washington, July 8,
1895.
Sir: Referring to your letter of the 29th
ultimo, inclosing copy of a dispatch from the consul-general at
Ottawa, dated June 22, in regard to the charges imposed upon
American and foreign vessels entering
[Page 708]
and clearing at Canadian ports, I have the
honor to invite notice to the concluding statement in that dispatch:
It therefore appears that American vessels are required to
pay $1 for entering and clearing from a Canadian port, from
which British vessels and those of the countries mentioned
above are relieved.
Section 14 of the act approved June 26, 1884, as amended by section
11 of the act of June 10, 1886, reads:
That in lieu of the tax on tonnage of thirty cents per ton
per annum imposed prior to July first, eighteen hundred and
eighty-four, a duty of three cents per ton, not to exceed in
the aggregate fifteen cents per ton in any one year, is
hereby imposed at each entry on all vessels which shall be
entered in any port of the United States from any foreign
port or place in North America, Central America, the West
India Islands, the Bahama Islands, the Bermuda Islands, or
the Coast of South America bordering on the Caribbean Sea,
or the Sandwich Islands, or Newfoundland; and a duty of six
cents per ton, not to exceed thirty cents per ton per annum,
is hereby imposed at each entry upon all vessels which shall
be entered in the United States from any other foreign
ports, not, however, to include vessels in distress or not
engaged in trade: Provided, That the
President of the United States shall suspend the collection
of so much of the duty herein imposed on vessels entered
from any foreign port as may be in excess of the tonnage and
light-house dues, or other equivalent tax or taxes imposed
in said port on American vessels by the Government of the
foreign country in which such port is situated, and shall,
upon the passage of this act, and from time to time
thereafter, as often as it may become necessary by reason of
changes in the laws of the foreign countries above
mentioned, indicate by proclamation the ports to which such
suspension shall apply, and the rate or rates of tonnage
duty, if any, to be collected under such suspension: Provided further, That such
proclamation shall exclude from the benefits of the
suspension herein authorized the vessels of any foreign
country in whose ports the fees or dues of any kind or
nature imposed on vessels of the United States or the import
or export duties on their cargoes are in excess of the fees,
dues, or duties imposed on the vessels of the country in
which such port is situated, or on the cargoes of such
vessels; and sections forty-two hundred and twenty-three and
forty-two hundred and twenty-four and so much of section
forty-two hundred and nineteen of the Revised Statutes as
conflicts with this section are hereby
repealed.
Pursuant to this statute, the President, from time to time, has
issued proclamations exempting from tonnage taxes British vessels,
together with those of certain other nationalities, entering the
United States from Aspinwall and Panama, the Province of Ontario,
the islands of Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Tobago, Trinidad, and
Grenada, the ports of San Juan and Mayaguez in Puerto Rico,
Greytown, Bocas del Toro, all ports of the German Empire, all ports
in Europe of the Netherlands, and certain ports in the Dutch East
Indies.
The statute quoted provides that the Presidents proclamation shall,
exclude from the benefits of the suspension therein authorized “the
vessels of any foreign country in whose ports the fees or dues of
any kind or nature imposed on vessels of the United States are in
excess of the fees, dues, or duties imposed on the vessels of the
country in which such port is situated.”
The consul-general at Ottawa states that the fees or dues for entry
and clearance imposed on vessels of the United States in Canadian
ports are in excess of the fees or dues imposed on British vessels,
and it appears to this Department that until the Dominion Government
imposes no higher charges on American than on British vessels, the
vessels of Great Britain should be excluded from the benefits of the
suspension authorized by section 14 of the act approved June 26,
1884, as amended by section 11 of the act of June 19, 1886.
The Commissioner of Navigation states that this discrimination
against American vessels appears to have been in operation for some
years, to the considerable disadvantage of American vessels on the
Great Lakes.
S. Wike,
Acting Secretary.
