[Inclosure.]
[Translated abstract from letter of September 13,
received by Hon. John R. Planten, consul-general of the Netherlands
at New York, from the governor of Curaçao.]
By decree of August 28, 1888, the import duties on salt for the
entire colony of Curaçao (comprising Curaçao, Oruba, Buen Ayre,
Little Curaçao, Little Buen Ayre, St. Martin, St. Eustatius, and
Saba) were abolished and they have never been reimposed.
It is probable that the Washington authorities were misled by
consulting the tariff laws of 1892, in which, as is the case every
year, also the article salt is mentioned, and they must have
overlooked the fact that these published tariff laws refer as well
to export as to import duties; and, for instance, as St. Martin and
Buen Ayre pay export duties, the mention of the duties as regards
salt simply refers to these export duties and not to import duties,
which latter were abolished since 18—, and never reimposed.
