Consul Moffat to the Secretary of State.
Bluefields, July 10, 1910.
Sir: I have the honor to confirm cablegram sent via Colon on July 3, which reads as follows:
Merchandise sent by schooner from Bluefields to Prinzapolca and Rio Grande has been delivered to consignees without any demand for the payment of duty at the above-mentioned points by the Madriz officials. Shipments intended for exportation have also been permitted to leave the above-mentioned point for Bluefields without paying export taxes. From this it would appear that Irias’s decree, effective June 25, is not being enforced.
Relative to the foregoing cabled information, it appears that when the schooners Esfuerzo and Sunbeam arrived at Rio Grande and Prinzapolca on July 29 and 30, respectively, with merchandise from Bluefields, upon which the duty had been paid to the Estrada faction, the Madriz officials at these places did not attempt to enforce the instructions promulgated in the decree of Gen. Irias, thus permitting the cargoes to be discharged free of duty. The same action was taken concerning the shipments sent by the same schooners to Bluefields for exportation.
Several shipments have since been made to and received from the points named without any interference or demand for duties being made. It may be that Gen. Irias, having been informed by our naval officers and this office that the provisions of the decree were considered as in effect a double levying of duties, directed its non-enforcement without announcing the fact, or it may be that the change of attitude was due to the fact that since the decree was announced as in effect (June 25) the Madriz customhouse at Pearl Lagoon had been captured by the Estrada faction.
I have, etc.,