30 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



CUBAN COMMERCIAL MATTERS 



5% CLAUSE UNDERWOOD TARIFF LAW 



The recent decision of f lie ( 'onrt of Custoias 

 appeals, in reference to the provisions of the 

 law that gives a 5% discoinit from the tariff 

 rates on all goods inij)orted in American bot- 

 toms or in ships of countries having commer- 

 cial treaties with the United States covering 

 reciprocal treatment, has an important bear- 

 ing on Cuban trade. If this decision be up- 

 held by the Supreme Court to which tribunal 

 it will be appealed, the result will be that mer- 

 chandise from Cuba will be entitled to a re- 

 duction of 20% as provided l)y the Preferen- 

 tial Treaty with the United States, and to a 

 further discount of 5% from that amount. 



The difference in market quotations now 

 being made between Cubas and free-duty 

 sugars is possibly owing to a recent decision 

 of the United States Court of Customs Ap- 

 peals, which states that the duty on Cuba 

 sugar is to be determined by first deducting 

 the 5% discount allowed thereon because 

 of its importation in vessels of United States 

 registry, or of countries with which the United 

 States has treaties, and from the sum thus 

 obtained to make a further reduction ot 20'^ c 

 in accordance with the stipulation of the Cu- 

 ban treaty. Full-duty 96= test sugar is 

 1.256c. per pound. Deduct j%, gives 1.1932c 

 per pound. Deduct 20%, gives .9546c per 

 pound as duty on Cuba sugar instead ot 

 1.0048c per pound, as has been collected since 

 March 1, 1914, as stipulated in tariff bill 

 passed October 3, 1913. 



Under this decision the United States 

 Appraisers are to reliquidate the duties on 

 Cuba sugar collected since March 1, 1914, 

 at the rate of .9546c per pound for 98° test 

 basis instead of at 1.0048c per pound, and to 

 refund the difference to the importers. The 

 Cuba sugars in warehouse in bond March 1 , 

 1914, and since withdrawn for consumption, 

 will be reliquidated at the same basis. 



The United States Government h::s ob- 

 jected to the reduction of the 5%o on such 

 imports and appealed from the decision of 

 the Court of Customs Appeals to the Supreme 

 Court of the United States, who accept the 

 appeal and will render their decision at their 

 new fall session. In the meantime, the 



present duty ouCubasugar (1.0048c.) will con- 

 tinue to be collected. 



It will be noted, however, that in case the 

 United States Supreme Court decides against 

 the Government, that the 5% reduction in 

 duties takes effect from the time of the passage 

 of the Tariff Bill, say October 3, 1913, while 

 the tariff on Cuban sugar of 1.2o6c, less 20%, 

 was not effective until March 1, 1914. 



The 5% discount for this period, October 

 4, 1913, to March 1, 1914, would apply on the 

 old duty of 1.685c, which, less 5%, and 20%o, 

 would amount to 1.2806c instead of the 

 1.348c paid during that time. — ^Willet & Gray 

 Sugar Trade Journal, June 24, 1915. 



CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 



The Chamber of Commerce of Camaguey 

 has made the proposal that some plan of fed- 

 eration be adopted whereby all of the Cham- 

 bers of Commerce of the various cities of 

 Cuba could cooperate, and information col- 

 lected by one be available to all, and it is 

 thought that the expenses of collecting this 

 information could be considerably lessened 

 by this plan. 



TARE REGULATIONS FOR BURLAP WRAPPERS 



The attention of exporters to Cuba is in- 

 vited to the fact that certain articles on 

 which a tare allowance for receptacles is 

 piescribed by the Cuban custom tariff are 

 dutiable on gross weight (without any tare 

 deduction) when shipped in burlap wrappers, 

 without other packing A case was recently 

 brought to the attention of the Bureau in 

 which a consignment of waterproof clothing 

 and fabric, shipped in two layers of burlap, 

 was held to be dutiable on gross weight, with- 

 out the tare allowance of 10% granted on 

 similar articles otherwise packed. It was 

 stated by the Cuban customs officials in 

 making a report on the subject that where 

 goods are dutiable on gross weight with a 

 specified tare allowance for receptacles, such 

 deduction shall only be made in the case of 

 articles packed in regular receptacles, such 

 as boxes, barrels, crates, etc. In the case of 

 some articles, a tare allowance is specifically 

 provided for lighter forms of packing, such as 

 bales. — Consul G ener all ames I . Rodgers. 



