administration which are provided for by law or in these regulations.

ART. 1598. Customs officers receiving or having in possession public money or property are required to render such accounts and returns thereof, and in such form, as may be required by the Secretary of the Treasury.

ART. 1599. Customs officers are required to execute all instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury in matters relating to the revenue, or navigation, or immigration laws, and the decisions of the Secretary of the Treasury upon such laws are binding on all officers of the customs.

§ 1. THE COLLECTOR.

R. S., 2652.

Act June 10,

ART. 1600. The collector is the chief officer of his cus- 1890, sec. 25. toms district. Every vessel on arrival from a foreign port T. D. 12068. becomes subject to his authority until her cargo has been discharged on permits issued by him. He holds possession of all imported merchandise upon which duties have not been paid or secured to be paid, disposing of the same according to law. Merchandise must be entered in his office and duties paid to him only. He deposits his official receipts with an Assistant Treasurer and transmits to the Treasury Department vouchers for the same. He classifies merchandise for estimated duty on entry on the invoice description and for liquidated duty on the basis of the appraiser's report. He considers all protests against the duty assessed by him, and if satisfied that an error has been made in the assessment of duty, he will make the necessary corrections in liquidation, and report the facts to the general appraisers. Suits for the recovery of excessive duties can not be brought against him by name, nor can his private estate be held liable for the same; neither is he personally liable for losses occasioned by his official acts T. D. 8871. except for the delivery of the merchandise to the proper consignee, nor for the laches of his subordinates. He acts as the disbursing agent for the Treasury Department in his district, in respect of all matters pertaining to customs, and is custodian of the buildings, records, and property used for customs purposes.

ART. 1601. Collectors are required to report to the Solicitor of the Treasury in matters of pending litigation, such as suits upon bonds executed to secure the payment of duties, seizures of goods for violation of the revenue laws, and actions brought against them for acts done or moneys collected in the line of their duty.

R. S., 3083.

R. S., 2630.

R. S., 2625.

T. D. 10813.

R. S., 2633.

They have discretionary power, within their respective districts, to remit the assessment of duties in cases where the dutiable value of an importation is less than one dollar or to remit duties not exceeding $2.00 on articles in passenger's baggage; also, to dispense with the seizure of goods less than one dollar in value, except in cases of habitual or intentional violation of the revenue laws and of prohibited importations.

ART. 1602. The powers and duties vested by law in collectors are also by law as fully vested in their special deputies, duly appointed and discharging the functions of their principals.

In the event of the death, disability, or absence of a collector, the special deputy is authorized and required to perform the duties of collector. Should there be no deputy collector legally qualified to discharge the functions of collector, the duties of the office devolve upon the naval officer, or upon the surveyor if there be no naval officer, or upon the surveyor of the nearest port in the same district if there be no surveyor at the vacant port.

ART. 1603. The decision of the collector as to the classification of imported merchandise is final and conclusive except in case of protest. He may, if he deem any appraisement too low, call for a reappraisement by a general appraiser, and may appeal from the decision of such general appraiser to the board of general appraisers; when dissatisfied with the decision of such board on a question of classification, the collector may appeal therefrom to the circuit court, At a port where there is no appraiser the collector acts as such officer and may call for reappraisement as above provided.

ART. 1604. Deputy collectors, located at other ports than the principal ports of entry of their respective districts, can exercise the powers of their principals only when specially authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury, and only within the limits of their assigned territorial jurisdiction, unless otherwise provided by law.

§ 2. THE NAVAL OFFICER.

ART. 1605. The naval office represents a branch of the Treasury Department established for the sake of convenience and economy in certain customs districts where the extent of transactions makes a daily accounting with the Department impracticable.

The naval officer acts concurrently with the collector

in the estimation of duties and the signing of permits. By comparison with independent records and vouchers he certifies to the correctness of the collector's abstracts and accounts.

ART. 1606. Naval officers are required by law to receive copies of all manifests and entries; to estimate, together with collectors, all duties on imports, and keep a separate record of such estimates; to countersign all permits, clearances, certificates, debentures, and other documents granted by collectors; and to examine the collectors' abstracts of duties and other accounts of receipts, bonds, and expenditures, and to certify to their correctness.

ART. 1607. The records kept by naval officers must be separate from those kept by collectors, made up from duplicate original documents as presented for file or certification, and sufficiently full in respect to names, dates, and amounts to enable naval officers to certify to the correctness of the accounts and statements of collectors upon independent knowledge or information. The returns of discharging officers should be compared with the manifests of the vessels discharged and the disposition of all goods noted. After a period of twelve months has elapsed since the arrival of any vessel the manifest and officers' returns shall be compared with the entries made by such vessel, in order to reach a thorough accounting for her cargo and to enforce the sale of all unclaimed packages. The same bond accounts, records of liquidation of entries, refunding of excess of deposits, and payments of drawbacks and debentures, should be kept by naval officers as by collectors, and a brief record should be kept, by amounts only, of the daily receipts of collectors for duties, fees, penalties, and other dues.

ART. 1608. The special deputies of naval officers are R. S., 2882. vested with all the powers and duties of their principals, whose functions they discharge in the event of absence, disability, or death.

ART. 1609. At ports to which a collector and surveyor only are appointed, the collector shall solely execute all the duties in which the coöperation of the naval officer is requisite at the ports where a naval officer is appointed. And he shall act in like manner in case of the disability or death of the naval officer, until a successor is appointed, unless there is a deputy duly authorized under the hand and seal of the naval officer, who in that case shall continue to act until an appointment is made.

R. S., 2822.

R. S., 2627.

§ 3. THE SURVEYOR.

ART. 1610. The surveyor is the outdoor executive officer of the port, and supervises the force of inspectors, weighers, measurers, gaugers, and laborers. He takes charge of all vessels arriving from foreign ports and reports their names and character to the collector. He supervises the discharge of their cargoes and the lading of merchandise exported or transported in bond, or exported for the benefit of drawback. He ascertains and reports the quantity and proof of all imported spirits and of all spirits exported in bond. He has charge of the admeasurement of vessels for registry and for the adjustment of the tonnage tax.

ART. 1611. At ports having a collector and a surveyor the surveyor is required, under direction of the collector1. To superintend and direct all inspectors, weighers, measurers, and gaugers within his port.

2. To report once in every week to the collector the name or names of all inspectors, weighers, gaugers, or measurers who are absent from or neglect to do their duty.

3. To visit or inspect the vessels which arrive in his port, and make a return every morning to the collector of all vessels which have arrived from foreign ports during the preceding day, specifying the names and denominations of the vessels, the masters' names, from whence arrived, whether laden or in ballast, to what nation belonging, and, if American vessels, whether the masters thereof have or have not complied with the law in having the required number of manifests of the cargo on board.

4. To put on board of each of said vessels, immediately after their arrival in port, one or more inspectors.

5. To ascertain the proof, quantities, and kinds of distilled spirits imported, rating such spirits according to their respective degrees of proof, as defined by the laws imposing duties on spirits.

6. To examine whether the goods imported in any vessel and the deliveries thereof correspond, according to the inspectors' returns, with the permits for landing the same, and if any error or disagreement appears to report the same to the collector and to the naval officer, if any.

7. To superintend the lading for exportation of all goods entered for the benefit of any drawback, bounty, or allowance, and examine and report whether the kind,

quantity, and quality of the goods so laden on board any vessels for exportation correspond with the entries and permits granted therefor.

8. To examine and, from time to time, and particularly on the first Mondays of January and July in each year, try the weights, measures, and other instruments used in ascertaining the duties on imports, with standards to be provided by the collector for that purpose, and where disagreements with the standards are discovered to report the same to the collector, and to comply with such directions as he may receive for correcting the same.

9. Surveyors are also charged with the admeasurement of R. S.,4148, 4154. American vessels for registry, enrollment, or license, and

of foreign vessels for the assessment of tonnage dues.

ART. 1612. At ports of delivery where there are no col- R.S., 2828,2629. lectors surveyors may be invested with such of the powers

and duties of collectors as are appropriate to such ports.

In case of the death or disability of a surveyor the col- T. D. 10120. lector of the district will authorize some fit person to perform the duties of the vacant office, and the powers of the person so authorized shall continue until a surveyor is duly appointed and ready to assume his office.

§ 4. INSPECTORS OF CUSTOMS.

ART. 1613. At ports where a surveyor is appointed inspectors will be assigned to duty by him, otherwise by the collector. At ports where inspectors are required to wear uniforms they must be always worn when on regular duty. When inspectors are ordered on special service they must wear a badge of office conspicuously displayed, unless otherwise authorized or directed. All inspectors will ascertain whether sailing vessels coming within their official cognizance are provided with the signal lights prescribed by law, and will report all cases of nonobservance of the law in order that the legal penalties may be enforced.

R. S., 4234.

Act June 22,

Inspectors are required to send at once to the public 1874, sec. 15. stores all goods seized by them for violation of law, taking the storekeeper's receipts for such goods, and sending such receipts, with full reports of the case, to the surveyor.

They shall not perform any private or unofficial duties R. S., 2878. or services on board the vessels to which they may be assigned, under penalty of dismissal from service.

District inspectors.

ART. 1614. District inspectors must be in their respective districts during such hours as the surveyor may