Mr. Uhl to Mr.
Taylor.
Department of State,
Washington, December 28,
1893.
No. 75.]Sir: In connection with Department’s
instruction No. 65, of the 9th instant, I herewith transmit for your
information a copy of a letter of December 21 last, from Mr. S. C.
Neale, covering a decision of the committee of arbitration in the matter
of the fine of $2,400 imposed on the American steamer City of Washington at Havana for mere clerical error in the
vessel’s manifest.
You will accordingly bring this decision to the attention of the minister
for foreign affairs, to the end that his Government may see the
unwarranted action on the part of the officials at Havana in imposing
fines for errors so simple and so evidently unintentional.
I am, etc.,
Edwin F. Uhl,
Acting Secretary.
[Inclosure in No. 75.]
Mr. Neale to
Mr. Strobel.
International Navigation Company,
Washington, D. C., December 21, 1893.
My Dear Sir: In the matter of the fine
imposed on the steamship City of Washington
for erroneous manifesting, I beg to herewith hand you translation of
the copy of the decision rendered in Havana, the subject-matter
having been referred by the authorities to arbitration.
I venture to suggest that this translation should be forwarded to Mr.
Taylor at Madrid, with a view of bringing the same before the
attention of the Spanish Government, and proving thereby the
unwarranted action on the part of the officials at Havana in
imposing fines for errors so simple and so clearly
unintentional.
Very truly, yours,
[Annex to inclosure in No.
75—Translation.]
Decision of committee of
arbitration.
Havana, December 5,
1893.
At the request of Messrs. Hidalgo & Co., consignees of the
American steamers of the New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company,
who availed themselves of paragraph 4, article 82 of the customs
laws, to decide the matter of fine of $2,400 imposed on the American
steamer City of Washington, the following
gentlemen acted as a committee of arbitration: The custom-house
collector and cashier, two custom-house inspectors, two
representative merchants, composing one side, and for the other Mr.
Carlos Reyna, as representative of the house of Hidalgo & Co.,
and Mr. Regino Truffin, a merchant of this city.
Mr. Reyna stated that though it was quite true an error had been made
in the manifest of said steamer, 2,590 kilos having been entered on
the manifest instead of 25,900, as set forth on the bill of lading,
and pertaining to 141 tierces of lard, he begged to call the
attention of the committee to the following:
- First. That the said merchandise did not belong to the
parties he represented, nor was it consigned to them.
- Second. That as the class of merchandise was exempt from
duty by virtue of the treaty of reciprocity between Spain
and the United States there could not be even a suspicion
that said mistake had been committed for purposes of
fraud.
- Third. That the error was clearly explained by the bill of
lading in his possession,
[Page 586]
which he exhibited, calling the
attention of the committee to the last cipher of the item of
25,900 kilos, which cipher was written upon a printed clause
covering the bill of lading, which clause referred to the
matter of nonresponsibility by the vessel as to breakages or
leakages, and that the said cipher, being almost
imperceptible, was not noticed by the clerk who wrote the
manifest, this being clearly the reason for the
error.
Therefore he expected that the good, sound judgment of the gentlemen
composing the committee would favor a decision condoning said
fine.
The committee, taking into consideration the facts as set forth by
the representative of Messrs. Hidalgo & Co., acceded unanimously
to the condonement of the fine.
