The New York herald., 1868-05-06


BY the explosion of an engine Of the vflanueva
Railway fourteen persons were killed or wounded.
THE CUBAN TRADE.
Spanish Restrictions Upon American Conn
| nerce-Pretest ef New York shipownoRs-
Illegal Fines and eelzures-Bxtcut and STA
4 tistics Of the Imposition.
The shipowners Of the city OF New York have re-
Gently entered formal protest against the restric-
tions, or rather mpositions, upon New York ship
owners practised BY the Cuban authorities. For
some time 1t has been proverb In West India trade
circles for vessel to get into any Cuban port
and get out Of 1t without nne; and this protest is
designed to bring TO the notice of the United States
government the frequent ana arbitrary impostions
practised upon shipowners by the authorities Of the
Spanish American islands. That the New York ship
owners are right In their demand that the govern
Ment should redress their grievances there can
be no doubt, II the facts Of cases where
lines have been imposed be reviewed without
prejudice. Vessels clearing for Cuban ports-Ha-
vana, Cardenas or Matanzas OF otherwhere-are re-
qured to make out three copies Of the manifest all
to be certified by the Spanish Consul, and fourth
for the captain OF the vessel The three manifests
must be exact copies al Hleran even--and
II two arc correct and clerical error should occur
in the third that in which the error occurs is taken
for the correct one, and the vessel is accordingly
fined. Should blot or blur appear upon the mani
fest, though its phraseology be easily made out, q
nne of $26 II imposed and should there appear any
trivial erasure, although the manifest, erasure and
an may have been certified by the Spanish Consul,
there Is still the imposition or the fine. Again. the
nSsn e5Sss weight neI Of should vessel enter
and for any excess OF weight ther Is again the In
evita9e fine. The difficulty Of ascertanlng the ex
nj 10 hAr UnuAA % thA
matter OF considerable dificulty The shipper buys
his ballast BY the ton taking the word generally OF
as class given to full and honest weight; and
thus, although there may be no blame to the owner
Sa any na Ssr2nw 01 weight $ the
se must not only account for the number of packages
and their description, &c, but also for the contents
lumber in metres, and not In English measure; and,
again, should an article be entered correctly on the
to the imposition Of the inevitable $25; or, again,
SHOULD vessel have the American tonnage inserted,
VIII WI & It's spanish NH equivalent a. omitted y is fined s25
fest be made out with the greatest care and with the
most perfect good faith, is next to impossible to
has now become sort Of port fee to be exacted upon
some pretence, or upon no pretence, upon q
manufactured pretence just as the case may happen
The case Of the Thomas Booz, owned by Messrs.
Goldwat Oyerton, 10 one Of the most recent cases
OF importance which have occurred. This vessel
left New York on date Of January O. 1885, for Sagua
Cuba arriving at that port on date Of January
GO packages which apbeared on the manifest S had
been left on the dock in this city altogether by acct
made TO appear that the packages had never been on
board IT was not permitted to the captain to alter
vessel was nned S27 oOo The captain Of the Thomas
done him, at last abandoned his vessel and loft il In
OF months the nne was remittsd and the vessel suf
iered to Leave for home In this case notwithstand.
no for tie loss Of 9Ss use Of sss
Gel ior the TWO months during which IT was held.
ton with vessel owned 6y Shipping Se house CORNER
Sr wal and South streets In which ane Of S2s was
IN Ss snd
Of intention TO deaud appeared the vessel was held
and the nne was not remitted.
ESQ., appears to have BEEN one Of the most triingy
and audaciousy managed on the part Of the author-
msnifsss both the numbsS and the val valuation " were ere
T. an sT90s p Weight only and taa
able as. . pretext In the enumeration Of the
manifest there appeared % the entry = Of 80 bundles Of
rectly specified Is also was the valuation, an error
appearing IN the weight, and that by an obvious
mistake The entry should have read, .so bundles
ing in the accidental omission Of the word in paren
theses. No intention 70 deiraud appeared Or was
though happily, in this case, the carrier happens
to have copied the entry on bis manifest from the
m6nlle6b OF the shipper, ana an oCJ0n mas 0lfo0Qy
been commenced 70 recover the amount Of the nne
The ' case * the bark ocean Home Is already some
what familiar to the public. In this case the error In
the manifest was trining one and was amended by
the captain en- voyage. nne Of Sl2lE 4eK was,
the Essss nv ward co. 70 the Spanish
authorities. An appeal was. however, made to the
State Department. whereupon an oner OF compro-
ties TO the owners This beIns rejected, Il was or
dered that the vessel be sold for the payment Of the
Into part payment Of tke amount demanded and was,
however never executed. The vessel was remand.
% e the ss q S six
was proved that the seizure had been illegal and un
In October, 1899, most unwarrantable case Of nne
and detention occurred In the seizure Of the brig j.
O. Clark loaded at Cedar Keys Florida with lumber
error in the manifest with the exception that il bore
the signature Of the collector Of the port instead Of
that of the Spanish Consul for the district This was
spanish consul then commissioned for that districts
but though not the slightest evidence Of fraudulent
the signature OF the Spanish consul, when there was
no consul the signature Of whom 70 get was imposed
In February Of the current year the brig Omaha
was nned $3.50 at Manzanillo and is now under
seizure for payment thereof. In this there had
POUNDS to fifosrsmmes. fhe number OF SHOCKS and
their valuation were correct, and. consequently no
pretended. The error was merely Q clerical one
and, was, besides too trning for case OF seizure
even on the most literally and punctiousy legal
grounds, and yet, has not the 1ne been remitted,
but the vessel has been seized and is to be con-
nscated by the Spanish authorities An enort 10 being
In the premises but no action has as yet been
taken. or further cases equally nagrant though
involving smaller amounts, dozen might be speci-
ned, but four must sufnce. The following speci
mems OF the general grounds Of procedure and have
their parallels IN almost daily occurring impostons
q JAsUARY, lsss.-Brig @. W. Barter was fined at
Mansanillo, Cuba, 925 for not having Spanish
measurement Of tonnage inserted In manifest al
though the vessel had not been toia Spanish port Ia
. year, and IL was therefore impossible for the
zUousr 1857 -Brfa P0nyert Was 0ned as for