An Act to provide for the disposal of paid postal-savings certificates
PL 83-487 (H.R.7371), enacted 07/14/1954

470 
PUBLIC LAW 487-JULY 14, 1954 
[68 S T A T . 
Marking require-
mentSa 
Ab a n d o ned ar-
ticles, etc. 
Transfers. 
P ayment of cus-
toms charges, etc. 
52 Stat. 1087. 
withdrawal; and on any articles which shall have suffered diminution 
or deterioration from incidental handling or exposure, the duties, if 
payable, shall be assessed according to the appraised value at the time 
of withdrawal from entry hereunder for consumption or entry under 
the general tariff law: Provided further^ That imported articles pro-
vided for herein shall not be subject to any marking requirements of 
the general tariff laws, except when such articles are withdrawn for 
consumption or use in the United States, in which case they shall not 
be released from customs custody until properly marked, but no addi-
tional duty shall be assessed because such articles were not sufficiently 
marked when imported into the United States: Provided 
further^ 
That at any time during or within three months after the close of such 
fair, any article entered hereunder may be abandoned to the Govern-
ment or destroyed under customs supervision, whereupon any duties 
on such articles shall be remitted: Provided further^ That articles 
which have been admitted without payment of duty for exhibition 
under any tariff law and which have remained in continuous customs 
custody or under a customs exhibition bond and imported articles in 
bonded warehouses under the general tariff law may be accorded the 
privilege of transfer to and entry for exhibition at such fair under 
such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe: And 
"provided further^ That the International Trade-Sample Fair shall be 
deemed, for customs purposes only, to be the sole consignee of all 
merchandise imported under the provisions of this joint resolution, 
and the actual and necessary customs charges for labor, services, and 
other expenses in connection with the entry, examination, appraise-
ment, release, or custody, together with the necessary charges for 
salaries of customs officers and employees in connection with the 
supervision, custody of, and accounting for, articles imported under 
the provisions of this joint resolution, shall be reimbursed by the 
International Trade-Sample Fair to the Government of the IJnited 
States under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the 
Treasury; and receipts from such reimbursements shall be deposited 
as refunds to the appropriation from which paid, in the manner pro-
vided for in section 524 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 
U . S . C , sec. 1524). 
Approved July 14, 1964. 
r?. 
July 14,1954 
[H. R. 7371] 
Public Law 487 
CHAPTER 476 
AN ACT 
To provide for the disposal of paid postal-savings certificates. 
Paid postal sav-
ings certificates. 
Claims. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That (a) all claims 
for payment oi any postal-savings certificate, or other evidence of 
deposit in the postal-savings depository system, including duplicates, 
which certificate or evidence of deposit, including duplicates, are shown 
by the records of the Post Office Department to have been duly paid, 
shall be barred if not presented to the Postmaster General within 
six years from the date on which such records show that they were 
paid. 
(b) Final determination as to whether payment properly has 
been made on postal-savings certificates or other evidences of deposit 
in the postal-savings depository system, including duplicates, shall be 
based upon the official records of the Post Office Department. 
68 
S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 489-JULY 14, 1954 
471 
SEC. 2. The Postmaster General may, under such regulations as he 
may prescribe, destroy, or otherwise dispose of, all postal-savings cer-
tificates, or other evidences of deposit in the postal-savings depository 
system, including duplicates, after the expiration of six years from 
the date payment thereon has been made as shown by the records 
of the Post Office Department. 
SEC. 3. This Act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth calendar 
month following the date of its enactment. 
Approved July 14, 1954. 
Disposal. 
Effective date* 
Public Law 488 
CHAPTER 477 
AN ACT 
Conferring jurisdiction on the United States District Court for the Northern 
District of California to hear, determine, and render judgment upon certain 
claims of the State of California. 
July 14,1954 
[H. R. 3191] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That jurisdiction is 
hereby conferred upon the United States District Court for the North-
ern District of California, sitting without a jury, to hear, determine, 
and render judgment upon the claims of the State of California against 
the United States for reimbursement of the amounts expended and 
to be expended in repairing the damage to levees and other flood-
control works of the Sacramento River alleged to have resulted from 
the closing of the outlet gates on Shasta Dam by the Bureau of Recla-
mation, Department of the Interior, during May 1948. 
SEC. 2. Notwithstanding any statute of limitations or lapse of time, 
suit upon such claims may be instituted at any time within one year 
after the date of enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 3. In any suit brought pursuant to this Act (whether sounding 
in tort or in contract) proceedings shall be had, and the liability, if 
any, of the United States shall be determined, in accordance with the 
provisions of law applicable in the case of contract claims, or under 
the Federal Tort Claims Act, as amended, respectively, against the 
United States: Provided, That the passage of this legislation shall not 
be construed as an inference of liability on the part of the United 
States Government. 
Approved July 14, 1954. 
S a c r a m e n t o 
R i v e r levee dam-
age claims, Calif. 
60 Stat. 842; 62 
Stat. 982. 
28 u s e 2671 et. 
• eq. 
Public Law 489 
CHAPTER 478 
AN ACT 
To credit the Shoshone Irrigation District with a share of the net revenues 
from the Shoshone powerplant, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled. That the Secretary 
of the Interior is authorized, on behalf of the United States to enter 
into a contract with the Shoshone Irrigation District, Wyoming, con-
taining appropriate provisions whereby— 
(a) the United States shall credit the district with the sum of 
$426,000 which sum shall be applied toward the payment of the 
annual construction payments of the district under its contract 
with the United States dated November 4, 1926, or any amend-
ment thereof, as the same become due for the year 1954 and sub-
sequent years until such credit is exhausted. Until such credit 
July 14,1954 
[H. R. 6893] 
Shoshone Irriga* 
tion District, Wyo. 
Powerplant rev-
enue contract.