Delivery of cargo in various districts.
Any vessel in which any merchandise is brought into the United States from any foreign port, and which is specified in the manifest verified before the collector of the port in which such vessel first arrives, to be destined for other districts, may proceed with the same from district to district within the United States, in order to the landing or delivery thereof; and the duties on such of the merchandise only as shall be landed in any district shall be paid within such district. (R. S., 2779.)
Before any vessel departs from the district in which she shall first arrive for another district, provided such departure is not within forty-eight hours after her arrival within such district, with merchandise brought in such vessel from a foreign port on which the duties have not been paid, the master shall obtain from the collector of the district from which she is about to depart, who is hereby required to grant the same, a copy of the report and manifest made by such master, certified by the collector, to which copy shall be annexed a certificate of the quantity and particulars of the merchandise which appears to him to have been landed within his district, or of the quantity and particulars of the merchandise which remains on board and upon which the duties are to be paid in some other district. (R. S., 2780.)
Within twenty-four hours after the arrival of such vessel within any other district, the master shall make report or entry to or with the collector of such other district, producing and showing the certified copy of his first report, together with a certificate from each collector of any other district within which any of the merchandise, brought in such vessel, has been landed, of the quantity and particulars of such merchandise as has been landed in each district respectively. (R. S., 2781.)
The master shall, however, first give bond, with one or more sureties, to the satisfaction of the collector of the district within which the vessel first arrives, in a sum equal to the amount of the duties on the residue of the merchandise, according to such estimate as the collector shall form thereof, with condition that the residue of such merchandise shall be duly entered and delivered in another district for which the same has been reported to be destined. (R. S., 2782.)
The bond shall be canceled or discharged within six calendar months from the date thereof, by the production of certificates from the collectors of the districts for which the merchandise has been reported, showing the due entry and delivery of the merchandise in such districts, or upon due proof to the satisfaction of the collector by whom the bond was taken, and to the naval officer of the port, if any, that such entry and delivery were prevented by some unavoidable accident or casualty, and if the whole or any part of the merchandise has not been lost, that it has been duly entered and delivered within the United States. (R. S., 2783.)
If the master of any such vessel fails by his neglect or fault to obtain the copy of his report from the collector of the district from which he is about to depart, or any certificate which he ought to obtain, or neglects to exhibit the same to the collector of any other district to which the vessel afterward proceeds, within the time for that purpose allowed, he shall be liable to a penalty, for every such neglect or omission, of five hundred dollars. (R. S., 2784.)