Deposit of papers.
The register, or other document in lieu thereof, together with the clearance and other papers granted by the officers of the customs to a vessel at her departure from the port from whence she may have arrived, Mediterranean passports excepted, shall previous to entry be produced to the collector with whom such entry is to be made, and shall remain in his office; and on the clearance of such vessel the register and other documents shall be returned to the master or owner of such vessel. (R. S., 2790.)
The register, or other document in lieu thereof, together with the clearance and other papers granted by the officers of the customs to any foreign vessel, at her departure from the port from which she may have arrived, shall, previous to entry in any port of the United States, be produced to the collector with whom such entry is to be made. It shall be the duty of the master, within forty-eight hours after such entry, to deposit the papers with the consul or vice-consul of the nation to which the vessel belongs, and to deliver to the collector the certificate of such consul or vice-consul that the papers have been so deposited. Every master who fails to comply with this regulation shall be punishable by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars, nor more than two thousand dollars. (R. S., 4209.)
It shall be the duty of all masters of vessels for whom any official services shall be performed by any consular officer, without the payment of a fee, to require a written statement of such services from such consular officer, and, after certifying as to whether such statement is correct, to furnish it to the collector of the district in which such vessels shall first arrive on their return to the United States; and if any such master of a vessel shall fail to furnish such statement, he shall be liable to a fine of not exceeding fifty dollars, unless such master shall state under oath that no such statement was furnished him by said consular officer. And it shall be the duty of every collector to forward to the Secretary of the Treasury all such statements as shall have been furnished to him, and also a statement of all certified invoices which shall have come to his office, giving the dates of the certificates, and the names of the persons for whom and of the consular officer by whom the same were certified. (R. S., 4213; June 26, 1884; sec. 13.)