Rule 2. “No goods shall be carried from any British possession in Asia, Africa, or America, to any other of such possessions, nor from one part of such possessions to another part of the same, except in British ships” (8 & 9 Vict., cap. 88, sect. 10).
Rule 3. “No goods shall be imported into any British possession in Asia, Africa, or America, in any foreign ships, unless they be ships of the country producing these goods, and from which they are usually imported”[48] (8 & 9 Vict., cap. 88, sect. 11). But an Order in Council might declare that goods, &c., the growth of any foreign country, might be imported into Hong Kong from the same or any other foreign country, in vessels belonging to the same or any other foreign country, and however navigated (see 8 & 9 Vict., cap. 88, sect. 12).
Her Majesty might also, by Order in Council, declare that goods of any sort, or the produce of any place, not otherwise prohibited by the Law of Navigation, might be imported into any port or ports of the British possessions abroad, to be named in such Order, from any place, in a British ship, and from any place not being a part of the British dominions, in a foreign ship of any country, and however navigated, to be warehoused for exportation only (8 & 9 Vict., cap. 88, sect. 23).
Their rigorous character.
Rule 4. The privileges of trading allowed to foreign ships under Rule 3 were limited to the ships of those countries which, having colonial possessions, should grant the like privileges of trading with those possessions to British ships, or which, not having colonial possessions, “shall place the commerce and navigation of this country, and of its possessions abroad, on the footing of the ‘most favoured nation’: unless her Majesty, by Order in Council, shall in any case deem it expedient to grant the whole, or any of such privileges, to the ships of any foreign country, although the conditions aforesaid shall not in all respects be fulfilled by such foreign country” (8 & 9 Vict., cap. 93, sect. 4).
Rule 5. “No goods shall be imported into, nor shall any goods (except the produce of the fisheries, in British ships) be exported, from any of the British possessions in America by sea, from or to any place other than the United Kingdom, or some other of such possessions, except into or from the several ports in such possessions called ‘Free Ports.’” (See 8 & 9 Vict., cap. 93, sect. 2.) The 62nd section of the Act applied this principle to the Mauritius, as well as to the American possessions; while, under the 90th section, the trade of other colonies was regulated by the Queen. Goods could be imported by inland navigation into any place where there was a custom-house. The rule was not to extend “to prohibit the importation or exportation of goods into or from any ports or places in Newfoundland, or Labrador, in British ships;” and by the 2nd section, certain articles might be imported from Guernsey and Jersey into places where the fishery was carried on, though the same were not free ports. These five rules comprise the Law as it stood in 1847. But it is also as well to give some account of its previous history and its various modifications.
Their history from 1660 to 1847.
The Act of 1660 established two rules applicable to the Plantation trade, which were deemed of the highest importance to the country: first, that the whole trade of the Plantations should be carried on in “British” ships only; and secondly, that the principal productions of these Plantations should be allowed to be exported only to the mother country, or some other Plantation. A third general rule was introduced, a year or two later, by the Act of 15 Car. II., cap. 7, sect. 6, viz., that no goods of the produce of Europe should be imported into any of the Plantations in Asia, Africa, or America (except Tangier[49]), in any vessels whatsoever, but such as were bonâ fide and without fraud laden and shipped in England, Wales, or the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in English-built vessels.[50]
In the year 1825, on the general consolidation of the Customs Laws, the above limitations of the right of exportation were removed, and the law with regard to the Plantation trade was placed nearly on the footing on which it stood in 1847. In fact, the further consolidations of 1833 and 1845 made little change in the previous regulations. With regard to Rule 3, viz., that goods, the produce of Europe, were only to be imported into the colonies from the United Kingdom, this was subject, originally, to a few exceptions: thus, salt might be taken to the fisheries from any port of Europe; and wines of Madeira and the Azores might be imported thence, &c. A relaxation of the rule was first made in favour of Irish linens, various subsequent alterations having been introduced, till at length, in 1825, the law with reference to such importations was placed on nearly the same footing as prevailed in 1847; that is to say, the importation and exportation of all classes of goods into or from the “Free Ports” in different colonies were, generally, legalised, subject to certain prohibitions against the importation of particular articles, some of which were afterwards removed, while others (e.g. those against pirated books, counterfeit coin, &c., and the restrictions on gunpowder, arms, &c.) remained. A tariff of differential duties on foreign goods, of which duties one-tenth (subsequently increased to one-fourth) was to be remitted, when the goods were imported through an English warehouse, was, at the same date, enforced.
The principle of this tariff and of the practice of remission were retained; but legislation was constantly effecting small changes, to meet the wishes or, rather, the demands of colonial legislatures which perhaps, naturally, looked only to their own interests.