Officers to be appointed in pursuance of this act to take an oath;respective offices, shall severally take an oath diligently and faithfully to execute the duties of their said offices respectively, and to use their best endeavours to prevent and detect frauds in relation to the duties imposed by the laws of the United States; which oath, if taken by a collector, may be taken before any magistrate authorized to administer oaths within the district to which he belongs; but if taken by another, shall be taken before the collector of his district, and being certified under the hand and seal of the person by whom the same shall have been administered, shall, within three months thereafter be transmitted to the comptroller of the treasury;penalty in default thereof. in default of taking which oath, the party failing shall forfeit and pay two hundred dollars, to be recovered with costs of suit, in any court of competent jurisdiction, to the use of the United States.
Duties of the collector,Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the several officers of the customs shall respectively perform the duties following—to wit: At such of the ports to which there shall be appointed a collector, naval officer and surveyor, the collector shall receive all reports, manifests and documents, to be made or exhibited on the entry of any ship or vessel, according to the regulations of this act; shall record in books to be kept for that purpose, all such manifests; shall receive the entries of all ships and vessels, and of the goods, wares and merchandise imported in them; shall, together with the naval officer, where there is one, or alone where there is none, estimate the amount of the duties payable thereupon, endorsing the said amount upon the respective entries; shall receive all monies paid for duties, and take all bonds for securing the payment thereof; shall grant all permits for the unlading and delivery of goods; shall employ proper persons as weighers, gaugers, measurers and inspectors at the several ports within his district; and shall provide at the public expense, and with the approbation of the principal officer of the treasury department, store-houses for the safe keeping of goods, and such scales, weights and measures as may be necessary. naval officer,The naval officers shall receive copies of all manifests; shall, together with the collector, estimate the duties on all goods, wares and merchandise subject to duty, keeping a separate record thereof; and shall countersign all permits, clearances, certificates and debentures to be granted by the collector. surveyor.The surveyor shall superintend and direct all inspectors, weighers, measurers and gaugers, within his district; shall visit and inspect the ships or vessels which arrive within his district, and shall have power to put on board each of them one or more inspectors; shall ascertain the proofs of distilled spirits, rating those which shall be of the proof of twenty-four degrees as of Jamaica proof; and shall examine whether the goods imported in any ship or vessel, and the deliveries thereof, are conformable to the entries of such goods and the permits for landing the same; and the said surveyor shall in all cases be subject to the control of the collector. Further duties of surveyor and collector.And at such ports to which a collector and surveyor only are assigned, the said collector shall solely execute all the duties in which the co-operation of the naval officer is requisite at the ports where a naval officer shall be appointed, which he shall also do in case of the disability or death of the naval officer. And at the ports to which a collector only is assigned, such collector shall solely execute all the duties in which the co-operation of the naval officer is requisite as aforesaid: and shall also, as far as may be, perform all the duties prescribed to surveyors at the ports where such officers are established. And at ports to which surveyors only are assigned, every such surveyor shall perform all the duties herein before enjoined upon surveyors; and shall also receive and record the copies of all manifests which shall be transmitted to him by the collector; shall record all permits granted by such collector, distinguishing the gauge, weight, measure and quality of the goods specified therein: and shall take care that no goods be unladen or delivered from any ship or vessel without a pro-Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 1.djvu/276
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FIRST CONGRESS.Sess. II. Ch. 35.1790.