established:) and the acts of the presdents aforesaid shall be countersigned by the cashiers of those banks respectively.
The Secretary of the Treasury to notify the President of the Bank of the United States, &c.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to notify the President of the Bank of the United States, that the duties now performed by the commissioners of loans will be transferred to the Bank of the United States, and he shall direct the commissioners of loans and the agents for military pensions, where there is no commissioner, respectively, in the several states, to deliver to the president of the Bank of the United States, or to the president of a branch thereof, or to the president of such state bank as the Bank of the United States may employ, on such day or days as he may designate, the register, and all the records and papers of their respective offices; and it shall be the duty of the said commissioners of loans and agents for pensioners to comply with the said direction, and also to take duplicate receipts for the delivery of the records and papers herein described, one of which shall be transmitted, without delay, to the Secretary of the Treasury: Provided, however,Proviso; as to the time, &c.
Proviso; as to states where no banks are established by law. that the Secretary of the Treasury may designate such time before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, for the performance of the duties aforesaid, as the public convenience will permit; And provided also, That this act shall not be construed to extend to any agent for military pensions in any state where there is no bank established by law.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the office of commissioner of loans, upon the delivery of the recordsOffice of commissioner of loans abolished, &c. and papers, as herein required, to the Bank of the United States, or its branches, or to the state banks employed by the Bank of the United States in those states where there may be no branch, shall be, and is hereby abolished; and the pay and emoluments of the said commissioners of loans, and the clerks and persons employed by them, after such delivery, shall respectively cease and determine.
An act for the prompt settlement of public accounts in force from the 3d of March, 1817.
Act of March 3, 1817, ch. 45.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the act, entitled “An act for the prompt settlement of public accounts,” shall commence, and be in force, on and after the third day of this instant, March, any thing in the aforesaid act to the contrary notwithstanding.
Approved, March 3, 1817.
Statute II.
[Obsolete.]
Chap. XXXIX.—An Act to regulate the trade in plaster of Paris.
Importation of plaster prohibited in foreign vessels from countries whence vessels of the United States are not allowed to bring it.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, from and after the fourth day of July next, no plaster of Paris, the production of any country, or its dependencies, from which the vessels of the United States are not permitted to bring the same article, shall be imported into the United States in any foreign vessel. And all plaster of Paris imported, or attempted to be imported, into the United States, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act, and the vessel in which the same may be imported, or attempted to be imported, together with the cargo, tackle, apparel, and furniture, shall be forfeited to the United States; and such plaster of Paris, vessel and cargo, shall be liable to be seized, prosecuted, and condemned, in like manner, and under the same regulations, restrictions, and provisions, as have been heretofore established for the recovery, collection, and distribution, and remission, of forfeitures to the United States by the several revenue laws.
This act to be in force for five years.
Proviso; a foreign nation discontinuing prohibitory regulations, the restrictions imposed by the act to cease with respect to that nation.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall continue to be in force five years from the thirty-first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventeen: Provided, nevertheless, That if any foreign nation or its dependencies, which have now in force regulations on the subject of the trade in plaster of Paris, prohibiting the exportation there-
