Absences to be reported. for salary or compensation as well as other accounts are adjusted in the name of the Vice-Consular Officer. All drafts for salary must accordingly be in his name. A Vice-Consular Officer must, under these circumstances, accompany his salary or compensation account with the certificate of nonabsence (Form No. 113) in the same manner as the principal officer. A separate appropriation has been made by Congress for the payment of such part of the salary of a Consulate as may be due to Vice-Consular Officers who are not citizens of the United States. It is necessary, accordingly, that the Department of State and the First Comptroller of the Treasury should be advised of the nationality of any such officer who receives any part of the Consular salary, or has occasion to make a draft therefor. This information should be promptly communicated. 545.. Each account must be accompanied by a statement showing the absences from the post during the quarter, and whether by leave or otherwise. Consuls are forbidden from absenting themselves from the Consulate for more than ten days at any one time, without first obtaining leave from the President, and then only for good cause, the nature of which is to be reported to the Department of State. No Consular Officer can receive salary for the time during which he may be absent from his post (by leave or otherwise) beyond the term of sixty days in any one year: Provided, that the time equal to that usually occupied in going to and from the United States, in case of the return, on leave, of such Consular Officer of the United States, may be allowed in addition to said sixty days. The year in which the absences above referred to are to be estimated is regarded as the calendar year. All absences from his post of a Consul, exceeding forty-eight hours, whether by leave or otherwise, are to be reported to the Department as they occur, and are to be regarded as a part of the sixty days for which salary may be received, while absent during any one year. And a statement of all such absences, by leave or otherwise, certified by the Consul, must accompany each quarterly account for salary. DISPOSITION OF OFFICIAL FEES, AND QUARTERLY REPORTS. 546..The fees collected during each quarter will be ap- Fees, how applied. plied: 1o. To the payment of the compensation of the Consular Officer. 2o. To the authorized disbursements for office rent and miscellaneous expenses. 3o. Clerk hire. 4°. Relief of destitute seamen. 5o. Expenses of arrest and transportation of persons charged with crime. 6o. To any other authorized account, as stated in paragraphs 497, 500, and 501. 70. Expenses incurred under special instructions. bankers. 547.. If after the payment at the close of each quarter of United States the several accounts mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, there shall still remain in the hands of the Consul a surplus, he shall deposit the same with Messrs. Morton, Rose & Co., London, or the Treasurer of the United States, taking a receipt, which must accompany his next salary account. fees. 548.. Attention is particularly invited to the provision of Neglect to report law that any Consular Officer of the United States who shall willfully neglect to render true and just quarterly accounts and returns of the business of his office, and of moneys received by him for the use of the United States, or who shall neglect to pay over any balance of such moneys which may be due to the United States at the expiration of any quarter, before the expiration of the next succeeding quarter, shall be deemed guilty of embezzlement of the public moneys, and shall, on conviction thereof before any court of the United States having jurisdiction of like offenses, be punished by imprisonment not exceeding one year and by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and shall be forever disqualified from holding any office of trust or profit in the United States. of salary. 549..When the amount received by any salaried Consular Drafts for residue Officer on account of fees during the quarter shall be less than his salary for such quarter, he may draw on the Secretary of the Treasury for the difference, at fifteen days' sight. It must be stated on the face of the draft that it is for the residue of salary, designating the quarter in which the deficiency occurred for which it is drawn, and whether payable in coin or currency. The account of the receipts of the Consular Officer during the same quarter must precede the draft, so that it may be received and adjusted by the accounting officers prior to the presentation of the draft. All Consular Officers are explicitly instructed that their drafts on account of their salaries cannot be honored unless drawn in the manner stated in these instructions, and accompanied with the official statements and certificates herein pointed out. 550.. For the mode of stating this account for salary and fees, see Form No. 112; for the certificate to accompany it, see Form No. 113; and for the form for the draft upon the Secretary of the Treasury for salary, see Forms Nos. 114 and 115. 551.. When the quarterly account shows a surplus due the Government, the account should be stated in the return in the manner shown in Form No. 116, instead of in the manner shown in Form No. 112; for the mode of calculating Consular salaries, see Form No. 131; for the rates of foreign money or currency fixed by law, see Forms Nos. 148, 161, and 162. 552.. Consuls will also in addition to the foregoing make quarterly returns to the Secretary of State of-1. A digest of the invoice-book (Form No. 117); 2. Arrivals and departures of American vessels (Form No. 120); 3. Returns of deceased American citizens (Form No. 121); 4. Record of official fees (Forms Nos. 101 and 102); 5. Record of notarial services (Form No. 159); 6. Summary of Consular business (Form No. 103); 7. Return of Marshal of Consular court (Form No. 137); 8. Semi-annual returns to the same officer, showing an abstract of passports issued or visaed (Forms Nos 122 and 132); 9. An annual return to the same officer, showing the names of the persons employed at the Consulate (Form No. 123). They will also make a semi-annual return of the persons receiving the protection of the Consulate (paragraph 175), and also an annual return of despatches written to the Department of State during the year (paragraph 152); and a semi-annual report of the condition of the estates of deceased American citizens (paragraph 634), an annual return of marriages (paragraph 469), and a transcript of the register of American residents (paragraph 468). 553.. RECAPITULATION. TABLE NO. 1. Returns and accounts to be transmitted by Consular Officers to the Department of State. QUARTERLY RETURNS. Abstract of passports issued or visaed.. Forms Nos. 122 and 132 issued in non-Christian countries (para graph 175). Report on estates of deceased citizens (paragraph 634). ANNUAL RETURNS. Names of persons employed at the Consulate. Form No. 123 List of despatches written to the Department Report of marriages of American citizens (paragraph 469) Register of American residents (paragraph 468) Form No. 105 QUARTERLY ACCOUNT. Rent and miscellaneous expenses, with vouch ers..... Form No. 90 Semi-annual Aunual. TABLE NO. 2. To Fifth Auditor. Returns and accounts to be transmitted by the Consular Officers to the Fifth Auditor of the Treasury. Quarterly. QUARTERLY RETURNS. Record of Treasury fees, with oath.... Form No. 101 or 102 ceased at the Consulate.... Return of extra wages Form No. 124 Form No. 94 Form No. 103 Form No. 126 Form No. 99 Hospital dues collected during the quarter... Form No. 125 QUARTERLY ACCOUNTS. Account-current.-To be accompanied by vouchers and certificates, as per Forms Nos. Salary account, with certificate of non-absence Form No. 100 Form No. 112 or 116 ARTICLE XXVII. Commercial re ports. R. S., sec. 208. Consular Reports. COMMERCIAL REPORTS TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE. 554.. By section 208 of the Revised Statutes, the Secretary of State is required annually to lay before Congress First. A statement, in a compendious form, of all such changes and modifications in the commercial systems of other nations, whether by treaties, duties on imports and exports, or other regulations, as shall have been communicated to the Department, including all commercial information contained in the official publications of other governments which he shall deem sufficiently important. Second. A synopsis of so much of the information which may have been communicated to him by Diplomatic and |