deficient in thickness as aforesaid, shall be received as number two, by making such allowance for the deficiency in thickness as may be required to make them equal to one inch thick. The third sort shall be denominated number three, and shall include boards not less than seven-eighths of an inch thick, nearly free from rot, and nearly square edged, and suitable for covering buildings. The fourth sort shall be denominated number four, and shall include all boards and plank of every description, not being within the other three denominations. Spruce, hemlock, and juniper boards, plank and joists shall be of two sorts. The first shall be denominated number one, and shall include all boards, plank and joists, that are sound and square edged. The second sort shall be denominated number two, and shall include all other descriptions. Pine joists shall be divided into two sorts. The first sort shall be denominated number one, and shall include all joists that are sound and square edged. The second sort shall be denominated number two, and shall include all other descriptions. SEC. 3. Timber shall be surveyed forty cubic feet to the ton, and shall be divided into two sorts. The first sort shall be sound, straight and square-edged, and in lengths or joints of not less than sixteen feet, and due allowance shall be made for sap. The second sort, or number two, shall include all other timber. No provisions in this act shall change the present method of surveying ship timber, knees, masts, spars or ship plank. SEC. 4. In surveying the lumber aforesaid, the contents thereof shall be truly marked thereon in plain characters and all other marks erased. Allowance and deduction shall be made for splits, not exceeding in any case one-half of the length of said splits. And all said lumber shall be received and sold according to the aforesaid marks; and it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to sell or purchase any of said sorts of lumber within the aforesaid territory on said river, unless the same shall be surveyed and marked as aforesaid by the surveyor general or by one of his deputies, except such as may be purchased by any person or persons, for his or their own use, or home consumption. In all surveys by the surveyor general or his depu ties, there shall be placed upon each piece of lumber, except such as belongs to number four, the numerical mark showing the particular sort or quality, to which it belongs. SEC. 5. The fees of the surveyor general or his deputies for marking and surveying said lumber, and giving certificates therefor, shall be paid by the purchaser, and at the following rates, viz., for boards, plank and joists, sixteen cents per thousand feet board measure, and for timber, six cents per ton. And whenever said survey and marking shall have been done by a deputy of said surveyor general, he shall pay to said surveyor general for his perquisite, one-eighth part of the fees therefor. SEC. 6. If any person shall sell or purchase within the aforesaid territory, any of the aforesaid descriptions of lumber not surveyed and marked as this act requires, he shall forfeit one dollar for every ton of timber or every thousand feet of said other lumber, sold or purchased as aforesaid, and if any person not being the surveyor general or one of his deputies, shall take an account of, or survey any of the aforesaid descriptions of lumber, sold or purchased as aforesaid, he shall forfeit not less than two nor more than ten dollars for every ton of timber, or every thousand feet of said other lumber which he shall survey or take an account of; but said forfeiture shall not extend to such lumber as the parties may agree to have shipped without survey; provided the same be actually shipped in pursuance of said agreement. Szc. 7. Whenever any seller or purchaser of any of the lumber aforesaid shall be dissatisfied with the survey made by any of said deputies, he may appeal to the surveyor general, who shall decide the point of difference, and the survey and certificate shall be made according to said decision. SEC. 8. If the surveyor general or any deputy, shall unreasonably refuse to do and perform any duty required of him by this act, or shall be guilty of any fraud or deceit in the performance of any such duty, he shall forfeit a sum not less than ten or more than fifty dollars for every such offence. SEC. 9. All fines and penalties, forfeited by any person or persons under the provisions of this act, may be recovered by action of debt; or the same may be recovered by indictment in the district court or supreme judicial court, one half to the use of the county in which such offense may have been committed, and the other half to the person who shall sue or prosecute for the same. SEC. 10. Any person aggrieved shall have a right to commence and prosecute to final judgment and execution an action on the bond given by the surveyor general in the name of the treasurer of the county of Kennebec, for the benefit of the persons so aggrieved; and said aggrieved person shall indorse the writ, and the judgment, when for the defendant, shall be rendered against said person for whose benefit the suit was brought, and execution shall issue thereon. SEC. 11. The said surveyor general shall be required to keep a record of all lumber surveyed by him, and by his deputies; and his deputies shall be required to make return of all lumber surveyed by them respectively to the surveyor general, as often as once in each month, and oftener, if required by said surveyor general. SEC. 12. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act be, and the same are hereby repealed. [Approved April 23, 1852.] OF NAVIGATION BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES, CUBA, ETC. ETC. CIRCULAR INSTRUCTIONS TO THE COLLECTORS AND OTHER OFFICERS OF THE CUSTOMS The Department has received official information that the Spanish government, by a royal decree of 3d January, 1852, has authorized the admission into the ports of Spain and islands adjacent, on a footing of equality with Spanish vessels as to navigation and port duties, the vessels of all nations which may concede a like benefit in their respective territories to the vessels of the Spanish mercantile marine, and that the American Minister at Madrid had made an arrangement with the Spanish government by which the privileges conceded by said decree to foreign vessels should take effect, as regards the American flag, on and after the first day of May last. The Collectors of the Customs are therefore requested and instructed to admit Spanish vessels arriving from Spanish or any other foreign ports, those of Cuba and Porto Rico excepted, to entry on the same footing as American vessels, as regards tonnage duty, light money, and all other dues to the United States, so far as respects the vessels; but the provisions of the act of 13th July. 1832, as regards Spanish vessels arriving from the ports of Cuba or Porto Rico, are to remain in full force. Any tonnage duty or light money which may have been exacted contrary to the tenor of the preceding instructions from Spanish vessels that may have arrived in the United States since the first ultimo, will be returned by the Department under the usual certificates and formalities. Under the circular instructions from this Department, of 13th June, 1849, Spanish vessels from the ports of Cuba have been admitted to entry free of tonnage duty when arriving with a cargo of molasses or in ballast, in consequence of American vessels arriving in the ports of that island being exempted from the customary foreign tonnage duty, provided they arrived in ballast, or loaded outward with a full cargo of molasses. The Department, however, has recently ascertained that this exemption of tonnage duty on American vessels arriving in ballast is not accorded to such vessels unless they likewise depart in ballast, and that the full tonnage duty of one dollar and fifty cents per ton is exacted if they take away any portion of a cargo of the produce of the island, molasses only excepted. Under these circumstances the Department does not consider itself authorized, under the provisions of the act of 13th July, 1832, to admit to entry Spanish vessels from Cuba on any other terms than American vessels are admitted into the ports of that island; and, consequently, all Spanish vessels arriving from said island in ballast, must pay the same tonnage duty of one dollar and fifty cents per ton, as is exacted on American vessels entering the ports of Cuba, unless they likewise leave the United States in ballast; but Spanish vessels arriving from the ports of Cuba with a full cargo of molasses will continue to be exempted from the payment of any tonnage duty. Spanish vessels arriving from a port in Porto Rico, will, in all cases, whether in ballast or cargo of any description, pay a tonnage duty of eighty seven-and-a-half cents per ton, being the amount which, agreeably to the latest authentic advice in possession of the Department, is exacted upon American vessels in that island, unless any vessel so arriving from said island shall produce a certificate from the principal officer of the customs at the port of her departure, dulv certified by the American consul, that a less tonnage duty is charged at said port upon American vessels, or that the latter under any particular circumstances are entirely exempted from the payment of tonnage duty; in which case said vessel shall be admitted to entry on like terms as may be thus accorded to American vessels in the ports of Porto Rico. In all cases where Spanish vessels may arrive from the ports of either Cuba or Porto Rico, and sh..ll produce certificates as above, duly verified by the American consul of any modification in the rate of tonnage duty on American vessels in the ports of said islands, the collectors of the customs will report the same to the Department, and if they may not have been already authorized, they will be instructed to make a similar modification, agreeably to the act of the 13th July, 1832, in the tonnage duty upon Spanish vessels thus arriving from said islands. Complaints have been made to the Department that under the instructions of 5th ultimo, to the collectors of some of the principal ports, annulling so much of the circular of 13th June, 1849, as exempted from tonnage duty Spanish vessels arriving in ballast from Cuba, various Spanish vessels have paid this duty when they had no knowledge of the change at the time of their departure for the United States. The collectors are instructed to report all such cases for the consideration of the Department, with the view of affording such just relief as it may be in its power to grant. The report in any such case will state the time of clearance and departure from Cuba, the time of arrival in the United States, and the amount of tonnage duty paid in each case. The collectors will report promptly to the Department any authentic information they may receive of modifications in the tonnage or other dues upon American vessels in the ports of either of the above islands, in order that the Department may promptly meet any such modifications in favor of American vessels by extending the same to Spanish vessels arriving in the United States from the ports of either of those coloWM. L. HODGE, Acting Sec. Treas. nies. LAW OF OHIO TO PREVENT FRAUD IN TRADE. The following Act of the General Assembly and Senate of the State of Ohio, to prevent fraudulent practices in trade, was passed at the last Session of the Legislature, and approved March 19, 1852. AN ACT TO PREVENT FRAUDULENT PRACTICES. SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That if any person shall execute and deliver, or shall cause or procure to be executed and delivered to any person, any false or fictitious bill of lading, receipt, schedule, invoice, or other written instrument, to the purport or effect that any goods, wares or merchandise, had been or were held, delivered, received, placed or deposited, on board of any steamboat or watercraft, navigating the waters in or bordering upon the State of Ohio, when such goods, wares and merchandise were not held, or had not in fact and in good faith been delivered, received or deposited on board of such steamboat or other watercraft, when such bill of lading, receipt, invoice, schedule or written instrument was made and delivered according to the purport and effect of such bill of lading, receipt, invoice, schedule or written instrument, with intent to injure, deceive, or defraud any person whomsoever, or if any person shall indorse, assign, transfer, or put off, or shall attempt to indorse, assign, transfer or put off, any such false or fictitious bill of lading, receipt, invoice, schedule, or other written instrument, knowing the same to be false, fraudulent or fictitious, the person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary, and kept at hard labor, for a term not exceeding four years, nor less than one year. SEC. 2. If any person shall execute and deliver, or shall cause or procure to be executed and delivered to any other person, any false and fictitious warehouse receipt, acknowledgment, or other instrument of writing, to the purport and effect that such person, or any person or persons, copartnership, firm, body politic or corporate, which he or she represents, or pretends to represent, held or had received in store, or held or had received in any warehouse, or in any other place, or held or had received into possession, custody, or control, of such person or persons, copartnership, firm, or body politic, any goods, wares or merchandise, when such goods, wares or merchandise were not held or had not been received in good faith, according to the purport and effect of such warehouse receipt, receipt acknowledgment, or instrument of writing, with intent to defraud, deceive, or injure any person whomsoever, or if any person shall indorse, assign, transfer or deliver, or shall attempt to indorse, transfer and deliver to any other person any such false and fictitious warehouse receipt, receipt acknowledgment, or instrument of writing, knowing the same to be false, fraudu lent, or fictitious, such person shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary, and kept at hard labor, for a term not more than three years, nor less nor one year. SEO. 3. That if any person or persons, or the agent of any person or persons, haying in his or their possession, custody or control, any goods, wares or merchandise, by virtue of any genuine instrument of writing, of the purport or effect of any such instrument of writing as is mentioned in the first or second sections of this act, shall, without authority, and with intent to injure or defraud the rightful owner thereof, sell assign, transfer or encumber such goods, wares or merchandise, or any part thereof, to the value of fifty dollars or upwards, or shall in any way convert the same to his own use, or if the consignor or consignors or the agent of such consignor or consignors of any goods, wares or merchandise, not being the absolute owner thereof, and not hav ing authority to stop, countermand or change the consignment thereof, or not having authority to sell or encumber the same during the transit, shall, after the shipment thereof on board any watercraft, or after the deposit thereof in or upon any vehicle for land carriage, in any way stop, countermand or change the consigument thereof, or shall sell, dispose of or encumber such goods, wares or merchandise, during their transit or after their delivery, or shall in any way convert the same, or any part thereof, to his or her own use, to the value of fifty dollars or upwards, so that the right owner thereof shall sustain a loss thereby to the value of fifty dollars or upwards, the person so offending, with intent as aforesaid, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary thereof, and kept at hard labor, for a term not less than one year, nor more than four years. SEC. 4. That the ninth and tenth sections of the act entitled an act to prevent fraudulent practices, passed the 12th day of March, 1844, and the first section of an act entitled an act to amend the act entitled an act to prevent fraudulent practices, passed January 31st, 1846, be, and the same are hereby repealed. OF INSURANCE COMPANIES IN NEW YORK. The following act to amend the act entitled “an act to provide for the incorporation of insurance companies," passed April 10th, 1849, was passed April 1, 1852, and is now in force : SEC. 1. It shall and may be lawful, for any marine insurance company to be organized pursuant to the provisions of the said act hereby amended, to establish and maintain one or more agencies beyond the United States, for the transaction of its lawful business, upon such terms and conditions as the said company may prescribe. SEC. 2. In case any such agency or agencies shall be established in Asia or Europe, the statement required by the thirteenth section of the said act hereby amended, may be deferred for the space of five months from and after the first day of January in each year, and when made, it shall refer to the first day of January then next preceding. SEO. 3. This act shall take effect immediately. LAW OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES IN KENTUCKY. From a revised statute of the law of Kentucky we extract the following, with regard to weights and measures, which takes effect on the 1st of July next: SEC. 6. The hundred-weight shall consist of 100 pounds avoirdupois, and 2,000 such pounds shall constitute a ton; and all contracts hereafter shall be construed accordingly, unless the contrary be expressly stipulated. SEC. 7. Sixty pounds of wheat, fifty-six pounds of rye, fifty-six pounds of Indian corn, forty-eight pounds of barley, thirty-three-and-a-third pounds of oats, sixty pounds of potatoes, sixty pounds of beans, twenty pounds of bran, sixty pounds of cloverseed, forty-five pounds of timothy-seed, fifty-six pounds of flax seed, forty-four pounds of hemp-seed, fifty-two pounds of buckwheat, fourteen pounds of blue-grass-seed, fifty pounds of cornmeal, fifty-seven pounds of onions, and fifty-six pounds of salt shall constitute a bushel of such articles respectively. RAILROAD, CANAL, AND STEAMBOAT STATISTICS. MICHIGAN CENTRAL RAILROAD. This road extends from Monroe to Laporte, a distance of 188 miles. The stock is principally owned, we believe, by eastern capitalists. The President of the company, GEORGE BLISS, Esq., resides in Springfield, Massachusetts. The managers of this company have issued a brief statement of the condition of that company and its business of last year. When it connects directly with Chicago, which will be during the spring, the traffic must be very largely increased. The earnings for the year 1851 were as follows: The earnings for 1851 were upon a longer line than was open for use in 1850-25 miles of new road having been opened in March, and about 20 more in September, 1851. The expenses for repairs and operating and managing the road, including taxes and rents of the Erie and Kalamazoo Road for the year 1851, were $137,404 19. Two dividends of 7 per cent each, upon the amount of capital stock paid in, have been declared as follows: 1st July, 1851, upon $712,600, being amount paid in upon stock at |