260 Gilders. Cents. Hides, unenumerated, fresh, salted or dried, val. per cent. prepared, 100 kilo. 10 0 Machinery and steam engines, val. Manufactures of silk or cotton, and all others unenumerated, 1 per cent. Sugar, raw, 100 kilo. 10 refined, 100 kilo. 36 Tools and articles of steel, val. Wine, vat - in bottles of 116 or more to the vat, 100 bottles 4 0 Wool, sheep's Free. combed or dyed, 100 kilo. Woollen as cloths and kersemeres, &c., 100 kilo. 45 All other woollens, of which Netherland ells weigh a kilo. or more, 100 kilo. All other woollens, raw and imported to be dyed, 100 kilo. All other woollens, raw and imported to be dyed, val. In consequence of the extraordinary measures taken by neighbouring States to encourage the importation of grain and other articles of food, it appears necessary here also to facilitate their introduction. We, therefore, &c., de cree: Art. 1. The duties on the importation of the under-mentioned goods shall be diminished to the following scale : Art 2. The above regulations shall come into operation five days after the date of the Staats Blad and Staats Courant in which this decree is published, and shall remain in vigour till the 1st of July, 1854, or till it is otherwise determined by law. Utrecht, Sept. 15, 1853. WILLIAM. Decree of December 23, 1853, relative to measures for the encouragement of the Import of Grain and other Provisions : Art. 1. The levying of the duties on the importation of potatoes and millet, as fixed by tariff added to the law of June 19, 1845, and of the duties on the importation of wheat and peeled spelt, rye, maize, or Turkish corn, barley and malt, buckwheat, oats, and unpeeled spelt, beans, tares, peas, and lentils, groats, grits, and peeled barley, as fixed by Art. 2 of the law of May 30, 1847, and by the law of March 3, 1852, is suspended till October 1, 1854. Art. 2. Till the above-mentioned period, the duties on the importation of the named grains and provisions will be levied as follows: Rotterdam, April 26, 1854. Considerable anxiety is felt among the Dutch importers of Russian grain regarding their position in consequence of the war. This trade between Hollaud and Russia is large, particularly in rye, which is used for the manufacture of spirits, and it appears that it has been the custom of the merchants to effect purchases during the winter, for delivery at the opening of the navigation at all the various ports, Archangel included, and meanwhile to make heavy advances. For the whole to arrive, it is alleged, it would be necessary to allow shipments during the entire summer; and, as the orders in council recently issued by the British government are not considered to convey a certainty of such permission being granted, a deputation is contemplated of the leading grain importers of Holland to proceed to London. These gentlemen, it is said, will wait upon Lord Clarendon, with the view of petitioning the government for special licences for the transport in Dutch vessels to Holland of such boná fide property as they may now have lying in Russian hands.-Cor. HERRING FISHERY. In The herring fishery on the coast was unusually productive last season. 1851 it produced 8,100,000 fish; in 1852, 9,569,000; and in 1853, 16,570,000, which is the greatest number that has been ever caught.-Cor. MONEYS. The currency of this country is in florins or gulden and cents. The par of Exchange on London being 12 florins per £ sterling. The late gold coinage having been taken out of circulation, bank notes and silver are in general use. The gold coinage is to appear soon of 10 florin and 5 florin pieces. The Netherlands pound (pond) is equal to the French kilogramme, and contains 29, English imperial pounds. It is subdivided into the ounce (ons), or tenth part, corresponding to the French Hectogramme; the Lood, or hundredth part, corresponding to the French Décagramme; the Wigtje, or thousandth part, corresponding to the French Gramme; and the Korrel, or ten thousandth part, corresponding to the French Décigramme. Comparison of the Netherlands, or French weights, with those of England :— 100 Netherland ells equal to 26-5438 Rhineland roods, or 26 roods, 6 inches 3.7 lines Rhineland measure. 100 Rhineland roods = 376 7358 Netherland ells. BELGIUM. SEPARATION FROM HOLLAND. The revolution of September, 1830, separated Holland from Belgium, and a national congress, June 4, 1831, proclaimed Prince Leopold of Saxe Cobourg King of the Belgians. By the treaty of London, November 17, in the same year, between the five great powersEngland, France, Russia, Austria, and Prussia-the limits of the two kingdoms of Holland and Belgium are defined, and the integrity, independence, and neutrality of the latter are fully guaranteed. In the year 1839, the King of Holland gave his assent to this treaty.-Ed. WAR WITH RUSSIA. PRIVATEERS. Commercial men are informed that instructions have been addressed to the judicial, maritime, and military authorities, warning them that no privateers under any flag, or provided with commissions or letters of marque of any kind whatever, either alone or in company with any vessels they may have captured, will be admitted into our ports, except driven in by stress of weather. These authorities are in consequence charged in the latter case to keep a strict watch over such privateers and their prizes, and to force them to put to sea as soon as possible. It has been prescribed to the same authorities not to admit as of legal value any commission or letter of marque delivered by the belligerent powers without the authorisation of the government of the king. Any persons subjected to the laws of the kingdom who shall fit out privateers, or take any part in them, will therefore expose themselves, on the one hand to be treated as pirates abroad, and, on the other hand, to be prosecuted before the Belgian tribunals with all the rigour of the laws.-Belgian Moniteur, April, 1854. Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Her Majesty and the King of the Belgians, signed at London, October 27, 1851. [Ratifications exchanged at London, April 7, 1852.] Art. 1. Reciprocity.-There shall be reciprocal liberty of commerce between all the dominions of the two high contracting parties; and the subjects of each of them shall, throughout the whole extent of the territories of the other, enjoy the same rights, privileges, liberties, favours, immunities and exemptions, in matters of commerce, which are or may be enjoyed by native subjects. 2. Duties, &c., on Nationality of Vessels.-In regard to the duties depending on the nationality of vessels, it is agreed, that goods of every kind, without distinction as to origin, imported into Belgium directly from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, its colonies and possessions, under the British flag, shall enjoy the same exemptions, repayments, bounties, or other favours, as if imported under the Belgian flag, and shall not pay respectively any other duties, nor be subject to any other formalities, than if imported under the Belgian flag; except in the case which is provided for in article 5 hereinafter. 3. Duties depending upon Place. In regard to the duties depending upon the place from whence vessels have come, it is agreed that goods of every kind, without distinction as to origin, imported into Belgium directly from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, its colonies and possessions, under the British flag, shall be admitted at the same rate of duty as if imported under the Belgian flag from the place or in the manner most privileged under the general tariff of Belgium; except in regard to the goods and in the cases specified in article 5 hereinafter. It is understood that the goods to which the present and the preceding article apply must have been actually laden in the ports of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or of its colonies and possessions. 4. Goods under British Flag elsewhere than from United Kingdom.-Goods of every kind, without distinction as to origin, imported into Belgium, from elsewhere than the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, its colonies and possessions, under the British flag, shall enjoy the same exemptions, bounties, or other favours as if imported under the Belgian flag, and shall not be subject to any other formalities, nor pay any other duties, than if imported under the Belgian flag; except in regard to the goods and in the cases specified in article 5 hereinafter. 5. Exceptions. The stipulations of the three preceding articles shall not be applicable to the goods and in the cases hereinafter specified, that is to say :(1.) So far as relates to the stipulations of articles 3 and 4, In regard to furniture-woods and dye-woods, rice, sugar, coffee, tobacco, cotton, only when the importation shall take place under the Belgian flag directly from a transatlantic country. And as regards fruits, olive oil, raw sulphur, only when the importation shall take place under the Belgian flag directly from the place of production. (2.) So far as relates to the stipulations of articles 2, 3, and 4. In regard to salt. But with regard to salt, His Majesty the King of the Belgians engages, 1st. To reduce immediately by two-thirds the duty actually levied on raw salt imported from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, under the British flag. 2nd. To assimilate spring salt imported from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland into Belgium to raw salt, as regards duty of customs, duty of excise, exemption from excise in case it is destined for manufactories and warehousing. In order to enjoy this advantage, spring salt must be accompanied by a certificate delivered by a Belgian Consular agent, proving its origin from an English mineral spring. 3rd. To take off the prohibition which applies to the transit through the Belgian territory of salt imported under the British or the Belgian flag. 6. Transatlantic Goods.-Goods imported from a transatlantic country, under the British flag, shall pay the same duties, whether they shall have been laden |