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entire cost of coining the metals; and at the other Mints of the kingdom, inasmuch as they are but newly established, a calculation of the expense shall be made which shall be the rule for the first year, at which time this calculation being corrected. by an examination of the accounts of expenditures, this corrected calculation shall govern for the following second year.

8. There shall not be levied for costs of smelting more than two reals on the marc of mixed bullion, in place of the five and a half reals heretofore exacted and all the bullion brought to the smelting rooms shall be smelted for the introducers of it, if according to its quality said bullion will pay the expense of the operation. The owners of mixed silver are at liberty to perform this operation by themselves whenever it may be most convenient for them.

9. On assays for strangers, there shall only be collected the real costs of the operations of assaying and those of fusion, in the coined pieces which require it. Suppressing the duty of bocado.

10. The payment of the only contribution as designated in Art. 6. on bullion of gold and silver having been made at the National Treasury and the stamps to show the payment placed upon the pieces of these metals, the owners are at liberty to sell them or employ them in any uses they may desire, without any official designation of value whatever.

11. Six grains weight of deficient shall only be allowed in the Mint in place of the 18 now allowed.

12. In future the scientific offices of the Mint and Smelting Rooms shall be given to persons who possess the necessary knowledge of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and Mineralogy to discharge the duties of them.

13. Quicksilver (in caldo) liquid shall be entirely exempt from tax, whether it proceeds from Europe or Asia, or be drawn from the mines of the Empire.

14. The powder which the miners require in working the mines, the gov ernment shall deliver to them at prime cost.

DECREE.

13th February, 1822.

Prescribing the grain of deficiency in weight, which are allowed in Silver

coin.

The sovereign, Provisional, Governing Committee, which from the first moments of its installation took under consideration the deplorable and decaying condition of the mining business, and the urgent necessity of affording to this branch of industry whatever means were in its power, in order to contribute to its greater prosperity, on which depends that of the Empire, having deliberately considered the exposition made to it by the Regency in con

sequence of the resolution taken on the 22d of November last, and of the opinion which the commission on mining rendered on this important question, in the exercise of its powers, and in conformity with the provision of Article 11th, Chapter xith, regulating it, has determined to decree, and does decree: "There shall only be allowed eight and a half grains of deficient weight in silver coin, in place of the eighteen which have heretofore been allowed."

DECREE.

29th October, 1823. Exemption from the duty of ten per cent. on specie funds remitted to the mining Villages.

The Sovereign Congress of Mexico have decreed as follows:

Specie funds destined for the mining villages, with a custom house permit, shall be free from the payment of the two per cent. duty; the proper officers taking care to require a corresponding return from it in conformity to the disposition made of the same.

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Concerning the importation of Quicksilver.

The Sovereign Constituent Congress have thought proper to decree : That quicksilver arriving at our ports shall, without regard to its origin, or the place of shipment, be admitted, in whatever quantities the same has arrived or shall arrive under a friendly or neutral flag; provided that this shall not effect the decision of any causes now pending for the forfeiture of the article.

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Permission to Don Juan Bautista Binnen, to work Quicksilver mines.

The Sovereign Mexican Congress of the United Mexican States having taken with consideration the application of D. Juan Bantista Binnón, relative to granting him the privilege of working quicksilver mines, have thought proper to decree :

1. The exclusive privilege is hereby granted to the said Binnón for the period of five years, to work the quicksilver mines in the territory of the republic, he conforming in all respects to the mining ordinances.

2. This privilege, in accordance with the request of the person interested,

shall commence two years from the date of this decree, which shall be held without prejudice to those who in the meantime shall acquire mines of the same article, and those who now hold those previously acquired.

3. In like manner permission is given to him to erect at his own expense three factories for the working the minerals of quicksilver in those places where he may have discovered the mines.

4. If at the expiration of the term named in the second article the said Binnon shall not have commenced work with the utensils which he proposes, at that date all the privileges named in this law shall terminate.

5. The expenditure for labor in the quicksilver mines which said Binnon shall work, it shall be his duty to maintain at a weekly average of not less than two hundred dollars.

6. The quicksilver which said Binnón shall extract from said mines shall not be sold by him at more than forty dollars per quintal.

7. Whenever the establishments of the contractor shall produce all the quicksilver necessary for the consumption of the mining operations of the republic, and shall prove the same to the satisfaction of the government, the introduction of foreign quicksilver shall be prohibited.

8. If in addition to what may be necessary for the consumption of the said mining operations, and a reserved stock of one quarter more, which it is the duty of said Binnón to keep, he shall have accumulated any surplus, he shall be at liberty to export the same from the republic, free of duty.

9. The privilege of cutting the wood which may be necessary in the establishment, for the reduction of the quicksilver, is hereby granted, he com plying with all the regulations which govern that subject.

10. The nation, at the expiration of the term of the grant, receives a transfer which the said Binnón hereby makes of the business, and the sev. eral factories connected with the same.

DECREE.

May 20th, 1826.

The suppressing of the Tribunal of the Miners.

1. The tribunal general of the miners according to the constitution, shall cease to exist in so far as relates to the administration of justice with which it was charged.

2. Its functions shall also cease so far as relates to the executive, economical and administrative attributes which characterised its institution and laws.

3. The late tribunal shall immediately proceed to liquidate within such period as the government shall designate, not exceeding two months, the accounts of the funds which have been placed in their possession.

4. The general meeting of the miners shall select an individual who, with

an accountant named by the government and an attorney of the creditors of the mining funds, appointed in such time and manner as the government shall designate, who shall receive and audit the accounts, having first taken in charge the archives, &c. pertaining to the tribunal.

5. The individual members of the tribunal shall receive their salaries during the period mentioned in the third article.

6. The accounts audited as is provided in Article 4, shall be transmitted to the government who with such report as they may think proper, shall send them to the General Congress for their approval.

7. The avails of what is called the real de mineria, and other available credits of the late tribunal shall be applied to the payment of their officers, the maintenance of the College, the payment of taxes and the redemption of loans; and the real de mineria shall cease where the debts chargeable upon the mining funds shall have been extinguished.

8. Such portions of those funds as have been received by the State shall be reimbursed to the establishment within such time as the government shall designate.

9. The nation recognises its obligation for the amounts which have been taken from the funds of the tribunal to meet the urgent wants of the state.

10. The collection of the means belonging to this fund shall be made by respective commissaries, who under their own responsibility shall remit the avails to the mint at Mexico, in the nature of a special deposit, and in the meantime said establishment will, in relation to the same, govern itself accordingly.

11. The distribution of the funds in conformity with this law, shall be made through warrants drawn by the person named by the general meeting of miners, subject to the careful supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury.

12. Such person shall be regarded as the general attorney of the body of miners, and in that capacity shall make such representations to the government as he may judge proper, as to the most effectual execution of this law.

13. Extracts from the accounts taken at the tribunal, shall be printed and published each month successively of the receipts and expenditures of the establishment.

14. The persons in the permanent employment of the late tribunal shall continue in the class of cesantes, payable out of the funds of the establish

ment.

15. The government shall require of the cesantes to engage in the labors of the establishment if they think it necessary.

16. The college of miners shall continue henceforth, in the same manner as heretofore and with the endowment which has been assigned to it which shall be drawn from the mining fund.

17. The College shall be under the direction of the person who, under

the provision of this law, is appointed by the general meeting of miners, who shall exercise in relation to it those functions heretofore enjoyed by the tribunal, subject to the President of the United Mexican States.

18. The government shall obtain the opinion of Congress as to the salary which the director should have, and with their approbation will form a new plan for the regulation of the college according to the intention of its endowment, leaving to the general Congress to pass on the subject whatever they may determine to be proper.

Lorenzo de Zavala, President of the Senate; Bernardo Gonzales Perez de Angulo, President of the House of Deputies; Demetrio del Castillo, Secretary of the Senate; Antonio Fernandez Monjardin, Deputy Secretary.

DECREE.

September 15, 1829.

Persons who have the Collection of what belongs to the Mineral Fund. The President of the United States of Mexico to the inhabitants of the Republic.-Know Ye:

That great inconveniences having appeared in the establishment of the miners which have arisen in the collection of the foundation funds made by the general commissaries of the States, to whom, in the meantime and until the said establishment was organized the same was committed, in conformity with the law and regulation of the 20th May, 1826: and consequently, desiring that in future the collection of the duties shall be made by persons in the employment of and named by the gentlemen who compose said estab lishment, with whom they can have a more ready intercourse and can thus have more conveniently at hand the funds for the purpose of securing their appropriation to the important objects for which they were designed. In the exercise of the extraordinary powers conferred on me, I have thought proper to command:

1st. That the authority of the commissaries general in the collection of the mining fund, be discontinued.

2d. That this duty shall successively be performed by persons respectively, whom said establishment shall appoint, at least at one of the points where the mining duty is to be collected, said persons being responsible to the same, and having previously given suitable security.

3d. That the same establishments assign to the collectors a compensation in proportion to the sum collected, observing always the greatest economy in the disposition of the funds.

4th. That the commissaries general present to the establishment the general accounts of the amount produced by the mining duty during the time in which they have been charged with its collection, with a statement of the

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