Le Cap. Seat of the central storehouse for the equipment and clothing of the troops of the State of Haiti

On 15 March the Council of State passed a law on the administration of finance. In each province there were to be established an intendant of finance, a controller, a treasurer, a director of domains, a director of customs, a weigher and a storekeeper, to reside in the chief town of the province if it was a seaport, and otherwise in the first seaport of the province nearest the chief town. The provincial intendant of finance was to watch especially over the collection of the government’s revenues; the sale of the plantations, houses, guildives, salt pans and other property of the State; the leasing of such property as remained unsold; the payment of the proceeds of the sales and leases of that property; that of the quarter of subvention; the customs service; and the collection of import and export duties and of the dues for weighing, gauging and confiscation. His supervision extended over the storehouses and other depots of the State, as well as over the public treasury. Every morning he was to furnish the government with a daily statement of the movement of the treasury chest, of that of the customs, of the movement of the storehouse, and of that of the produce store at the domains. The controller was charged with verifying all orders for expenditure and receipts and all the accounts of the accountants; he gave his opinion on all offers of goods and contracts to be made with the administration, as well as on the prices of sales and leases; in a word, he watched over the execution of the laws and ordinances in all the operations of the administration; he took the intendant’s place whenever the latter had valid reasons for absence or was prevented. The provincial treasurer received all the government’s dues of whatever kind, on the orders of the intendant, verified and registered at the office of control; in the same manner he received all the dues on imports, weighing, gauging and salvage of wrecked vessels and all the confiscations pronounced in favor of the customs, on the certified schedule of the director of customs, bearing the forms prescribed above. The prices of the sales and leases of the houses, rum distilleries, salt pans and other property of the State that were not payable in kind were likewise collected by the treasurer, at the intendant’s instance. The duties of the director of the domains of the State embraced the leasing of unsold plantations, by order of the intendant given on the controller’s advice, and the collection of plantation rents payable in kind, of the subvention duty and others; he levied a duty of one percent on the amount of each lease of coffee plantations, sugar plantations or other properties, which he was bound to pay into the treasury every month. The director of customs was charged with seeing that there was no fraud in the landing of goods subject to import duties, with ascertaining their quantities and qualities, with watching closely over all landings of produce coming by sea from the various ports of the island, with verifying likewise the exports of foreign commerce, and with seeing to it that all import and export duties were paid exactly; he drew up the certified schedule of these duties, which were paid into the treasury. He collected the dues for weighing, gauging and salvage of wrecked vessels and all the confiscations pronounced in favor of the customs, as well as the dues laid on the coasting trade; but he was bound to pay these dues every month into the treasury of the province. A storekeeper was established in every place where an intendant and a controller resided; and in every place where the service required it, a principal clerk of administration charged with collecting the dues of the State. The treasurer general resided near the president and corresponded directly with him and with the superintendent general of finance. He required an account of all the chests of the State; once expenditure was fixed, the surplus of receipts was centralized in a chest he kept for the purpose. The superintendent of finance had with him two deputies who took his place whenever there was need. There was at Le Cap, for the whole State of Haiti, a central and general storehouse for the equipment and clothing of the troops and for the storage of cloth, linen and other materials for making them up.