To His Excellency John A. Bingham to Thomas B. Van Buren , United States, March 27, 1875

Mr. Bingham to Mr. Van Buren.

Sir: Referring to your dispatch No. 598, of date the 3d instant, in which you inquire Whether you possess the power, as consul-general of the United States, so far as our countrymen resident in Yokohama are concerned, to prohibit the use of other material than tiles or metal in the roofs of houses, and whether I have authority to confer such power upon you, I have to say that it is my opinion that you do not possess any such power, and that I have no authority to confer it.

It seems to me that your inquiry is covered by my communication to you, No. 121, of the 30th November last, to the effect that no authority is conferred either upon the United States minister or the United States consuls in Japan to enact laws for the government of American citizens in this empire, by which they will be subjected to new obligations or new liabilities of any kind. As I desire to communicate to the Department upon this general subject, I will thank you to make inquiry and inform me to what extent any of the consuls in Yokohama have imposed new obligations by laws of their own enactment upon their countrymen resident in Japan, and what power they claim to be possessed of in that behalf.

Under the instructions of the Department, I inquire especially what powers, if any, are claimed by the respective consular boards in Japan, and especially by the consular board at Kanagawa, to make laws, or regulations having the force of law, in reference to licenses, and whether this power is claimed by the consuls separately to have been conferred by their respective governments, and what is the form of their authority. I am also instructed to inquire upon what authority the general police and municipal regulations of Yokohama and the other open ports in Japan are adopted and made binding, and what difference, if any, obtains in the municipal regulations of the several open ports.

I will also thank you to furnish me with full information upon this subject as to Yokohama, and to request full information from our several consuls, and to communicate the same to me. All the information is desired at as early a day as possible.

I am, &c.,