New-York tribune., 1871-08-26
THE HEALTH OFFTCERS DEFENSE.

DR.. CarnOchan has at last been heard from.
| After a fOrtnights silence under the grave
| charges of fraudulent administration OF Qllarah-
| tine affairs which have been made against him
| and proved toO-in THE TRIBUNE, he contents
himself with q weak, general statement having
little bearing on the points at issue. His CHIEF
| defense for outrageous extOrtions is bis rear
of the appearance of cholera next Spring. NO
weaker defense than this has been put forward
even by the Tammany Ring for its exposed
rascalitles.
The Health Officer, condescending to particu-
| lars and attempting to refute direct charge,
| asserts that the rates for towing, hghterlng,
stevedoring, and coopering are fixed by the
| Quarantine Commissioners. This is simply an
evasion These charges, which are double
| those for which merchants could get the work
done, he justifes on the ground that men who
isolate themselves at Quarantine and run all
the risks of disease there must be paid double
wages But no proof is offered, nor can any
be cited, that such wages are paid these men
| and the evasive plea falls to the ground.
| Moreover, the Quarantine rates are on one
| scale and Dr. CarnOchan's charges on another.
The fraud is not in the Commissioners rates,
but the Health Officers charges. The Com
missioners have authorized the charging of
twice the rates of private lightermen, but Dr.
| CarnOchan has illegally authorized the levying
of twice the rates of the Commissioners. The
proof of this has already appeared in full in
| THE TRIBUNE.
DR.. Carnochan further declares that the
| tunnage of the port has gradually increased
during the year, and he gives figures from
his o,cn books in veriication. The figures
may be true, but they prove nothing In his
| favor. On the contrary, they confirm what
we have already asserted to the effect that
| DR.. Carnochan's extOrtiOns have driven vessels
| to other ports. His quotations are for the
| first six months of the year, only one OF
| which is quarantine MONTH" 1t may be
| necessary to state that during June, July,
! August, and September the power OF the
| Health Officer in the Lower Bay is absolute,
| and it is during these months that the de-
crease is marked. His figures now submitted
show that while the increase for the first
five months was regular and natural, there
was an increase of only one vessel during the
month of June. At the same time there
was an actual decrease in the arrivals of
barks and brigs the class of vessels chiefly
|
subjected to Carnochan's impostions, so that
by his own showing he is driving this i'm
pOrtant trade to other ports.
| Thus much as to the two points to which
DR.. Carnochan refers in detail Let us call
attention to other points which he has not
touched upon We have distinctly charged
| |. That he was brbed, May %. 1870, by
| George W. White, for. 100000 cash paid to
his agent Martin Weiner, and a promise of
| $1,000 a month for four months, to throw all
| the towing, lightering, stevedOring, and coop
ering of Quarantine into the hands of a COM
pany authorized by him to charge three and
four times the usual rates for such work.
III. That he received $4,000 of this cash
payment and like proportion of the weekly
installment of the bribe.
III. That in order to keep faith with his
fellow pirates he prOstituted his Office by un-
necessarily detainng vessels at Quarantine
until their owners had submitted to the ex-
actions of the company who paid the blood
money!
". That, not content with bribe of $4,000
a month DR.. CarnOchan refused for the pres
ent quarantine season the same offer, and an
other of 2j per cent of the gross profits, say
ing he :" could do better"
Moreover, we have shown, by citing names
dates and figures, the amount of which each
merchant has been. plundered by Carnochan
and his fellow pirates and neither he nor any
merchant named has disputed the correctness
of the table.
There can be no answer on Dr. CarnoChan's
part. Is there to be no action on that of Gov.
Hoffman