, 1883-09-13
A Cry From The Boundary.

| months ago, but was mlSlaid and lost
until accidentally discovered this
week. .-ED.1
Your correspondent has of late
been afflicted with an ignis faturs
similar to that whic h afflicted cler-
ical friend many years ago who, ac-
cord ng to the account given of him
by his worthy wife, long saw before
his mental eye letter H'P" of gigan-
tic proportions, and construed it
into call to ''prea CHI the gospel,
not thinking an uns.Tmpathizing pub
lie m ght consider it, call to pillow"
for which vocation, in her opinion,
nature had designe d him The same
may ! said of mys elf-the ssW'" may
mean 'cOTk instead of uTite Yet,
having waited long for others more
competent to take the subject up. I
feel myself impelletl to the task. 1t
becomes the duty Cf all true citizens
to cry down oppre ssion of evely form
and when parties who may be cloth
ed with little brief authority as
sumo powers which properly belong
to the superiors in Office, and in so
doing infict al injury on interests
private and pu Bile, they should lie
cenSured.
The circums tances of the case are
that. in December last, Capt. G.
Deake came from Victoria, with his
sloop and six or eight passengers,
without baggage, and before allowing
any of them to land called at the
custom house at Friday Harbor for
the officers to inspect his boat and
passengers; but owing to their alb
sence (the of1icersO there was no one
to perform that duty, and he allowed
his passengers to leave, not knowing
how long he would have to wait as
the officers had then been absent
three or four days, for which his
boat was seized and himself arrested
and taken to Port Townsend, and by
giving bonds to appear at the district
court he was released upon paying
the expenses. Upon presentation of
his case it was ignored by the Grand
Jury, and Capt. Deake was djscharg-
ed. He afterwards called upon the
head officer of customs in Port Town
send for compensation, requesting
him to pay his necessary expenses,
which was refused, claiming that the
act was Illegal, and he was not com
PEELED to pay it, and in an after con-
versation on the subject with myself,
he stated that he should use all the
powers in his hands to prevent the
traffic IN boats of less than 80 tons
measurement, to and from foreign
ports, for which 1 htink
he has no justification in law
for the passenger act, by which he is
governed expressly except from the
rules therein. Contiguous ports in
the Dominion of Canada, where like
freedom is allowed, and although this
customs district officers of Puget
Sound have partially succeeded in
soaring boats from Victoria and
British Columbia from coming here
to trade, yet from the Bay of Fundy
to the head of the lakes persons and
boats with freight, regardless of size,
are allowed to pass,upon comply with
the customs law, which I thipk is but
justice, for if the construction which
Mr.. Bash wishes to put upon the law
is allowed it will work to the detri-
ment of many in this county and on
the boundary of the Dominion of
Canada. In this county are many
islands at which boat of 80 tons
measurement has never made and
cannot with safety make landing,
there being no harbor, and the traffic
has to be done in canoes and small
sloops, and if the settler is obliged to
travel and ship his produce by steam
boats it VIII be equivalent to isola-
ton and financial ruin. In my opin-
ion if Mr.. Bash and the customs au-
thorities wish to display their zeal
and energy there is ample room for
its display in the daily violations of
the act referred to, by the steamboats,
plying ON the different routes and al
lowed to carry as many passengers as
they can get on board, and fill all
available room with stock and lumber
and, in some cases which 1 am ac
quainted with, carry kerosene and
other explosives in the hold in close
proximity to the boilers and fire
From the actions of the customs off
GERS and their language in regard to
the above case one would reasonably
infer that the act was made on the
same principle as the spiders web.
i. e. that the strong ones could break
through and the weaker ones be
caught, or that the money of the
steamboat men had lu u eating eff
feet. l would also suggest that should
Mr.. Bash desire a judicial decision
on the applicability of the passenger
act tnat an opinion of one of the [.
, S. Supreme Judges would carry more
weight than one from the district
court Judge, and can be procured
without throwing the costs on a hard
working poor man. Trusting the
above will be received in the spirit
in which it is witten,I subscribe my
self LOVER OF FAIR PLAY.
, The side-wheel iron passenger steamer
, Olympia, built for the o. r. & n. Co. to
run on Puget Sound, was launched last