The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-02-20
REFORM IN. QUARANTINE
SHIPPING MEN WANT a NEW
ORDER OF THINGS.

Ports to Seek Cargoes - The City
Council Looking Into the Natter and
g Reduction in Charges Expected
improvements at the Ballast
Wharyes to be Recomm ended.
The interest in the proposed improve
ments in the quarantine, whereby vessels
will not be so long detained in discharglng
ballast. or through what are claimed to be
unnecessary sanitary restrictions, is no
keener with any class of business men on
the Bay than with the ship brokers.
"Tbe shipping of Savannah has been
greatly retarded by the long detention for
funigation and dischargiug Of ballast at
quarantine, said A. r. Salas yesterday to
a MORNING NEWS reporter. Vessels com
ing from uuinfected ports, Monte Nideo,
Buenos uyres, Rosario, Cape DeNerde and
Port Natal should not be detained in quar-
antine if they have a clean bill Of health"
said MIR. Salas. "Of course, the quarantine
should be strict against all Brazilian and
West India ports, but the unaffected ports,
which | have designated, against which
quarantine has been enforced, are as
healthy, or | may say without rejecting
against Savannah, even healthier than this
port"
WHY SHIPS GO ELSEWHERE.
Going to his file of cablegrams Mr.. Salas
took off one. 1t was an inquiry as to the time
a certain vessel wanting 70 come to Savan-
nah would be detained in quarantine. AS
the time would have exceeded the limit r
owners were willing to submit to the vessel
was ordered elsewhere. That, said Mr..
Salas, lis the experience we are having
right along Our firm has five vessels in
quarantine now, and we cannot say how
long they will be detained We used to
have from twenty to thirty vessels com
ing in every month to Tybee
roads seeking; now there are only
a few. and we consider it big week when
there are five in the roads. Those who
know the embarrassments and delays Of
quarantine rarely come seeking, and often
when they do come into the roads aud find
that long DELAYS await them in quarantine
they set sail aid seek other ports. This long
detention has been forcing goods to other
ports for shipment, principally to New
York and Boston. As has been fully set
forth in the MORNING News, it has driven
out the importation of coffee from this port
altogether.
THE DELAY IN DISCHARGING.
"There are but two wHarves at quaran-
tine in repair, as we are told, for vessels to
discharge ballast, and that by a slow and
expensive process Mr. Salas added
Sometimes six or seven vessels have to
wait for weeks until other vessels which
have come in ahead have discharged. As
have said, our firm alone has five vessels
now detained there. The policy of cbarg-
ing excessive prices for fumigation is an
other draw back. If 1t costs the city IS,
there is no reason why it should cost us 400
or 500 per cent. But the delay is the most
Objectionable feature, for time is money,
and ordinary expenses count up heavy in
long delays. This is why so many vessels
are turned away from Savannah"
"How can this be obviated" Mr.. Salas
was asked.
when shippers are able to say that
there will be no exec ,sive charges for fumi-
cation; when the time of detention win be a
reasonable one and we eau say just what
the delay will be-in other words, when
vessels can get to the wharves promptly and
have ample facilities for discharging
rapidly without excessive charges, then
Savannah will be able to record material
increase in her shipping
Chow are tonnage and freights nowl'
TONNAGE MORE PLENTIFUL.
Tonnage is more plentiful just now, and
there is no material decline in freiGhts
especially III cotton"
do you look for any immediate decline
in freights on naval storesp
II think rosin and turpentine will be re-
ent quotations-l3-32 of a penny per pound
and 5 per cent. primage is now being freely
offered to the Baltic"
How does this compare with last years
freightssn
1T is 90 cents per bale more than was
paid for cotton from Savannah to the
Baltic at this time last year,
ITO what do you attribute the advanceP'
at is due 10 several causes, of which NAV
ha n Of
long detention at quarantine and the i'm
provement of business generally. There is
more cotton going direct from Savannah to
the Baltic than for the past two seasons"
ut is seldom vessels come to this port
now,n said a gentleman conversant with
Savannah shipping, except under charter.
"A less number of vessels are seeking freight
here They often lie in the roads until
they hear of freight, but many of them
turn away when they learn that they may
be detained in quarantine from one to four
weeks. Many vessels used to come over
from Barbados, healthier port than Ss-
vannah, and seek freight here. Tybee can
be made by vessels from Barbad es mors
favorably thau most any other point on the
South Atlantic coast They came over here
when the restri ctions and delays of quar-
antine were not embargoes on the shipping
interests of Savannah.
lhh hrfhCl OF QUARANTINE.
As high as thirty sail used to lie seen al
one time on Tybee Roads. No sucn thing
can be seen there now. Savannah used tC
be the largest coffee importing city Of the
South Atlantic coast We used to import
more coffee than New Orleans or Galveston.
AS high as 10000 bags were imported in a
single season, and with the big western
trade tributary to Savannah, 1t ought Co
import coffee and other tropical products.
but the excessive restrictions have driven the
import trade IN coffee ana other products
away from the port
That a strong effort will be made in
council tonight to put the quarantine in
better shape for promptly discharging
ballast, and tha the quarantine restrictions
will be modified is expected. In fact a
well posted alderman is authority for the
statement that the quarantine is TO be
operated upon a less objectionable plan,
and an engine provided so hat two vessels
may unload at once by mechanical power
and tho charges are to be reduced TO a
minimum 50 that delays will be few aud
far between, and Savannah be put in shape
to regain any prestige she may have lost
under former management
The committees from the cotton exchange
and the board Of ira e held a conference at
the board of trade room yesterday in rela-
ton TO the quarantine. They agreed in
pretty much everything except as to the
proper location of the station, with a view
TO its permauency, and it is very probable
that majority and minority report will be
made when the committees appear before
council, as there is a considerable diversity
OF opinion IN both committees about the