The morning call., 1891-03-21
PILOTS CHARGES.
Special Meeting Of the Chamber
of Commerce.
Merchants Protest Against the Passage Of the
Pilot Bill-Views of Pilots Regarding
the Matter.

a Spocldl Ule6JIilg VI TIE SDhLuOoL VI
Commerce was held yesterday afternoon
for the purpose of considering Assembly
Bill No. 705-"An act to amend the Politi-
cal Code relative to the pilotage of YES
sels." President c. l.. Taylor presided, and
the attendance of members was quite large.
Before proceeding with the business for
which the meeting was called series OF
resolutions, expressing regret at the death
OF Senator Hearst and sympathy with his
family, were adopted and ordered spread
upon the minutes.
A communication was received from Hon.
Samuel Parker, Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the Hawaiian Government, conveying
the sincere thanks of Queen Liiuokalani,
Queen Dowager Kapiolani and the members
of The royal family to the chamber for the
kindly expressions of coincidence and SYM
pathy sent by the body on the death of
King Kalakaua.
TEXT OF THE BILL.
Secretary Haynes read the Pilot Bill
now before the Legislature, which Is as
follows:
SECTION !. Section 246S OF the Political Code
is hereby amended TO read as follows:
Sec. 246S. All vessels saiiing under an enroll
ment aud lie ehsed and engaged in cOasting
trade between the sort Of San Francisco ana any
other port Of the United States snail be exempt
from all piotage, unless a pilot be actually EN-
ployed. All foreign vessels and all vessels from
foreign port or bound thereto, and all vessels
sailing under Il register between the port OF san
francisco and any other pert OF the United
States shall be liable for potage and half pilot
age as provided in Section 2466 OF this code.
Sec. 2. This act shall lake effect from It's
passage.
At this juncture it was stated that Cap
tain Mayo and a number of other pilots
were down on Change, and if requested
IyOu1 he Glad tn pXnllln To tlp chamber
their views in regard to the bill under dis
cuSSion. No one seemed inclined, however
to hear the pilots and they were not in
vited.
Captain Charles Nelson offered the fol-
lowing resolution:
Resolved II is the sense OF this meeting that
Assembly Bin No. 703, passed by said body and
now before Ihe Senate. relative to pliOtage OF
vessels at the port OF San Francisco, Is against
the Interest NOT alone OF shipping but the whole
State; therefore We, the members OF this body,
request the President and Secretary to send a
memorial to Hon. ii. Ii. Markham, Governor OF
the State OF California not 10 sign SAID bill should
II come before him for his signature.
VIEWS OF SHIP OWNERS.
President Taylor said that a ship-0wner
cannot clear a ship for New York under
enrolment, and under the provisions of the
bill, although bound to another port OF the
United States, would have to pay pil0tage.
Captain James +. Chapman stated that
the bill was very ingeniouSly wOrGed
Ships on the Coast have always been ex-
empt. Ships coming here from New ork
must be registered. Ii they come under en-
Tollment and put into foreign port on the
way they are liable to be fined. The bill is
intended 10 enable the pilots to catch every
thing that comes along. The pilots can
afford to pay tugs" sad the Captain, "and
| am informed that in the past few years
they have paid the tug-bOat companies half
a million Of dollars. No wonder people
Tlp ahnut charges.
say This bill is against the interest of the
city, of the State, and in fact of the United
States. | know of no maritime bills that
have been passed for years but that have
been cinches on tonnage. Every law that
has been passed has been to fleece the
ships"
A Crawford spoke against the passage
of the bill saying that under it vessels run
ming from here 10 Honolulu and OCCASION
ally making a trip to a coast port, when
they made such trip, being under register,
would be compelled to pay pilotage.
A SERIOUS CHARGE.
l. E. Thayer said: SIT is known to every
shipping man that the pilots own the Legis-
lature. a few years ago il was testified
before Legislative committee IN this
room, that the pilots received Sl98 600 in
that year. Just think of it, nearly $500, 600
among twenty men, nearly $4,000 each.
Captain Jolffe then testthed that the pilots
were paving S55,000 a year to Goodall,
Perkins 81 Co. and would agree 10 hav-
ing the pilots fees reduced by 25 per cent.
We passed bill after bill to that effect but
the pilots always defeated them. The ship
owners have always been beaten by twenty
men. | don't think we can get any remedy
from the State Legislature; we must go to
Congress. / consider half-pilOtage nothing
but sheer robbery. Many captains coming
here are better pilots than any of the twenty
in the service. There is tax on commerce
here of $4,000 year, and this bill ought
not to pass"
The resolution proposed by Captain Mel
son was unanimously adopted and conf
mittee of three, consisting of A. Crawford,
Captain c. Nelson and Captain j. f. Chap
man, was appointed to go to Sacramento
and confer with the Governor and ask him
not to sign the bill should 1t come before
him.
Before adjourning, the chamber left to
the Board of Trustees the matter OF ar
ranging for the annual banquet it being
understood that it will, If possible, be held
while President Harrison Is in the city.
WHAT THE PILOTS SAY.
After the meeting adjourned a number OF
pilots who had expected TO be invited TO
attend, were found by a CALL reporter on
Change discussing the bill. One of them
said: 90 TIE bill makes ont very little
change, and does not tax vessels sailing on
the coast OF to domestic ports any more
than now. What we want to get at is this:
Ships coming out here from New York,
say. get charter to 90 TO NanamO for
coal. NanaimO being foreign port, Of
C uTSe If they clear for there they must pay
our pilotage. To eyade this they clear for
Port Angeles, port of entry on Puget
Sound, and then clear from there for
Nanaimo. After loading they return to Port
Angeles with their cargo bonded and clear
for here, and OF course coming from do
mestc port are exempt from pilotage. L
wonder If they think the business
for our health. We have our property out
side the Heads looking out for vessels to
pilot them safely in, and they ought to pay.
Look at the ship Elizabeth; | am satisfied
had she had a pilot on board she would
be safe in the harbOr to-day, and had the
Jessomene not had pilot on board she
would without doubt have shared the fate
Of the Elizabeth Dolliver saved her."
NO DISCRIMINATION.
Captain Mayo, an old pilot, says that the
bill is framed to conform TO that of the State
of New York. In a pilot case brought from
the State of Georgia and heard in the Su-
preme Court, Chief Justice Miller decided
that discrimination between States was
repugnaut to the law of Congress. This
State now does make discrimination,
he said. Three years ago, when the ship
Undaunted sailed from here for New York.
pilot offered his services, which were refused.
The owners were sued for half-pilotage.
The case was heard before Judge Hoffman,
who decided that the ship was not liable as
it Was repugnant TO an act of Congress.
The case was appealed to Judge SAWYER,
who sustained Hoffman's decision. He said
that ship bound from here to New York
was going coastwise. The bill now intro
duced is simply to carry out the law of Con-
gress, which says that there shall be no dis
elimination In pilotage and haf-pilotage
between vessels sailing between ports IN
81