The San Francisco call., 1898-12-08
MADE THREE
 PIECES IF TIE
 PATRONAGE PIE HoWHarbor Employees Were Selected. C0LN0N'S FRANK TESTIMONY EACH COMMISSIONER WAS CIV
 EN A SLICE. President of the Board Despairs of Civil Service and Yields
 to the Pressure of
 Politics.
C0LNON'S FRANK TESTIMONY
EACH COMMISSIONER WAS CIV
 EN A SLICE.

The sessions of the Senate Investigat- ing Committee were enlivened yesterday by the president of the State Board of Harbor Commissioners, who was called to the witness stand to give his opinion re- gardng water front administration and his views on the construction of the Union ferry depot.
 The versatile MT. CoInon, who is soon to retire from public service, expressed the opinion that the eastern gallery of the depot as designed and constructed was of no use whatever. The impression In the mind of the witness that architect ure was not an exact science was stamped again at every sight of the unoccupied gallery.
 Inquiry was directed by General Dick inson regarding MT. Robinson, who was the superintendent of construction.
 Commissioner Colnon said that Robin son came to the board highly commended as capable man, who had built the Stockton Insane Asylum under the direc- ton of Architect Percy. According to the testimony Robinson was then Re- publican and no evidence was adduced to show that he had since changed his poIit- ical faith.
 When the attention of MT. Colnon was directed incidentally to the fact that the meZzanine story of the depot is still un-
 
 was no demand upon the part of the State officers for offices in the building, hence { the decision was reached to cut out the partitions. The State Mining Bureau and State Board of Trade will occupy space on that floor.
 On the subject of wharves Mir. Colnon said the biggest wharf in San Francisco was mere toy compared with the South ern Pacific wharf at Santa Monica. Big and enduring. wharves of Puget Sound were described. The piles in the substan- tial Spreckels wharf at San Diego cost $50 apiece, so the witness had heard.
 On the topic of special counsel fees the president of the board testified that au- thority for employment of extra counsel was derived from the Attorney General. General Dickinson obtained a statement from the secretary of amounts paid out for extra counsel during the last two fis- cal years: F; .o S. 3 Stratton seeo . received fees J. C. Campbell received s1O0 for an opin- Tirey l.. Ford, received $4S00. The amount disbursed in four years for legal services was s14,050
 and ingenious as the inquiry progressed, took the committee into his confidence and gave his own impression of the spells system as applied to the administration purchasing bureau as a department of great value, but to be useful it should be divorced from politics. Adjoining the quarters Of the boards storekeeper, he remarked, Is the office of the Southern Pacific storekeeper. One man at a salary or $l25 serves the railroad company. He supplies eighteen steamers, attends to the laundry work and looks after many other things. The boards storekeeper gets SITS month and has an assistant receiving $l5. The witness said the boards store keeper was appointed to act as a check on the disbursement of supplies and a saw ing or an amount equal to the salaries of the Commissioners had been brought about.
 Recurring again to politics on the water front, Commissioner Colnon testified that the number of employees could be cut down. He called the water front the dumping ground of the halt from all sections of the State"
 We have no more use for special police than we have for soldiers" said Mr. Col non. 'I plead guilty to appointment of two. One was appointed from Sierra County on the demand of the Democrats or that county: l had to appoint him or get out mysef.'
 Commissioner Harney suggested that watchmen were employed years ago, and that the special police took the place of the watchmen; but the president of the board insisted that the Harbor police never made an arrest.
 General dickinson asked Commissioner Colnon to express his views regarding the extension of the seawall south Mr. Col non remarked that bill providing for the prolongation of the wall passed the I,eefs- lature two years ago, but was vetoed by Governor Budd because it allowed the ex- penditure of a very large amount of pub lie money for advertising for proposals The Legislature, he thought, ought to pass some kind of a measure for seaWall extension.
 Assembling after the noon recess. Sen- ators Dickinson, Prisk and Boyce found Commissioner Colnon reminiscent in fancy Blessings brighten as they take their