The Hawaiian gazette., 1917-12-04
MERCHANT BELIEVES
OWNERS OF ELSASS
CARGOBLAMELESS
Ship and Goods Brought To This
Port Without Their knowI-
edge Is Claim
NO REFLECTION MADE UPON
COLLECTOR OF PORT
Australian consignees Said To
Have Been Burdened With
Unusual Costs ~


"The explanation given by the col.
1ecior Of customs and by his deputy in
connection with the manner in which
the cargo Of the 8. S. Elsass has been
handled at this port does not clear the
situation or give satisfaction as to the
condition Of the cargo and the unfor.
tunate position in which the consignees
have been placed says local nier-
chant, who is interested in the name
the port Of Honolulu has among Aus.
tralian commercial men and ship.
owners. ~ ,".. y. fE n
+" In the first place, he points ont
the statement that the existing con.
dition was due to the failure of the
owners not entering the goods at this
port, or obtaining permission to with.
draw same for exports, hardly place
the owners in a. fair light. The ship
and its cargo were brought to this port
without any knowledge whatsoever on
the part of the owners of the cargo.
Owners Surprised n.H ,u5.I
Ell was only by chance in their in.
quiring why a certain officer on the
, Oceanic liner arriving ut Sydney was
not aboard the boat that they ascertain.
ed that he had been detailed to take
the steamer Elsass from the port of
Honolulu to San Francisco. This gave
the owners the first knowledge that the
cargo was at Honolulu. This fact may
be appreciated when IL was realized
that the steps taken by the shipping
board and the movement of vessels are
kept quite secret from the world at
large. Immediately upon the Austria.
lians learning that the cargo was here,
they cabled for advices as to what con.
dition the cargo was landed in and for
information as to what procedure
would be necessary to secure release
of the cargo. ~ .....
ono reflection is made upon the
collector Of the port, who was acting
under instructions from the treasury de.
partment and the shipping board, who
ordered the goods landed from the yes.
sci here. The collector then found
himself saddled with this miscellaneous
cargo with no place to store same
The harbor board Immediately insisted
that the goods be removed from the
dock on very short notice, and, it be.
: ing very hard to obtain. a suitable
warehouse, the collector of customs
awaited himself of the only apparent
opportunity Of storing the goods at
Iwilei.
Warehouse Too Small
at developed that the building was
entirely too small for the cargo which
was destined to be stored therein and
probably, without the knowledge of the
collector or his deputy at the time,
the goods were thrown into the ware.
house in manner which clearly shows
hat mi 20 ha,s
withdrawal should individual shipments
be required for entry or trans-ship,
ment. O.. .as.a,a 'NA,
1.-THE cargo is q very general one.
and from the nature Of some of the
articles, has been somewhat damaged
One of the main points, however is
that the goods were placed in such
manner in the warehouse ii is next to-
impossible to obtain any individual
consignment as whole, or, in fact,
to get at any Of some of the goods in
some Of the shipments which have been
applied for.
"Mr. Terry's statement in a recent
issue Of The Advertiser may clearly
be borne out by the facts, and, while
no one wishes to throw discredit on
the collector of customs, or his force.
the circumstances remain the same, that
the Australian consignees have through
no fault Of theirs become subject to an
unusual burden of costs, which not onl,
includes the storage charges and two
carriage charges, but very heavy
freight rate from this port to Aus
tralia.
"In view of Mr.. Franklin's state
ment that he pays only $4,000 for the
Fogarty warehouse, il is hardly rea-
sOnable to expect that the L. s. govern
ment wishes to make profit of six
or seven hundred dollars per month
for storage collected from the unfor.
tunnte Australian owners. local rep.
resentatives of the Australian con.
signees when interviewed In this matter
state they received every courtesy from
the local customs officials, and all that
is sought now is relief from the fast
accruing charges which will amount TO
very large sum In view Of their in
ability to secure tonnage in which TO
@t,rah;s.sh,iiP these gOOdS-to their original
''It was with view Of obtaining a
A general appeal to the treasury depart.
Nment to abate, If possible, the heavy
Afharges which were being made against
The consignees through no fault Of
their own, that the matter was taken
up with the chamber of commerce. and
IL is still felt that our commercial bod '
should take some action in this matter,
and, II possible, give assistance to the
unfortunate owners of the Elsass car
60" ,,'..
-.s.A.S-
-. .a,& -. ..,-