An Act Authorizing the Collector of Customs for the Philippine Islands to License Vessels Engaged Exclusively in the Lighterage and Harbor Business and to Provide for the Regulation of that Business

April 29, 1904

ACT NO. 1136

AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS FOR THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS TO LICENSE VESSELS ENGAGED EXCLUSIVELY IN THE LIGHTERAGE AND HARBOR BUSINESS AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE REGULATION OF THAT BUSINESS

SECTION 1. The Collector of Customs for the Philippines Islands is hereby authorized, empowered, and directed to issue licenses to engage in the lighterage or other exclusively harbor business to vessels or other craft actually engaged in such business in any of the ports of the Philippine Islands on the eighth day of March, nineteen hundred and two, and to vessels and other craft built in the Philippine Islands or in the United States and owned by citizens of the United States or by inhabitants of the Philippine Islands, or by members of both classes jointly. DaIAcC

SECTION 2. From and after the passage of this Act no vessel shall engage in lighterage or other exclusively harbor business in or about the harbors, rivers, or inland waters of the Philippine Islands having navigable outlet to the sea without a license therefor, except those hereinafter exempted.

SECTION 3. The Provisions of This Act Shall not Apply to. —

1. Yachts, launches, and other craft used and employed exclusively for pleasure and recreation.

2. Ship's boats and launches bearing the name and home port of the vessel plainly marked thereon.

3. Vessels owned by the Government of the Philippine Islands or of the United States.

4. Vessels of the burden of one ton gross or less: Provided, however, That the exemptions of the first three paragraphs of this section shall cease as to any vessel which shall at any time engage in the business of transporting cargo or passengers for hire.

SECTION 4. Each license issued under the authority of section one shall specify the particular port or other body of water for which issued, and no vessel shall transport cargo or passengers for hire beyond the limits specified in its license.

SECTION 5. The Collector of Customs for the Philippine Islands is hereby authorized, empowered, and directed to promptly make and publish suitable rules and regulations to carry this law into effect and to regulate the business herein licensed.

SECTION 6. Any license granted or continued in force under the authority of this Act may be revoked for cause at any time by the Collector of Customs for the Philippine Islands. TAacHE

SECTION 7. Any vessel which shall violate the provisions of this Act, may be fined in any sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, United States currency, to be collected in the manner prescribed in section three hundred and thirteen of the Customs Administrative Act, as amended by Act Numbered Eight hundred and sixty-four.

SECTION 8. Any person who shall violate the provisions of this Act, or of any rule or regulation made and issued by the Collector of Customs for the Philippine Islands, under and by authority of this Act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars, United States currency, or by both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court: Provided, That violations of law may be punished by the method prescribed in section seven hereof, or by that prescribed in this section, or by both.

SECTION 9. All lighterage and harbor licenses heretofore issued by the Collector of Customs for the Philippine Islands and all rules promulgated by him relating to the issuing of such licenses, or regulating lighterage and other exclusively harbor business, are hereby ratified and confirmed, and shall continue in full force and effect until otherwise provided by law or regulation.

SECTION 10. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.

SECTION 11. This Act shall take effect on its passage.

ENACTED, April 29, 1904.