An Act Creating the Bureau of Coast Guard and Transportation

October 17, 1901

ACT NO. 266

AN ACT CREATING THE BUREAU OF COAST GUARD AND TRANSPORTATION

SECTION 1. There is hereby created a Bureau for the purpose of organizing, directing, and controlling islands and interisland water transportation for governmental purposes, and for the establishment and maintenance of an efficient coast-guard service which shall be called the Bureau of Coast Guard and Transportation and which shall be under the general control and supervision of the Secretary of Commerce and Police.

SECTION 2. The Bureau of Coast Guard and Transportation shall be under the immediate control and management of a suitable person, to be selected by the Civil Governor, by and with the consent of the Commission, who shall be known as the Chief of Coast Guard and Transportation and who shall be paid an annual salary of three thousand five hundred dollars, money of the United States, payable monthly.

SECTION 3. The Bureau shall be organized into three divisions, the first of which shall have in charge the construction, maintenance, and operation of the vessels belonging to or under the charge of the Bureau. The second of such divisions shall have in charge the illumination, inspection, and superintendence of light-houses, buoys, beacons, light vessels, seamarks, and their appendages. The third of these divisions shall have in charge the construction of light-houses, buoys, beacons, light vessels, seamarks, and their appendages. Each of the divisions shall be in charge of a superintendent, appointed by the Civil Governor, by and with the consent of the Commission. They shall each be paid an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars, money of the United States, payable monthly.

SECTION 4. The Chief of Bureau shall cooperate with the Collector of Customs for the Philippine Archipelago in performing such services as may, in the opinion of the latter, be necessary to enforce the collection of revenues and prevent smuggling and unlawful importations. The Collector of Customs shall have the power, when the public interests require it, to assign to any of the vessels used in the transportation division a revenue agent to be carried on board such vessel, who shall be assigned suitable quarters thereon.

SECTION 5. It shall also be the duty of the Chief of Bureau to provide for the transportation, on official business, of all insular and provincial officials, their subordinates, agents, and employees, and of all witnesses, prisoners, and guards, when transportation is required in the administration of justice, and of all goods and freights of the insular or provincial governments, or of the various departments or bureaus thereof, and also for the transportation of the presidents, councilors, and other officers of municipalities when traveling to and from the provincial capitals in pursuance of law.

SECTION 6. It shall be the duty of the Chief of Bureau to cooperate with the Director-General of Posts in carrying the mails between the various points in the Islands, under such regulations and schedules as to time as will make the postal service most effective. It shall also be the duty of the Chief of Bureau to see that the agents of the Postal Department have adequate accommodations on board such vessels; when designated by the Director-General of Posts for such duty.

SECTION 7. It shall be the duty of the Chief of Bureau to cooperate with the Chief of Philippines Constabulary in the transportation of provincial inspectors and constabulary and of insular and provincial stores and supplies as the public service may, in the opinion of the Chief of Constabulary, require.

SECTION 8. The Chief of Bureau, with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Police, shall prescribe, and, from time to time, may alter or amend and cause to be enforced such regulations as he may deem proper for securing efficient, uniform, and economical administration of the Coast Guard, Transportation, and Light-house Services. He is hereby empowered, after proper appropriations are made for that purpose, to make all necessary contracts for the repair and equipment, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Police, of vessels, light-houses, light vessels, beacons, buoys, and accessories, and to supervise all work of construction and repair and to authorize all travel required by the subordinate officers and employees of his Bureau; he is also empowered to prescribe the uniform to be worn; also to prescribe the salaries of the respective keepers of light-houses, apprentices, and boatmen, in such manners as he deems just and proper, but the whole sum allowed for such salaries shall not exceed an average of three hundred and sixty dollars per annum for keepers, one hundred and forty-four dollars per annum for apprentices, and one hundred and eight dollars per annum for boatmen. He may also supply the isolated light-house stations with provisions in addition to their salaries.

SECTION 9. The Chief of Bureau shall, at as early a date as practicable, submit to the Secretary of Commerce and Police a report upon the number of vessels which, in his opinion, are required for the Coast Guard, Transportation, and Light-house Services, the type and probable cost of such vessels, the salaries of their officers and crews, and an estimate of the cost of their running expenses and necessary repairs and also repair shops and docks.

SECTION 10. The following clerical force is hereby authorized to be employed in this Bureau: One chief clerk, class five; one disbursing clerk, class six; one stenographer and typewriter, class eight; three property clerks, class eight; two clerks, class nine; two copyists, Class A; two storekeepers, Class A; and two assistant storekeepers, Class F. That portion of this force which will be specially assigned for work connected with the Coast Guard and Transportation Service will not be appointed until occasion for such applicant arises. The Civil Governor is empowered to appoint as the Chief of Bureau the Captain of the Port of Manila, and the present clerical force employed in the office of the Captain of the Port of Manila shall be utilized, as far as possible, for carrying on the work for the Light-House Service and also for the Coast Guard and Transportation Service, until additional appointments are made as provided for herein.

SECTION 11. 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 12. This Act shall take effect on its passage.

ENACTED, October 17, 1901.