Honolulu Republican, Volume IV, Number 492, 9 January 1902 — SMBS I RUBEN BBS CONSIDERED »S IIBMTS [ARTICLE]

SMBS I RUBEN BBS CONSIDERED »S IIBMTS

Puling of Treasury Department to That Effect Sailoi ol lid StialelsSury Bo Deserted His Vessel \si Jmpli (total Causes Tieie (of Cisstauis Oilafe-laf lie Deponed and Vessel Fined. .

The exclusive- news publish- 1 in the H* p iblc an n Tuesday morning, of the - scape of a sailor from the Brit--h ship I-ord Shaftesbury, l-y jumping overboard when th-- vessel was off the lightship on her way to «<-a has < h i-, d seme trouble on tb»* waterfront. As the Cust'fin House officers ar. to a < --rfain degr»-e responsible i, r «he crews of foreign ships leaving Honolulu on th*- vessels in which they am- a r-port had to be made of the • -cape of the English sailor by the Inspector in charge, to the Collector <-f Customs. Th-- man. who is now in th.s city, is liable to be arrested by tb- Fed-rai authorities for being illegally in this country, and if such st* p is taken he will be sent back -i the country from whence he came Hard Work for Officials. Although the customs house people •n- supposed to watch carefully all -nch vessels it is physically impossible for them to do so. In the case of •h< -ailor of th-- Lord Shaftesbury, the ve-st-l had left the wharf and was well under way to s- a when the man •tie.) overboard and swam to shore. H* was pick* d up by a boy who land- ■ 1 hint at the Myrtle boat house. He was s.'.u yesterday in a waterfront salon by a Republican reporter, ami said that under no consideration would he shit* In a "llim-Julccr" again. Th- Custom House officials say tha' with th- small force under their command. it is absolutely impossible to

properly patrol the harbor, and they i point to this particular case as an | argument for the need of a patrol steam launch, to be manned by the i Custom House people themselves. Treasury Department's Ruling. This is the first case which comes under the new ruling of the secretary of the Treasury, by which sailors of foreign vessels are considered as immigrants. By this rifling, they must 1* ave American ports in the vessels in which they came, or in case of transfer, approved by their respective consuls, in some vessel of the same nationality. They will be considered as immigrants even if they ship immediately on some other ves~C,\ This ruling arose nit of a case which was brought to the attention , of the Treasury Depart tee: t last August by Collector Stackable «jf this port. The occasion w as the desertion of seven sailors from the bark Sea King, which came to Honolulu from Newcastle with a foreign crew on board Seven sailors deserted, and Collector Stackable decided that they were to be considered as alien immigrants and he levied a fine of $1 a head for each man against the vessel, and wrote to the department asking for . a ruling. Collector's Good Judgment. The Treasury Department then gave out the following decision; "This rule is a prudent one (refer- i

ring to Collector Stackable’s ruling >. and he should be encouraged to carry it out. In the particular instances he cites, he seems to have properly exercised his duty as collector upon the reasonable presumption that the deserting sailors were, in effect, alien immigrants. A sailor by the act of desertion does not necessarily cease to be a sailor any more than a soldier ceases to be a soldier by deserting his regiment. Either may be arrested and returned to duty. If. however, the sailor is not arrested or returned to duty, but is permitted by the master to go free, then he cannot claim any immunity or protection as a sail- , or. and may be considered, if he chooses to remain in this country, an immigrant, to be inspected and dealt with by the proper authority as any other immigrant. And there is nothing in the facts of his violation of contracts as a sailor and deserting his ship that would commend him for citizenship in the United States." In the case of the Lord Shaftsbury several sailors were deserters but were afterwards captured by Captain Harry Flint of the Harbor police. When the vessel was being towed out to sea by the Fearless, however, one 1 of them seized a propitious moment to jump overboard and made good his escape. L. Johanson. the sailor of the Lord Shaftesbury, was arrested by Captain Flint last night.