In re Accounts of the Shipping Commissioner of the Port of New York. sistant District Attorney, he testified as follows: "Q. What is the character of the services required of the deputies? A. They begin by assisting captains in forming their agreements with their crews. They assist captains in selecting crews on the floor. They explain to each seaman the nature of the contract. They witness and certify the signature of each seaman. They issue an advance note to each seaman and put it in his own hand, while sober. They supervise the preparation of every ship's papers outward. They supervise the putting of ship's crews on board, in difficult cases doing it in person themselves. They go on board ships in the harbor and quell mutinies and arrange disputes. When seamen are scarce, they go to neighboring ports, even as far as Chicago, to bring crews here. They examine every sailor's account, as rendered, with the captain, and correct it, when correction is needed. They arrange minor differences with seamen, in their settlement. They witness officially the discharge and payment of every seaman, while sober. They issue certificates of discharge to every seaman. They receive and pay out cash due to seamen to the amount of about $100,000 a month. They attend to all steamers on board, without troubling them to come to the office, and maintain perfect order and discipline through the building. Q. Can you state how much has been received as fees, under the schedule providing for the payment of fees for apprenticeships? A. Five dollars. Q. You have office hours each day. What are they? A. From half-past eight, A. M., until five, P. M., for indoor employees, and as much longer as may be necessary. The work often keeps them till 6 or 7 o'clock. The outdoor men have to be in readiness for duty at all hours, day and night; very frequently on duty at 4 o'clock in the morning, to get the crews on board, to suit the tide. This will also apply to deputies. Q. Are the men, your employees, engaged every day? A. Yes, every day. Q. Won't you state generally the method by which the crews are shipped and discharged? A. A captain comes, for instance, to-day, in the morning, and opens his articles, arranges the form of agreement, with the deputy, In re Accounts of the Shipping Commissioner of the Port of New York. about to enter on. on blanks which we have there, for the voyage which he is He applies to the deputy on the shipping side of the office. He signs a written request for me to furnish the crew that he requires. He appoints a time, generally, the next day, for the shipment of his crew. At the hour given, which we make known, the floor is usually well filled with sailors seeking employment at the shipping commissioner's office. The sailors must all be sober and orderly. The captain and my deputy stand behind a rail and desk. The captain selects such men as he chooses, and calls them in one by one. The nature of the voyage is thoroughly explained to the seaman, and, if my deputy knows anything bad about the man's record, the captain is informed of it before the man signs. After the whole crew have signed articles of agreement, which they do in that room, they are cautioned by my deputy to pay no blood money for their chance. This is a tax exacted by captains, mates and landlords, for supposed influence in procuring them situations. Their advance notes are then filled out. Each sailor, on leaving port on a foreign voyage, is entitled, by custom, to advance wages, for from one to two months. This is paid by what is called an advance note, given to the sailor and payable three days after the ship sails, if he is on board and earning his wages. These notes are handed to the seamen after they have shipped. This completes the shipment of seamen. After this the captain notifies the deputy the day and hour at which he wishes the crew on board for departure. The deputy details this work to our outdoor officers, who, at the proper time, gather up the sailors from their different boarding-houses, and put them on board. If, at this time, sailors are drunk and disorderly, who have shipped, they are, at the request of the captain, removed, and others taken in their places. The entire crew, being on board at the dock, sober and orderly, are mustered by my officers and examined touching their settlements with their landlords. Complaints of foul treatment, if any, are heard and reported to me. The names of all on board are checked and reported to the deputy at the office by In re Accounts of the Shipping Commissioner of the Port of New York. the officer, and, at the proper time, the advance notes of all men so checked as being on board are paid, generally to the landlords, who hold the sailors' endorsements of them. Complaints of unfair dealings by such landlords are investigated and settled by the commissioner, before these notes are, paid. As to the method of discharge: Twenty-four hours prior to the time for the payment of sailors' wages inward, the captain comes, bringing his accounts with his seamen, his articles of agreement, and his official log. An appointment is made with him for an hour next day, to meet these men and pay them off, at my office, which appointment is always posted on the bulletin board of the shipping hall. The deputy in the paying off department examines these accounts, each one thoroughly, and corrects them, when necessary, and then passes them over to the clerk in that department, whose duty it is to make the payment. At the hour appointed, the captain and crew meet, and, in the presence of the deputy of the department, a clerk, having first received the cash from the captain, pays to each man, into his own hand, while sober, the balance found to be due him. Small differences arising between the captains and their seamen are adjusted on the spot by the deputy. Large ones are usually referred to me, and I adjust them, parties frequently appearing by counsel. On the completion of the payment of seamen's wages, the captain and the seamen sign what is called a mutual release, and the seaman is furnished with a discharge paper, embodying his character and capacity, and the particulars of the voyage just closed. My office is 187 and 189 Cherry street. It consists of one large hall, 50 feet by 120 feet, extending from Cherry street to Water street; the commissioner's office, about 30 feet by 20 feet; and the cash department, on the lower floor, about 30 feet by 60 feet. There are four departments-shipping, paying, cash, and steamship departments. I have stated the general services performed in my office, except my own duties, which I have not touched upon. My duties consist of general supervision of all the departments, in holding arbitration In re Accounts of the Shipping Commissioner of the Port of New York. Courts, hearing complaints of seamen, answering correspondence touching missing seamen, from all parts of the world, and instructing ship-masters and owners. Q. I see F. C. Duncan, G. F. Duncan and C. D. Duncan on the pay roll of the shipping commissioner for 1877, the first two receiving salaries of $3,800 each and the third receiving $1,900 for six months. Are they relatives of yours? A. Sons. C. D. Duncan, my son, owned, and still owns, a plantation in Florida, from which I called him to assist me and to which he has since returned. F. C. Duncan was master of the Kate Davenport, a large ship in the East India trade, which I requested him to leave and come to my assistance. George F. Duncan was engaged in the jewelry business, and I requested his assistance also. All this in 1872, when I first came into the office." The number of sea1872, (from August 1st,) 26,636; in 1875, 25,408; The number of seamen The receipts of the shipping commissioner's office, from shipping fees, were, in 1872, (from August 1st,) $15,922; in 1873, $29,762; in 1874, $41,500; in 1875, $39,200; in 1876, $23,062; in 1877, $22,625. Its receipts from paying-off fees, on discharge, were, in 1872, (from August 1st,) $4,381 50; in 1873, $8,003 15; in 1874, $13,326; in 1875, $12,035; in 1876, $6,711 25; in 1877, $5,825 25. men shipped by the office was, in 10,541; in 1873, 16,756; in 1874, in 1876, 13,346; in 1877, 12,165. paid off by the office, on their discharge, was, in 1872, (from August 1st,) 7,785; in 1873, 15,832; in 1874, 27,756; in 1875, 24,277; in 1876, 13,477; in 1877, 11,660. The amount of money paid by the office into the hands of seamen for wages due and accruing to them, was, in 1872, (from August 1st,) $384,241 82; in 1873, $1,182,103 17; in 1874, $1,653,186 08; in 1875, $1,517,762 23; in 1876, $946,844 21; in 1877, $856,220 43. The amount of money collected by the office and paid into this Court, for wages of deceased seamen, was, in 1872, (from August 1st,) $847 56; in 1873, $3,945 19; in 1874, $3,333 58; in 1875, $1,923 69; in 1876, $3,205 28; in 1877, $1,485 80. In re Accounts of the Shipping Commissioner of the Port of New York. (1.) As to the allegation, that, on the deposition of the shipping commissioner, the master should have reported that the salaries, at the rate of $3,800 a year, paid to the three deputy commissioners, F. C. Duncan, G. F. Duncan and C. D. Duncan, were entirely too large for the work performed by them. There is nothing to show that any such point was taken by the District Attorney before the master. Nor was any evidence introduced before the master, by the District Attorney, to show that the salaries of the deputies were too large for the work performed by them. No witness expresses an opinion to that effect, nor was the shipping commissioner asked whether he could not have obtained competent persons to discharge the duties so performed for a lesscompensation, nor was any evidence given that he could. The arrangement made is testified to have had the sanction of each of my predecessors, Judges Woodruff and Johnson. The three deputies named were deputies from the beginning. The arrangement was one which sanctioned a salary of $4,000 to each of them, if the fees of the office would pay it. It has never exceeded that sum. The commissioner and the deputies had a right to rely on the arrangement, until it should be shown, on notice and hearing, that the salaries ought to be reduced. These observations cover the above named accounts. I do not intend to say, however, that the salaries of the deputies and of other subordinates ought not be reduced and their number fixed for the future, nor do I intend to say that they ought. The propriety of the salaries paid was not questioned before the Court by the Dis trict Attorney until the report for the year 1877 was brought up, although the arrangement was fully explained by the shipping commissioner in his deposition of November 1st, 1876, in regard to the accounts down to the close of 1875. Under § 4,501 of the Revised Statutes, the Court has power to regulate the mode of conducting business in the office of the shipping commissioner, and has full and complete control over the same. If the District Attorney desires an order of reference to a master to take proof as to what the number of |