CLAIM FOR REWARD MADE BY REPRESENTATIVES OF DECEASED INFORMER. The legal representatives of a person entitled to a reward as an informer under section 4 of the act of June 22, 1874, and who died before signing the claim, may present the application therefor and be paid the amount allowed by the Secretary of the Treasury. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY, May 6, 1896. SIR: I am in receipt of your letter of the 2d instant, stating that original information was given the collector of customs at Portland, Oreg., by oue P. Maloney, resulting in the seizure, January 11, 1896, of 120 five-tael cans of opium; that after said information was received and before Mr. Maloney could sign a claim as informer under section 4 of the act of June 22, 1874, he died, as the result of a stroke of apoplexy. You ask whether, in view of section 3477, Revised Statutes, a claim presented by the heirs, executors, or administrators of Mr. Maloney could be entertained by the Department. Section 3477, Revised Statutes, relates only to assignments of claims. From your statement Mr. Maloney has never assigned his claim. Had he continued to live, the facts in his case would have justified an allowance by the Secretary of the Treasury. I know of no law which prohibits the allowance to be made to his legal representatives, upon whom his claim for compensation has devolved, as part of his estate. Respectfully, yours, R. B. BOWLER, The SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. TRAVELING EXPENSES OF EMPLOYEES SUPERINTENDING THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER FOR INTERNAL-REVENUE STAMPS. The appropriation for paper for internal-revenue stamps, including the salaries of the superintendent and watchmen, is available for their traveling expenses when the contractor, with the consent of the Department, transfers the manufacture of paper from one mill to another. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY, May 6, 1896. SIR: I am in receipt of your communication of April 25, reporting for my approval, disapproval, or modification your decision that the appropriation "Paper for internal-revenue stamps, 1896," is not applicable for the payment of traveling expenses of the superintendent and watchmen employed in connection with the manufacture of paper for internal revenue stamps. It appears that the New York and Pennsylvania Company are the contractors for furnishing the Treasury Department with paper for internal-revenue stamps; that they have been manufacturing said paper at Saugerties, N. Y., but that, with the permission of the Treasury Department, they have transferred the manufacture of said paper to Lockhaven, Pa. The traveling expenses in question were those of the superintendent and watchmen from Saugerties, N. Y., to Lockhaven, Pa., caused by this change in the place of manufacture of the paper for internal-revenue stamps. The appropriation in question reads as follows: "For paper for internal-revenue stamps, freight, and salary of superintendent, messengers, and watchmen, sixty thousand dollars." (28 Stat., 929.) While the language of the appropriation above quoted does not include the traveling expenses of the superintendent and watchmen, I am clearly of the opinion that, under the circumstances above enumerated, their traveling expenses are properly chargeable against the Government as expenses incurred by them in the discharge of their official duties caused by the change, with the consent of the Government, in the place for manufacturing the paper for internal-revenue stamps, and are properly payable from the appropriation above quoted as incidental to the services for which that appropriation was made. For these reasons your decision is disapproved, and this decision will govern in the settlement of the accounts involved. Respectfully, yours, R. B. BOWLER, The AUDITOR FOR THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT PER DIEM OF GAUGER WHILE DETAILED FOR DUTY ON A LOCAL BOARD OF CIVIL-SERVICE EXAMINERS. An internal-revenue gauger is entitled to his per diem compensation for days upon which he is detailed for service upon a local board of civilservice examiners. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY, May 7, 1896. SIR: I am in receipt, by your reference, of a letter from the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, asking whether a gauger who is not paid a fixed salary but is paid a per diem, which is to be determined by the quantity gauged, in accordance with section 3157, Revised Statutes, can, for a day when he does no gauging but is detailed for duty on a local board of civilservice examiners, be allowed per diem compensation. Section 3157 provides: "Gaugers shall be entitled to receive such fees, to be determined by the quantity gauged, as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue; and said fees, together with their actual and necessary traveling expenses, shall be verified by their oaths, and shall be paid by the United States monthly." Paragraph 3 of the regulations of the Internal Revenue Bureau governing gaugers' monthly accounts for fees and expenses provides: "The compensation of a gauger is by law limited to five dollars per day while actually employed. The number of gal lons gauged by him during the month will be divided by the number of days employed, and the prescribed per diem fees will be allowed for the daily average amount so found to have been gauged, subject to the limitation of five dollars per day." Paragraph 4 provides: "A gauger will be considered as being on duty and employed when he is necessarily traveling on official duty, when on special duty by order of this office, and when under regular assignment and present for duty at one or more rectifying establishments and grain or molasses distilleries while in operation. A gauger will not be allowed pay for any day during which he was not present at his place of assignment. When no gauging is done on any day for which pay is claimed, the gauger must state in his itemized statement, inside of the account, how he was employed on such day, and before * approving such account the collector must satisfy himself that the gauger is, by reason of assignment and presence for duty, entitled to pay for each day so charged." As the act to regulate and improve the civil service of the United States, of January 16, 1883 (22 Stat., 403), requires the boards of examiners to be composed of persons in the official service of the United States, it would seem that a gauger while designated to act on such board was actually employed on official duty, and was therefore on special duty by order of the Internal Revenue Bureau within the meaning of those words as used in paragraph 4 above quoted. As the per diem compensation of a gauger is not payable from the fees for the gauging done on each particular day, but from the fees for the amount gauged during an entire month, no difficulty arises in ascertaining the per diem compensation to which the gauger would be entitled for the day upon which he was detailed for duty upon an examining board. For the reasons above stated, I am of the opinion that a gauger so employed may be paid a per diem compensation for a day upon which he is detailed for duty on a local board of civil-service examiners. Respectfully, yours, R. B. BOWLER, The SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. Comptroller. IN RE APPEAL OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. For attendance upon the police court of the District of Columbia the United States marshal is not entitled to the per diem fee allowed under section 829, Revised Statutes, for attendance upon a circuit or district court of the United States. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY, May 9, 1896. The Commissioners of the District of Columbia appeal from the settlement by the Auditor for the State and other Departments of their account under the appropriation "Courts, District of Columbia," for the quarter ending December 31, 1895. The Auditor made two disallowances, aggregating $260, for payments made to A. A. Wilson, the marshal of the District, as follows: "Payment of per diem attendance at police court disallowed, as not authorized by law." The police court of the District of Columbia was established by the act of June 17, 1870 (16 Stat., 153), the provisions of which have been substantially incorporated into chapter 33, Revised Statutes of the District of Columbia. Section 1046 provides that "The fees of the marshal shall be paid by the District quarterly." Bailiffs were provided for said court as follows: "SEC. 1062. The court may appoint not exceeding two bailiffs, who shall receive for their services three dollars each for every day's attendance on court, to be paid upon certificate of service by the judge. "SEC. 1063. The bailiffs may act as deputies to the marshal for the service of process issued by the court." It was also provided: "SEC. 1066. In cases cognizable in the supreme court the process shall be directed to the marshal, except in cases of emergency, when it may be directed to the major of police. "SEC. 1067. Such process shall be under the seal of the police court, and shall bear teste in the name of the judge, and be signed by the clerk. "SEC. 1068. For such services the marshal shall receive the same fees as prescribed for like service in the supreme court. "SEC. 1079. All fines, penalties, costs, and forfeitures imposed or taxed by the police court shall be collected by the marshal, or by the major of police, as the case may be, on process ordered by the court, and by them paid over to the District." Mr. Wilson, the marshal, claims that he is entitled to receive per diem fees for his attendance before the police court, either in person or when represented by one of his deputies, other than the bailiffs who by section 1063 above quoted are authorized to act as his deputies, by virtue of the provisions of section 1068 above quoted and the following clause in section 829, Revised Statutes, which by section 897, Revised Statutes of the District of Columbia, is made applicable to the marshal for the District of Columbia: "For attending the circuit and district courts when both are in session, or either of them when only one is in session, and for bringing in and committing prisoners and witnesses during the term, five dollars a day." |
