THE NEW PILOT LAW OF MARYLAND. The new pilot law which passed both branches of the General Assembly of Maryland at its last session, (1853,) and which is now in force, contains the following provisions: The former board of examiners is retained. Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, are, with three slight exceptions, the same as those of the old law. The rest are here appended. SEO. 8. And be it enacted, that it shall not be lawful for the board of examiners, or any other person or persons having authority to grant warrants or licenses to pilots, to grant to any person or persons under the age of twenty-one years, a warrant or license generally known as a first-rate branch; and it shall be lawful for the board of examiners to increase or decrease the number of pilots, as they may deem necessary for the protection of the commercial interest of the State of Maryland; and any pilot absenting himself from the business of piloting, unless occasioned by sickness, for the term of three years, shall not be entitled to any warrant or license to act as pilot thereafter, but his license shall be revoked by the board of examiners. SEO. 9. And be it enacted, that any licensed pilot refusing, on due notice being given him, to aid any vessel in distress within six leagues southward of Cape Henry, or the same distance to the eastward of Cape Charles, or in the Chesapeake Bay, every such pilot so refusing to aid any vessel in distress, as above required, on proof thereof, shall forfeit and pay one hundred and fifty dollars, and shall thereafter be rendered incapable of serving as a pilot. SEO. 10. And be it enacted, that if any master of any vessel shall carry any licensed pilot to sea against his inclination, such master shall pay to a full branch pilot, thirty dollars per month until his return or death; to a twelve-foot branch pilot, twenty-four dollars per month until his return or death; and to a nine-foot branch pilot, twenty dollars per month until his return or death; and if any master shall carry any licensed pilot to sea against his inclination, when his boat, or any other boat, is ready and offers to take him off, and the same may be done without endangering the vessel, such master shall pay such pilot the sum of three hundred dollars, over and above the wages aforesaid. SEO. 11. And be it enacted, that no person shall employ his vessel as a pilot boat, unless he be a licensed pilot, and follows that occupation, under the penalty of one hundred and fifty dollars for every vessel such boat may board. SEC. 12. And be it enacted, that any pilot being detained on board of any vessel, except such detention be unavoidable, shall be allowed three dollars per day for each and every day he may be so detained; the same to be paid him by the master, agent, owner, or consignee of said vessel. SEC. 13. And be it enacted, that the master or owner of every registered vessel of and above one hundred tons, before going to sea, shall apply to the board of pilots for a license to navigate the Chesapeake Bay without a pilot, and shall pay said board for such license at the rate of six cents per ton; and such licenses shall be good for twelve months from the date thereof. SEC. 14. And be it enacted, that the master or owner of every vessel sailing under a coasting license, over 100 tons, shall, before going to sea, apply to the board of pilots for a license to navigate the Chesapeake Bay without a pilot, and shall pay to the said board of pilots, for such licenses, at the rate of six cents per ton; and such license shall be good for twelve months from the date thereof. SEC. 15. And be it enacted, that the master or owner of every vessel required to take out a license under and by virtue of this act, navigating the Chesapeake Bay without such license, shall either take the first licensed pilot who offers to conduct or pilot his vessel to or from sea, or shall pay him full pilotage: Provided, however, the payment of full pilotage shall not be exacted from any inward bound vessel which, on her arrival and before her departure to sea, shall obtain from the board of pilots a license, in pursuance of the provisions of this act. SEO. 16. And be it enacted, that the money to be collected by the board of pilots under and by virtue of the thirteenth and fourteenth sections of this act, shall be equally distributed quarterly among the regular working pilots over twenty-one years of age: Provided, however, that the board shall make suitable provision for any pilot who is sick or disabled, not exceeding the distributive portion of any pilot engaged in active service. SEO. 17. And be it enacted, that from and after the passage of this act, it shall not be lawful for any pilot to charge or receive any greater or lesser reward or compensation for his services as such than is hereinafter expressed, to wit: For every vessel from sea to Baltimore, drawing fifteen feet water or over, five dollars for each and every foot of water she may draw; for every vessel drawing twelve feet water, and not exceeding fifteen feet, four dollars for each and every foot of water she may draw; for all vessels drawing less than twelve feet, three dollars and fifty cents for each and every foot she may draw; and upon all vessels bound from Baltimore to sea, a deduction of one dollar per foot upon the foregoing list of rates shall be made; which rates shall also apply to Georgetown, and vice versa: Provided, however, that any vessel possessed of a license, in pursuance of the provisions of this act, which may require a pilot, shall have the services of one at a deduction of twenty per centum on the pilot rates hereby established, on any inward passage to Baltimore, during the existence of said license; and if any vessel bound to sea shall go into Hampton Roads, for any other cause than distress of weather, having a Maryland pilot on board, the master or owner shall pay to said pilot twelve dollars for conducting her in, and ten dollars for taking her out. SEO. 18. And be it enacted, that whenever a pilot is engaged to pilot any vessel, the master or owner shall continue him, if inward bound, to her first port of discharge, or to sea, if outward bound, or pay him full pilotage. SEC. 19. And be it enacted, that the pilots shall be required, under the direction of the board, to keep as many pilots on active duty as the board of examiners may deem necessary, to cruise outside Cape Henry, for the protection of Commerce, one or more to be kept on the station as a look out boat, in or near Cape Henry; and the said board shall have full power and authority to designate the stations, and make such rules and regulations for their cruising, and may designate and appoint five pilots, and grant them authority to enforce such rules and regulations as they may adopt, and to inspect the boats in the service from time to time, and generally to do all things which may be necessary for the efficiency of the pilots and the boats used in the service: Provided, that the master or owner of any vessel bound up or down the Pocomoke River, or any river whose mouth is bounded on both sides by the Eastern Shore of Maryland, shall not be required to take out any license from the board of pilots, or to pay any pilotage to or from any of said rivers, unless a pilot be employed: Provided, further, the master or owner of said vessel shall not touch in any of said rivers on their passage to or from Baltimore, for the purpose of avoiding any of the provisions of this act. SEC. 20. And be it enacted, that nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent the employment of any person to pilot any vessel in any of the rivers of this State, except the Patapsco and Potomac Rivers, or from any part of the Chesapeake Bay, north of the Patapsco River, to any other part of said bay north of said river. ESTIMATING THE VALUE OF FOREIGN MERCHANDise. The following important instructions to collectors and officers of the customs, relative to the mode of estimating value of foreign merchandise, in certain cases, have just been issued by the Treasury Department. It explains the general instructions to collectors and others of the customs, under the act of March 3, 1851, regulating the appraisement of imported merchandise:— TREASURY DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, July 30, 1853. Your special attention is called to the following instructions in relation to the appraisement of merchandise under the act of March 3, 1851, additional to, or in modification of, the circular instructions from this Department, dated March 27, 1851. The invoice cost of foreign merchandise, supported by the oath required by law, will be held and taken as the importer's declaration of value at the port and time of shipment, and conclusive against the importer; unless, before entering the same, the said importer, his consignee or agent, shall declare in writing, under oath, on the invoice, a decline in value between the time of such purchase and the date of shipment, and the amount thereof; in which case such declared value shall be conclusive against , the importer; but in either case the appraisers will determine and fix such additional value as the law and the facts may warrant. JAMES GUTHRIE, Secretary of Treasury. RULE ON SALE OF REPACKED COTTON. In the City Circuit Court in New York Judge Edmonds stated that at common law, in the purchase of goods, the rule of caveat emptor must apply, that is, that a purchaser must look out for himself, but custom has permitted certain articles to be sold by sample, among them cotton, but that it has never yet been admitted that damaged goods (as repacked goods are understood to be) can be sold in that way. The counsel will be at liberty, however, to have the question brought up for review. The case was that of Brown and Blydenburgh against Lewis & Sterling, of Philadelphia, to recover a balance due on the sale of repacked cotton, but was refused to be paid on the ground that considerable rubbish was intermixed with the cotton, and it was not equal to sample. A verdict was rendered for amount of balance and interest, being $415. RAILROAD, CANAL, AND STEAMBOAT STATISTICS. GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY TO MAIL STEAMERS. [FROM THE LONDON TIMES OF OCT. 31, 1853.] The following statement has recently been prepared, showing the annual amount of subsidies paid to the various contract steam companies, and the returns to the government in the shape of postage receipts, the annual balance against the country being no less than 342,790. This result affords of itself a striking illustration of the consequences of State interference in one of the most important branches of private enterprise. When, however, it is recollected, in addition, that the expenditure of the sum in question has been a means of checking all that improvement in steam navigation which is to be attained only by unrestricted competition, that it has caused a rankling sense of injustice to be felt by those colonies which have been neglected, while others have been favored, that it has led the United States avowedly to adopt a retaliatory course, and has thus caused between the two governments a rivalry as irritating as it would have been healthy if left to the energies of individuals; and, finally, that it has placed for years past in the hands of the Treasury and the Admiralty an almost irresponsible power of dispensing nearly a million of money to such companies as might be able to establish the necessary influence, a full idea will be gained of the nature of the system. Happily, the present ministry are understood to have recognized, in a great degree, the evils that have thus arisen; but although they have shown a disposition to check them, or to bring them within more moderate limits for the future, the broad doctrine that the means of commercial communication throughout the world should be left to develop themselves, that special bounties upon one route can only operate unfairly upon others, and that the sole function of government is to see that ship-owners who undertake to carry letters strictly fulfill the obligations they assume, is yet neither acted upon nor acknowledged. * This total of £22,390 is exclusive of the cost of the French and Belgian packets, of any future payment for the transit of the Australian mails through Egypt, and of the amount payable to the East India Company. THE RAILWAYS OF FRANCE. The following is a condensed tabular account of the railways of France, from the columns of the Courier des Etats Unis of New York, showing the termini, the date of opening, and the length in operation. The French railways are exceedingly well managed in all the great elements of railway success-comfort, safety, and convenience. The occurrence of accidents is extremely rare, giving proof that salutary laws and regulations for the safety of the lives of passengers, and the strict accountability of railway functionaries to the tribunals of justice, and enforcement of laws, is of some account in France, and might well be studied and improved on here. The following is the tabular statement: Opened. ... ... Kilometres. Opened. 1832 St. Etienne to Lyons... 57 1849 Paris to Chalons, Strasbourg 96 1850 Torguier to St. Quentine, north 21 1850 Chalons to Vitry le Francaise. Due.... Kilometres. 172 23 57 33 32 49 71 186 101 50 1848 Rouen to Dieppe.. 61 1849 Great Northern Line. 377 1849 Paris to Chartres.. 1849 Paris to Tonnerre, Lyons line. 88 197 1849 Tours to Angers, Nantes line. 121 Making a total of................... ....... ...... 33 36 69 310 4,006, Charters have also been granted to over twenty lines which have been in construction during the preceding and past year, with a total length of kilometres 3,100. Total in actual operation and now constructing, kilometres, 7,106, equal to 4,412 English miles; showing France to be the second nation in Europe in the extent of railroad communication, and fast rivaling England in this important feature of her inland Commerce. RATES OF RAILWAY SPEED. The editor of the Cincinnati Price Current, makes the following comparison of the time made over the several roads upon which he traveled, viz: FINANCES, DEBT, AND COST OF RAILROADS. The entire cost of the railroads now in operation, according to the census estimates, is $451.644,000; of this amount the proportion raised by bonds is much smaller than has been supposed. We have now before us a list of roads whose aggregate length is 11,607 miles. Of these the aggregate cost $348,633,000; of which amount $123,360,000 is raised by bonds. The leading bonds were issued by the following: Massachusetts.. Debt. Cost. New Haven 61 .... 3,000,000 1,641,000 4,641,000 Erie. Hudson Reading. Pennsvivania Central. Baltimore and Ohio Cleveland and Pittsburg. Ohio and Pennsylvania. Michigan Southern. Michigan Central Illinois Total, 68 roads.... 4,466 $108,972,077 $97,881,510 $206,853,587 The amount of bonds actually sold outside of these is small, and if we compare the results with the vast sums actually spent in England, they are very insignificant. The operations of Massachusetts in former years far exceed her present undertakings. In the three years up to 1850, Massachusetts spent $20,000,000 in railroads, and the operations for the last three years are as follows, to Sept. 1853: Massachusetts has invested $7,000,000 in the last year in her own railroads, in a densely populated country, where the supply of roads is equal to the wants of the people. Apparently, all the Western roads show a different result. The stream of national wealth flows more abundantly along the tracks, and a slight panse in the present scale of operations must cause an accumulation of capital, locally, that will impart new animation to the resources. PROGRESS OF RAILROADS IN OHIO. The Cincinnati Railroad Record, one of the best conducted journals of its class, furnishes the present list of running roads: The northern division of this road, from Ohio City to Sandusky, is also in operation, but we have no memorandum of its length. |