Inventory of lands, buildings, and other real property of the city of Manila, June 30, 1902— Police department. Inventory of personal property of the city of Manila for quarter ending June 30, 1902. Municipal board.. $1, 119. 32 17, 212. 62 Fire department.. City assessor and collector School department 16, 401.95 2,954.66 20, 509. 62 Law department 6, 139. 79 Department of engineering and public works 86, 905. 32 Department of buildings and illumination.... 3, 530. 81 Water supply department (original statement attached) 54, 345. 49 Total.. 209, 119. 58 Inventory of public civil property under control of the department of engineering and SPECIAL REPORT OF THE COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS FOR THE PHILIPPINE ARCH- OFFICE OF THE COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS SIR: In accordance with your instructions of September 29, 1902, I have the honor to submit herewith a report of the operations of the Philippine customs service from June 1, 1901, to September 1, 1902. The limited time available for the preparation of this data will necessarily make he report very brief and principally statistical in its nature. Very respectfully, Hon. HENRY C. IDE, Secretary of Finance and Justice, Philippine Commission, Manila, P. I. REPORT. The customs service of the Philippine Archipelago is charged with the collection of the customs revenue, the enforcement of the Chinese exclusion and general immigration laws of the islands, and with certain limited quasi-consular duties. A number of important laws regulating the customs service have been passed durng the period covered by this report. On September 17, 1901, the Philippine Commission passed "An act to revise and mend the tariff laws of the Philippine Archipelago," No. 230, known as the "tariff revision law of 1901." This law was confirmed and enacted by Congress on March 3, 1902. The tariff revision law has done much to simplify and expedite the collection of he customs revenues and no serious grounds for complaint against its schedules have yet been found. On February 6, 1902, the Philippine Commission passed "An act to constitute the customs service of the Philippine Archipelago and to provide for the administration hereof," known as "The Philippine customs administrative act." This law has rendered possible an effective organization of the customs service of hese islands, and as its provisions have gradually become known they have received he hearty compliance of the public having business with the different customs offices of this archipelago. This act is largely modeled upon the principles of the customs administration which ɔrevail in the United States, though many departures in minor respects have been nade necessary by the different conditions here. On March 3, 1902, the Philippine Commission passed "An act to reorganize the personnel of the Philippine customs service." This law repealed all former acts or ›rders providing for customs employees, and gave uniformity to classifications, grades, and compensation. Since the new tariff went into effect several laws relating to the customs service, in ddition to those above mentioned, have been passed, among them act No. 265, Requiring persons whom the collector of customs has reasonable grounds for believng guilty of aiding insurrection seeking to land in the Philippines to take an oath of allegiance. * * * PORT OF MANILA. During the past year numerous changes have been made in the business methods of the Manila custom-house, principal among them being the adoption of the United States system of appraisers' returns, the establishment of an insular surveyor's office, he regulation and limitation of overtime work by customs employees, the complete eparation of the cashiers' and bookkeepers' divisions, and the institution of the isual checks on one division by another. The duties and responsibilities of each class of customs employees have been careully defined, and complete series of instructions, general and special, have been ssued on all questions arising up to the present time. PORT OF ILOILO. The general trade conditions at the port of Iloilo have been satisfactory during the ast year, though the receipts for the last fiscal year fall considerably below those of he preceding one. The equipment for customs work is good, except for the state of the lower arm of he inner harbor or river, where, from time to time, a large proportion of entering essels become stuck in the mud and are delayed until they can be pulled off at high ide. A complete survey of the harbor has just been completed by the U. S. Army ngineer officer in charge, whose plan contemplates the expenditure of $1,200,000 luring the next five or six years. À part of the plan covers the dredging of 1,650,000 cubic yards of mud. A preliminary estimate of the work which is needed at once in order to keep the river open to foreign vessels includes the purchase of a suction dredge and three scows and the dredging of 300,000 cubic yards, amounting in all to about $127,500. In view of the undoubted injury which is being done the business interests of Iloilo by these poor harbor facilities, it is recommended that an early appropriation be made to cover the preliminary work above outlined, and that hereafter a certain percentage of the customs receipts of the port be appropriated for continuing the harbor improvement in accordance with a definite plan. PORT OF CEBU. The foreign trade of the port of Cebu has steadily increased for the past three years, and is in a very flourishing condition. The customs equipment and facilities are, however, in a lamentably poor state, and the need of a substantial appropriation for harbor improvements, docks, landing piers, and a custom-house is more pressing than at any other port in the archipelago. Several harbor surveys have been made and plans submitted for the betterment of the port, and as it is understood the matter of an appropriation and the adoption of plans is now before the Philippine Commission, no further recommendation is made than that the port of Cebu receive the first available appropriation for this kind of work. PORT OF JOLO. The business of the port of Jolo has fallen off somewhat during the past year, due partially to the advantage being taken of the Moro "free-entry law." This privilege, though doubtless made necessary by conditions existing during the time it was effective, was a serious drawback to regular importations in the Jolo Archipelago. Jolo is essentially a transshipment port, only a small portion of the imports being consumed, and a similar portion of the exports originating, in its immediate neighborhood. This port is the natural outlet for the products from the islands of the Jolo Archipelago. There is urgent need of a new custom-house at Jolo. The present offices are in a rented building, which is old, beyond permanent repair, small, and unsafe for keeping Government records, goods, or money. It is inconveniently located with respect to the water front, which fact entails a serious loss of time to importers and exporters, especially at a transshipment port. It is earnestly recommended that the recently presented plan of this office for a new custom-house at Jolo be approved. The port of Siassi was formerly a subport of entry, under the immediate supervision of the collector of customs at Jolo, but on June 1, 1902, it was discontinued as such, in view of the very limited amount of foreign imports and exports which passed over its wharves. It is now a coastwise port and the headquarters of the Siassi coast inspection district. PORT OF ZAMBOANGA. Zamboanga is the sister port of Jolo, though somewhat inferior in its volume of trade. It is, like Jolo, a transshipment port, and has shown a remarkable increase in imports and exports during the past year. Zamboanga is the port of shipment for the products of southern and southeastern Mindanao. PORT OF APARRI. On June 1, 1902, the former coastwise port of Aparri, in northern Luzon, was tentatively opened as a port of entry, and although as yet no appreciable foreign trade has visited there, the prospects for the future development of the port are extremely good. COASTWISE PORTS. There are at present 156 ports open to the Philippine coastwise trade, of which 16 are headquarters of coast inspection districts. The entire coast line of the archipelago has been divided into twenty coast inspection districts, each in charge of a customs officer, who is required to make the tour of his district, visiting all the ports as often as transportation facilities will permit. In this way a more or less complete supervision of the coast line and of local trade is maintained. The greatest difficulty encountered by customs officers in this work is the lack of suitable water transportation, travel by land being practically impossible. CUSTOMS CUTTERS. The customs service possesses at the present time but six cutters available for practical coast inspection and customs work. These vessels are from 80 to 90 feet long, having a maximum draft of 7 feet, and average about 8 knots speed under ordinary conditions. They are eminently suitable for their work, and can enter nearly every port in the islands. Their crews consist entirely of natives, with the exception of the master, and sometimes the mate, who are Americans. The cost of operating these vessels is very slight, and in the charge of the customs inspector of the district to which they are assigned they earn on an average their entire cost of operation through the collection of license fees, etc., which would otherwise go uncollected, to say nothing of the security which they give the customs revenue in the prevention of smuggling and deterrence of other possible violators of the laws. The present assignments of these cutters are as follows: Customs cutter Sora to the Legaspi coast inspection district; customs cutter Scoter to the San Fernando de Union coast inspection district and the Aparri collection district; customs cutter Sula to the Manila collection district, which includes the Iba and Batangas coast inspection districts; customs cutter Sanderling to the Paragua coast inspection district; customs cutter Seagull to the Tacloban inspection district; customs cutter Skua to the Jolo collection district. These vessels have also from time to time assisted the constabulary, the judiciary, provincial officers, and other departments of the insular government. SMUGGLING. Reports have been received from time to time of somewhat extensive smuggling operations between Borneo and the island of Paragua, the Calamianes, and of the Jolo Archipelago, from which places contraband has been shipped, in some cases, to the islands of Negros and Panay. Two customs cutters are at present assigned to the work of breaking up this illegal traffic. TRADE CONDITIONS. The general trade of the archipelago is in a flourishing condition, and it is believed that only the recent cholera epidemic has prevented even greater development. The coastwise trade has increased considerably during the past ten months, due to the encouragement given by the opening up of new ports. CHINESE IMMIGRATION. The enforcement of the Chinese exclusion laws of the United States in this archipelago has been rendered especially difficult by two conditions, which do not exist in the case of the home government, to wit, the proximity of China and the great demand for Chinese labor in these islands at the present time. The recent act of Congress of April 29, 1902, has greatly increased the strictness of the Chinese exclusions in force here, due to the fact that the laws of the United States have been somewhat modified at and subsequent to the date of the military order putting them into effect. The most frequently used method of attempting to enter these islands is by stowing on board vessels from Hongkong to Manila, Iloilo, or Cebu, one steamer arriving at the latter port some months ago having been found with 134 Chinese stowed in her cargo. They were returned to Hongkong and prosecuted by the ship's agents there. During the course of the trial the existence of an agency in Hongkong for bribing subordinate ships' officers to stow Chinese persons for the Philippines was clearly established. CUSTOMS EXPENSES. The disbursements of the customs service during the past are by no means a fair criticism of the normal expense of collecting the revenue. During the period referred to the number of coastwise ports has been nearly doubled, equipment and supplies for all the open ports of the archipelago have been purchased, permanent repairs have been made, army officers acting as customs officials have been replaced by civil employees (with the exception of a few ports in provinces still under military control), a small revenue service has been purchased, equipped, and put into operation, and the practice of recompensing underpaid employees by an extensive permission of overtime work, for which the employees were paid by the owners of the goods, has been restricted to the actual necessities of the public business, making necessary a considerable increase in the regular salaries of certain classes of employees. In addition to the above, the amount of imported merchandise which has been handled during the past fourteen months has greatly exceeded the amount handled during the fiscal year of 1901, as will be seen from the following data: During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1901, there was imported into Manila foreign merchandise to the value of $28,500,000, upon which the duties collected amounted to about $6,867,000, or an average ad valorem rate, under the former tariff, of 24+ per cent. During the last fiscal year (ended June 30, 1902) foreign goods were imported to the value of over $36,500,000, upon which the duties collected amounted to about $6,289,000, or an average ad valorem rate under the present tariff of less than 18 per cent. The cost of collecting the customs revenue in the Philippine Islands is less than it is in the United States. The statistics of customs transactions in the United States during the last fiscal year are not yet available here, but the official records for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1901, show the following comparison with the Philippine customs service: The port of San Francisco offers the best comparison with the port of Manila. At San Francisco during the fiscal year of 1901 the sum of $7,484,338.86 was collected, at a cost of $437,427.11; cost to collect one dollar, $0.058. At Manila during the last fiscal year the sum of $7,240,369.77 was collected, at a cost of $345,903.99; cost to collect one dollar, $0.0477. Analyzing the records of the respective ports of San Francisco and Manila, it will be observed that while San Francisco only exceeded the latter in collections to the extent of $243,968.89, or an increase of 33 per cent, her expenses were greater than those at Manila by $91,520.12, or an increase of 24 per cent. It should also be borne in mind that many items appear in its total customs expenses at the port of Manila which are carried entirely independent and paid for out of separate appropriations in the customs service of the United States. Among them the following items are prominent: Cost of customs (revenue) cutters and launches. Maintenance of the immigration division. Cost of all supplies, such as stationery, record books, blank forms, and office furniture. 4) Janitor service and night watchmen. 5) Fuel, lights, water, etc. 6) Repairs and preservation of public buildings, and, (7) Compensation for detectors and informers. By deducting the above-enumerated items from the total expenditure at the port of Manila during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1902, the total expenses which should be included in the cost of collection are found to be $250,225.86, making the actual cost to collect one dollar $0.0345, or $0.023 less than the cost to collect one dollar at the port of San Francisco, slightly less than at the somewhat smaller port of New Orleans, and practically the same as at the large port of Boston, which collects over $20,000,000 a year. All comparisons are made with collections in the United States during the fiscal year of 1901 for reasons above stated. The following table shows the total expenditure, by items, at the port of Manila during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1902: Total expenditures at the port of Manila for fiscal year ended June 30, 1902. 1. Salaries of officers and employees, except janitors and night watch men 2. Salaries of special agents 3. Incidentals, such as repairs to typewriters, desks, purchase of stamps, advertising, etc $230, 392.40 5, 694. 86 4. Transportation for customs officials traveling under orders. 5. Cablegrams 6. Repairs, supplies, coal, etc., for Manila harbor launches. 7. Supplies, stationery, printing, blank books, furniture, etc 8. Repairs to and preservation of customs buildings 9. Fuel, lights, ice, electric power, etc.. 10. Salaries of janitors and night watchmen. 13. Supplies for outside ports purchased and paid for by this port Total expenditure 936.08 1,666.67 163.23 11, 372. 62 26, 913. 43 4,384.47 512.54 2,470.56 7,405.55 43, 671.93 8,086. 54 2,233. 11 345, 903, 99 |