REPORT OF THE OPERATIONS OF THE LIGHT-HOUSE BOARD. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR, BUREAU OF LIGHT-HOUSES, SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of the Light-House Board for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1910. The Board was terminated on that date in accordance with the terms of the act of Congress approved June 17, 1910, but this report is prepared from data collected under the direction of the Board, and in its arrangement follows the plan of the report submitted by the Board for the preceding year. In your report for the fiscal year 1909 reasons were presented in advocacy of the reorganization of the Light-House Service with a view to securing more direct, simple, and economical methods of administration. The matter received consideration at the last session of Congress, which enacted legislation providing for a reorganization of the Light-House Service. This act was approved June 17, 1910, and became effective July 1, 1910. In pursuance of its provisions a Commissioner and a Deputy Commissioner were appointed by the President, and assumed duty on July 1, 1910. LAW REORGANIZING THE LIGHT-HOUSE SERVICE. The following are the sections of the act approved June 17, 1910, which relate to the reorganization of the Light-House Service: SEC. 4. That hereafter there shall be in the Department of Commerce and Labor a bureau of light-houses and a commissioner of light-houses, who shall be the head of said bureau, to be appointed by the President, who shall receive a salary of five thousand dollars per annum. There shall also be in the bureau a deputy commissioner, to be appointed by the President, who shall receive a salary of four thousand dollars per annum, and a chief clerk, who shall perform the duties of chief clerk and such other dutics as may be assigned to him by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor or by the commissioner. There shall also be in the bureau such inspectors, clerical assistants, and other employees as may from time to time be authorized by Congress, and there shall also be employed one chief constructing engineer at a salary of four thousand dollars per annum and one superintendent of naval construction at a salary of three thousand dollars per annum, both to be appointed by the President. The commissioner of light-houses shall make an annual report to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, who shall transmit the same to Congress at the beginning of each regular session thereof; and such commissioner, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, is hereby authorized to consider, ascertain, adjust, and determine all claims for damages, where the amount of the claim does not exceed the sum of five hundred dollars, hereafter occasioned by collisions, for which collisions vessels of the LightHouse Service shall be found to be responsible, and report the amounts so ascertained 497 58169°-c & L 1910-32 and determined to be due the claimants to Congress at each session thereof through the Treasury Department for payment as legal claims out of appropriations that may be made by Congress therefor. SEC. 5. That all employees of or in the Light-House Board or the Light-House Establishment are hereby transferred to the bureau of light-houses, excepting, however, army and navy officers. SEC. 6. That all duties performed and all power and authority now possessed or exercised by the Light-House Board, under any provision of law not hereby repealed, are hereby transferred to and imposed and conferred upon and vested in the commissioner of light-houses, under the direction and control of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. SEC. 7. That the commissioner of light-houses shall, under the direction and control of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, have charge and control of the construction, maintenance, repair, illumination, inspection, and superintendence of light-house depots, supply stations, light and signal stations, light-houses, light-vessels, lighthouse tenders, fog signals, submarine signals, beacons, buoys, daymarks, post-lantern lights, and seamarks and their appendages, and generally of the Light-House Service; and the charge and custody of all the archives, books, documents, drawings, models, returns, apparatus, and other things appertaining to the Light-House Establishment. SEC. 8. That all materials for construction, maintenance, repair, and operation shall be procured by public contracts, under such regulations as may from time to time be prescribed by the commissioner, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and no contract shall be made except after public advertisement for proposals in such form and manner as to secure general notice thereof, and the same shall only be made with the lowest and best bidder therefor, upon security deemed sufficient in the judgment of the commissioner of light-houses, but all bids may at any time be rejected by the commissioner: Provided, however, That the commissioner of lighthouses may purchase illuminating oil, wicks, and chimneys for lights, and ground tackle for light-vessels and buoys, and to an amount not exceeding five hundred dollars at any one time, other materials and supplies when immediate delivery is required by an exigency, by private contract or in the open market, if he deems it for the best interests of the service so to do; but such purchases shall be set forth in the annual report of the commissioner with the reasons for purchasing other than upon bids after public advertisement. SEC. 9. That the commissioner, under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, is authorized, whenever an appropriation is made by Congress for a new light-house, the proper site for which does not belong to the United States, to purchase the necessary land for such site, provided the purchase money be paid from the amount appropriated for such light-house without exceeding the limit of cost, if any, fixed in such case; and the commissioner of light-houses is authorized to employ temporarily draftsmen for the preparation of plans for tenders and light-vessels which may be authorized by Congress, to be paid from the respective appropriations therefor. SEC. 10. That the commissioner of light-houses, under the direction and control of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, shall, from time to time, prescribe and distribute such regulations as he may deem proper for securing an efficient, uniform, and economic administration of the Light-House Service. SEC. 11. That the commissioner of light-houses, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, as soon as practicable, shall rearrange the ocean, gulf, and lake coasts and the rivers of the United States, Porto Rico, and the naval station in Cuba into not exceeding nineteen light-house districts, and a light-house inspector shall be assigned in charge of each district. The light-house inspectors shall each receive a salary of two thousand four hundred dollars per annum, except the inspector of the third district, whose salary shall be three thousand six hundred dollars per annum. The President may, for a period not exceeding three years from the taking effect of this section, assign army and navy officers to act in lieu of the appointment of civilian light-house inspectors, but such army and navy officers shall not receive any salary or compensation in addition to the salary or compensation they are entitled to as such army or navy officers: Provided, That in the districts which include the Mississippi River and its tributaries the President may designate army engineers to perform the duties of and act as inspectors. The President may detail officers of the Engineer Corps of the United States Army for consultation or to superintend the construction or repair of any aid to navigation authorized by Congress. SEC. 12. That all unexpended appropriations which shall be available at the time when this Act takes effect, in relation to the Light-House Board, the Light-House Establishment, and the Light-House Service, shall be available from the time that this Act takes effect for expenditures in and by the bureau of light-houses, and shall be treated the same as though the bureau of light-houses had been named directly in the Acts making said appropriations. SEC. 13. That sections forty-six hundred and fifty-three, forty-six hundred and fifty-four, forty-six hundred and fifty-five, forty-six hundred and fifty-six, forty-six hundred and fifty-seven, forty-six hundred and fifty-eight, forty-six hundred and fifty-nine, forty-six hundred and sixty, forty-six hundred and sixty-three, forty-six hundred and sixty-four, forty-six hundred and sixty-five, forty-six hundred and sixty-six, forty-six hundred and sixty-seven, forty-six hundred and sixty-nine, forty-six hundred and seventy, and forty-six hundred and seventy-one of the Revised Statutes of the United States are hereby repealed. SEC. 14. That sections four to thirteen, inclusive, of this Act, shall take effect on the first day of July next succeeding its passage. STATISTICS AS TO AIDS AND EMPLOYEES. At the close of the fiscal year 1910 there were maintained under the Light-House Service 1,692 lighted aids, including 68 light-vessels and excluding 2,344 post lights, and there were 8,046 unlighted aids. For the care and maintenance of these aids, exclusive of 1,984 of the post lights mentioned, there were employed 1,659 keepers, assistant keepers, and laborers attending lights paid from the appropriation "Salaries of keepers of light-houses.' The 1,984 post lights referred to were attended by 1,471 laborers, whose salaries were paid from the appropriation "Lighting of rivers." There were also in the Service 1,720 officers and seamen on board vessels, 330 regularly appointed employees for construction and repair, and 56 light-house tenders. DISCONTINUANCE OF AIDS TO NAVIGATION. In compliance with section 7 of the act of May 14, 1908, it is stated that the following-named aids to navigation may be discontinued without distinct injury to the interests of navigation: Lloyd Harbor, New York.-The discontinuance of this light, upon the establishment of the new light at the entrance of Huntington Harbor and Lloyd Harbor, New York, is provided for in the act authorizing the new light. Passaic, New Jersey.-The discontinuance of this light, upon the establishment of the new Passaic light, is provided for in the act authorizing the new light. PRIVATE AIDS TO NAVIGATION. There were maintained on June 30, 1910, under the provisions of section 3 of the act of Congress approved June 20, 1906, 119 lights, 88 buoys, and 48 other unlighted aids. AIDS TO NAVIGATION IN AMERICAN SAMOAN ISLANDS. Aids to navigation were maintained during the year by the Navy Department, as heretofore, in the waters of American Samoan Islands, said Department being reimbursed for such work from appropriations made for the maintenance of the Light-House Service. COMPLEMENT OF KEEPERS OF LIGHT-HOUSES. By the act of June 25, 1910, Congress authorized the employment of not to exceed 1,750 light-house and fog-signal keepers and laborers attending other lights for the fiscal year 1911, payable from the appropriation "Salaries of keepers of light-houses," being an increase of 50 over the number authorized for the fiscal year 1910. On |