RADIO EQUIPMENT FOR SEAGOING VESSELS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.

APRIL 15, 1916.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. COADY, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 14340.]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 14340) to furnish all seagoing vessels in the Lighthouse Service and all other seagoing vessels of the Department of Commerce with radio equipment and auxiliary power for the operation thereof, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it pass.

This bill has the approval of the Department of Commerce, as may be seen by reference to pages 30 to 35 of the hearings had before your committee on April 1, 1916, with reference to lighthouse matters, and was introduced because of the recommendations made at that time by the Secretary of Commerce and the Commissioner of Lighthouses. The department furnishes the following information:

The vessels requiring equipment are as follows: Lighthouse vessels, 18; Coast and Geodetic Survey vessels, 2; Fisheries vessels, 2; Bureau of Navigation vessels, 1. As near as I have been able to ascertain, the approximate cost of each would be $3,000. This would include the auxiliary power required on vessels not already equipped with electrical power.

[H. R. 1434, Sixty-fourth Congress, first session.]

A BILL To furnish all seagoing vessels in the Lighthouse Service and all other seagoing vessels of the Department of Commerce with radio equipment and auxiliary power for the operation thereof.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of Commerce is hereby authorized and directed to furnish all seagoing vessels in the Lighthouse Service and all other seagoing vessels of the Department of Commerce with radio equipment and auxiliary power for the operation thereof. The sum of $80,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and hereby is, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of carrying this provision into effect.

64TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 1st Session.

AIDS TO NAVIGATION, LIGHTHOUSE SERVICE.

APRIL 15, 1916.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. COADY, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 14338.]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 14338) to authorize aids to navigation and for other works in the Lighthouse Service, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation

that it pass.

The bill has the approval of the Department of Commerce, as will appear by the letters attached and which are made a part of this

report.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, March 29, 1916. MY DEAR JUDGE: Referring to your letter dated March 28, 1916, requesting all recommendations of this department, both for projects and for legislation on behalf of the Lighthouse Service, I take pleasure in furnishing you the following information:

"Light-keepers' dwellings and appurtenant structures, including sites therefor, within the limit of cost fixed by the act approved February 26, 1907 (Thirty-fourth Statutes, page nine hundred and ninety-six), $75,000."

The

appropriations made March 4, 1907 (34 Stat., 1319), and May 27, 1908

(35 Stat., 334), of $75,000 each, are now exhausted, but dwellings at a number of stations are yet needed, among which may be stated Amelia Island, Fla.; Ano Nuevo Island, Cal.; Buffalo Breakwater, N. Y.; Charlotte, N. Y.; Dry Tortugas, Fla.; Frankfort, Mich.; Oswego Breakwater, N. Y.; Piedras Blances, Cal.; Point Hueneme, Cal.; Point Montara, Cal.; Point Sur, Cal.; Port 'San Juan, P. I.; Sand Island, Ala.; Tawas, Mich.; Toledo Harbor, Ohio; Two Harbors, Minn.; Ludington Breakwater, Mich.; Poverty Island, Mich.

This item is included in the estimates for the Lighthouse Service for 1917, group 2, item No. 28 (Book of Estimates, 1917, p. 761), among works considered essential for the immediate needs of navigation and for the efficient equipment of the Lighthouse Service:

"Constructing and equipping light vessels for general service on the Great Lakes, or for general service, $150,000."

Light vessels No. 55, No. 56, No. 57, No. 60, No. 61, and No. 62, now stationed on the Great Lakes, are all old, built of wood, and are rapidly deteriorating. Light vessel No. 59 was, during the summer of 1914, condemned as unseaworthy, and was removed from her station at Poe Reef, southern entrance to Straits of Mackinac, Mich. Of the others, light vessels No. 61 and No. 62 are in especially bad condition, and can not be depended upon for service in the stormy fall season. It is proposed to construct two or more vessels, similar in type to those recently built for lake service, of steel, and fitted with modern light and fog-signal apparatus.

This item is included in the estimates for the Lighthouse Service for 1917, group 1, item No. 20 (Book of Estimates, 1917, p. 755), among works urgently necessary for the safety of navigation:

66

'Constructing and equipping a lighthouse depot for the second lighthouse district, $85,000."

The present depot of the second district for Boston Harbor and vicinity is on Lovells Island, and is there through the courtesy of the War Department only. It is not adapted or situated for a depot where the work can be carried on expeditiously. The tender can not lie there nights on account of being exposed to the weather, and passing steamers make such a swash that the tender's lines are parted. The tide has been known to cover the floor of the storehouse to a depth of 1 foot. The buildings, with the exception of the oil house, are wooden, and in poor condition of repair. The wharf is also in poor condition of repair. The Treasury Department has orders to transfer a piece of the old marine hospital property in Chelsea to the Lighthouse Service at the expiration of the present lease, which takes place December 31, 1916. This property by dredging will have three berths for vessels, ample storage room for buoys, and with a brick fireproof storehouse would make a first-class depot.

This item is included in the estimates for the Lighthouse Service for 1917, group 2, item No. 21 (Book of Estimates, 1917, p. 755), among works considered essential for the immediate needs of navigation and for the efficient equipment of the Lighthouse Service.

"Constructing or purchasing and equipping a lighthouse tender to replace tenders worn out in service in the third lighthouse district, or in the Lighthouse Service generally, $150,000."

There are three tenders in the third district that are old and of obsolete types, and should be replaced as soon as practicable by modern, efficient vessels. These are the Gardenia, John Rodgers, and Mistletoe. All of these tenders to be kept in commission require repairs that are not warranted by their age and the service obtained from them. At least one new tender for this district is an urgent present need.

This item is included in the estimates for the Lighthouse Service for 1917, group 1, item No. 18 (Book of Estimates, 1917, p. 755), among items urgently necessary for the safety of navigation.