AMERICAN CUSTOMS LAWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 215, 7 October 1903, Page 4

AMERICAN CUSTOMS LAWS.

PROIEBT MADK BY MANY PASSENGERS. NEW OCSTOMS BULK AT HONOLULU CAUSES ANNOYAHOE TO PEOPLE ON THE SIBERIA. (Gutting from San Francisco Chrmide of 31st July, 1903.) Many of the passengers arriving from the Orient yesterday in the steamer Siberia, expressed great indignation over the manner in which their baggage was overhauled by the Customs i inspectors at Honolulu following an order recently made by the Secretary of the Treasury directing the searching lof baggage of passengers passing through Honolulu for this country. A statement of the trodble and discom- • fort experienced by the passengerß on the Siberia was prepared on board and given to the Press upon arrival of the finer. It was eigned by many of the saloon passengers, and was as follows: —The Siberia called at Honolulu tc discharge some cargo, land a few passengers and receive passengers for Sao Francisco. As soon as the health officers came dn board a squad of Cus-

Tom House officers followed, and with I the exception of three or four they] looked and acted like a lot/)f jackals. - The passengers from China, Japan, and the Philippines, were ordered to get their baggage ready for inspection, although bound for San Francisco and still six days to sail from that port. They were also notified that what baggage they had in the baggage room could not be touched and all would be sealed in the hold. In fact it was simply seized. The baggage in the rooms was examined and the owners were dictated te as to how many shirts, collars, etc., they could retain, All the rest must be bundled up and sent to the hold and sealed up. One gentleman who had lived for several years in Japan had six suits of pajamas. The Customhouse officer said " You can only have one " and bundled the remaining suits into the hold. , This wa3 only one instance. The clothing was taken from the rooms and was rolled up and tied in any fashion; some in paper, some in nothing, and now lies in the lower hold. No receipt is given for it and what condition it will be returned in can be imagined. Men and women who have been living and travelling in a tropical climate and were clothed in duck and flannels, had their heavy clothing sealed up, and many serious cases of sickness are sure to arise before landing in San Francisco. We do not believe there is any law in the United States that permits the Secretary of the Treasury to use such high-handed measures, and trust that the Secretary has made a mistake by

being misled by soma over (jealous Customhouse offLial. I The foreigners were treated in the ' same way as the Americans, although I most of them were on their way to I Europe via the United States. They one and all declared that they would never travelvia San Francisco again. This is also the determination of twothirds of the Americans on board. The officers on the .steamer protested in every way, but they were powerless. Not all of the signers agreed with the statement containad in the protest that there were jackals among the Honolulu irspectors. Lieutenant Kitchener, nephew of Lord Kitchener, was ene who took occasion to voice his unwillingness to make such an allusion to the inspectors, i !J?hey were really good fellows, he sajid yesterday, but it is the annoying [ rule that they had to enforce that we objected to. The Sibsria's passengers are pot the ; first to make a strong protest againct i the rule, and the opinion is general i that the Secretary's order will soon be cancelled.