as also for disbursements for light-house establishments, should it be found necessary hereafter to constitute them such agents. These officers are by law made subject to your control and direction, and should be required to report to you in regard to their official acts, and make such periodical statements and returns as may be found necessary. You will, from time to time, furnish them with funds to pay their salaries, and such public expenses incurred at their ports as may be authorized by law and the instructions of the department, they accounting to you for all moneys thus placed in their hands. Upon the execution and approval of the bonds, in the penal sum prescribed by the Solicitor of the Treasury, given under the independent treasury act, approved the 6th of August, 1846, you become authorized to discharge the duties of a designated depositary of public moneys under said act. This service being incidental to your office as collector of the customs and revenue, no compensation can legally be allowed for services performed in that capacity. Should you propose to appoint the deputy collectors for the ports of delivery enumerated in the act before reaching your collection district, they should be submitted for the approval of the department, in pursuance of the seventh section of the act of 3d March, 1817. (See Compilation of Revenue Laws, page 226.) When the approval is given, they may qualify by taking the oath of office; and their compensations will commence with the date of their oaths respectively. In pursuance of the same act, you are authorized to appoint, subject to approval as aforesaid, a deputy collector and inspector, to aid you in the discharge of your official duties at the port of San Francisco, who will be allowed the maximum pay of an inspector of the customs-viz: at a rate not to exceed three dollars per day. Upon entering on the discharge of your duties at San Francisco, should it become necessary to employ subordinate officers of the customs, you may, in pursuance of the 2d section of the compensation act of 2d March, 1799, as modified by the act of 26th April, 1816, employ such temporary or occasional inspectors as may be found indispensably necessary for the protection and security of the revenue, to be paid, when actually employed, a sum not exceeding three dollars per day each. Should the employment of permanent subordinate officers of the customs be deemed necessary, you will, in pursuance of the 21st section of the general collection act of 2d March, 1799, nominate, for the approval of the department, competent and trustworthy persons to perform the respective duties mentioned in said section, or such of them as may be needed-taking care to furnish reasons to show the necessity for their employment, and stating the rate of compensation proposed to be allowed, which in no case can, for inspectors of the customs, exceed three dollars per day. These officers cannot be employed or paid until the approval of the department is received; but occasional or temporary inspectors may be employed and paid at the commencement of your duties, as before intimated, without awaiting such approval. As authorized by the 21st section of the act of 2d March, 1799, you are authorized to provide at the port of San Francisco, at the public expense, storehouse accommodations for the safe-keeping of goods, &c., in which building the collector's office may be held. In providing such public store, it is expected that you will exercise proper economy, and pay no higher rent than the rate usual at the port for similar accommodations. You will take care to advise the department on this subject, and state the rate of rent proposed to be allowed. Should it become necessary to provide stores for warehousing foreign imported goods under bonds, under the warehousing act of 6th August, 1846, you will be governed by the instructions and regulations issued by the department under said act, which have been supplied you. Copies of the laws, with proper forms and instructions, in reference to the safe-keeping and rendition of your accounts, together with the periodical returns to be made, and instructions to govern you in the assessments and collection of duties, have been furnished you. The First Comptroller has been instructed to furnish you with the necessary articles appertain ing to the custom-house, for the use of the collector's office at San Francisco, and also for the offices of the deputies at their respective ports. It being ascertained that expenses will be necessarily incurred in your district before funds are likely to come into your hands from duties, it is deemed proper, to prevent delay and embarrassment on this account, to advance to you out of the revenue, to be carried with you to your destination, a sum of money deemed to be adequate to defray such expenses. The First Comptroller has accordingly been directed to furnish you, by an order on the collector of New York, with the sum of six thousand dollars, together with the additional sum of five hundred dollars to defray your own actual travelling expenses incurred in proceeding hence to San Fran .cisco. With these sums you will be duly charged and held accountable, and >will receive due credits in the settlement of your official accounts for such disbursements, properly vouched, as may be made in pursuance of law and instructions. No travelling expenses can be allowed to your deputies or any other subordinate officers who may accompany you to California. Should it become necessary, in the enforcement of the revenue laws, to call for additional aid and assistance beyond that afforded by the regular officers of the customs, you are authorized by law to employ the revenue cutter C. W. Lawrence, assigned to that station, as provided in the 99th section of the general collection act of 2d March, 1799, to which your attention is specially called. It is proper to advise you that you can only receive, in payment of ducoins of the United States, and such foreign coins as are recognised and their values established by acts of Congress. In conclusion, I would add that, in view of the great distance of your district from the seat of government, and the consequent infrequency and uncertainty of regular communications, much must be left to your good judgment and discretion, which the department confidently expects will, within the limits of law, be judiciously exercised. You will be expected to furnish returns and other official statements with the utmost punctuality practicable, and will communicate by letter with the department as often as opportunities shall occur, offering such suggestions for its consideration as the interests of the revenue and the general condition of things in your district may, in your opinion, render expedient. W. M. MEREDITH, Secretary of the Treasury. JAMES COLLIER, Esq., Collector of the Customs for port of San Francisco, WASHINGTON, April 3, 1849. SIR: I respectfully nominate William Prentiss to be an inspector of the customs for the district of Upper California. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. COLLIER, Collector of the Customs for district of Upper California. Hon. Wм. M. MEREDITH, Secretary of the Treasury. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, April 4, 1849. SIR: Your nomination, under date the 3d inst., of William Prentiss to J. COLLIER, Esq., Collector, &c., for Upper California. WASHINGTON, April 3, 1849. SIR: I respectfully nominate for the district of Upper California: Alexander Irvin, of Pennsylvania, to be deputy collector at Monterey. Williamson Ferrel, of South Carolina, to be deputy collector at San Diego. Alexander Bradford, of Mississippi, to be deputy collector at the point near the junction of the Gila and Colorado hereafter to be designated by the Secretary of the Treasury. Edwin D. Collier, to be deputy collector at San Francisco. Also, John Caperton, Thomas Harvey, Augustus Richards, Amos Adams, and John A. Collier, to be inspectors of the customs, to be stationed as the public interests may require. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. Wм. M. MEREDITH, J. COLLIER, TREASURY DEPARTMENT, April 3, 1849. SIR: The following nominations made by you for the district of Upper California, under date of to-day, are approved, viz: Alexander Irvin, to be deputy collector at Monterey. Alexander Bradford, to be deputy collector at junction of Gila and Edwin D. Collier, to be deputy collector at San Francisco. Also, John Caperton, Thomas Harvey, Augustus Richards, Amos Adams, and John A. Collier, to be inspectors of the customs. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. M. MEREDITH, Secretary of the Treasury. J. COLLIER, Esq., Collector of Customs, WASHINGTON CITY, April 4, 1849. SIR: During my stay in the city, and while making the necessary arrangements for my early departure for Upper California, I have felt no little anxiety as to what might be the state of things on my arrival at San. Francisco, and what facilities might be found on the spot to enable me to carry into execution the revenue laws of the country. I must have, in the first place, a suitable building, or buildings, to protect the public prop- erty committed to my care, and there ought to be warehouses sufficient to store the goods that may and no doubt will be imported. Shall I find these indispensable buildings on my arrival? Upon this subject I have. endeavored to inform myself, by conversation with persons who have been upon the spot, and by communication with others who have friends now residing there. All concur in saying that it will be next to impossible to find a building suitable for an office, or for a warehouse, should one be re-. quired. I take it for granted that the government desires to extend to the people of California all the facilities which the commerce, now rapidly increasing, of the country, may require. The cities upon the Atlantic seaboard have been greatly favored in this particular, and millions have been expended for that purpose. As yet, nothing has been done for California. The question, then, which I desire to submit to your consideration, is this: Ought not some measures to be adopted, previous to my departure for so distant a point, for the purpose of securing the erection of suitable buildings for the accommodation of the collector, and for the convenience of shippers of merchandise to that coast?" Upon this subject I cannot withhold the expression of my own opinion. Something ought to be done. Good policy seems to require that I should be enabled to say to that people on my arrival, the government are making the necessary preparations for all these things, and they will be forwarded as speedily as the nature of the business will permit. In looking over my instructions, I find that upon the subject of warehouses I am to be governed by the instructions heretofore issued from the department to the various collectors: in the United States. These instructions require the collectors in all cases to give a preference to fire-proof buildings, and such as are particularlydescribed by the department. Acting upon these instructions I cannot, in view of all the information I have been enabled to collect, hesitate to recommend that arrangements be made for the erection of such buildings as are deemed indispensable by the collector, at the earliest period possible. It is true, I cannot say to what extent these buildings may be required. Judging, however, from the amount of shipments already reported, and the number of vessels advertised to leave the several seaports, large buildings must and will be required. I respectfully submit these suggestions to the consideration of the department. The necessity of my immediate departure will excuse the haste in which they have been drawn up. I desire to discharge my whole duty, but it is evident that this cannot be done unless the necessary means are provided. Very respectfully, J. COLLIER, Collector of Customs for the district of Upper California. Hon. Wм. M. MEREDITH, Secretary of the Treasury. WASHINGTON, Wednesday evening, April 4, 1849. SIR: I have just received the enclosed letter, containing propositions to erect buildings for the accommodation of the customs at San Francisco. I have, of course, made no reply, but desire to submit it to your consideration, presuming, however, that nothing will be determined upon until you shall hear from me, on my arrival at San Francisco. I could do no Jess than submit it to you. Very respectfully, Hon. W. M. MEREDITH, J. COLLIER, Collector, &c., Sc. WASHINGTON, April 4, 1849. SIR: Understanding that it is the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury that the government of the United States may not want as many stores at San Francisco as I offered to rent in my proposition to the department, and that the power to contract for such stores has been delegated by law to the collectors, I proceed to make such modifications in my original proposition as may meet the demands of government. Myself and associate are willing to build eight stores of the character we first proposed, following the plans as submitted by Geo. Law, esq., of New York, (for stores in that city,) which were left with the late Secretary of the Treasury, and approved by him. Of the stores I propose to build, five must be taken by the government the moment they are finished, at an annual rent of seven thousand dollars, payable quarterly-it being distinctly understood that, as soon as the increasing commerce of San Francisco shall require more store room, the collector shall rent the additional stores, upon the same terms. We stipulated for two years' time in which to complete the building of the stores; but our own interest is a sufficient guaranty that they will be built at the earliest practical moment. Yet it must be borne in mind that we will have to ship all our material from the Atlantic cities, (a six months' voyage,) and a single accident to a vessel bearing the material, which no insurance could prevent, might delay us six or eight months; but, should |