Feb. 20, 1907. June 18, 1878. immigrant inspector at the port of arrival to be clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to land shall be detained for examination in relation thereto by a board of special inquiry. Such boards of special inquiry shall be appointed by the commissioner of immigration at the various ports of arrival as may be necessary for the prompt determination of all cases of immigrants detained at such ports under the provisions of law. Each board shall consist of three members, who shall be selected from such of the immigrant officials in the service as the Commissioner-General of Immigration, with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, shall from time to time designate as qualified to serve on such boards: Provided, That at ports where there are fewer than three immigrant inspectors, the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, upon the recommendation of the Commissioner-General of Immigration, may designate other United States officials for service on such boards of special inquiry. Such boards shall have authority to determine whether an alien who has been duly held shall be allowed to land or shall be deported. All hearings before boards shall be separate and apart from the public, but the said boards shall keep a complete permanent record of their proceedings and of all such testimony as may be produced before them; and the decision of any two members of a board shall prevail, but either the alien or any dissenting member of the said board may appeal through the commissioner of immigration at the port of arrival and the Commissioner-General of Immigration to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and the taking of such appeal shall operate to stay any action in regard to the final disposal of any alien whose case is so appealed until the receipt by the commissioner of immigration at the port of arrival of such decision which shall be rendered solely upon the evidence adduced before the board of special inquiry: Provided, That in every case where an alien is excluded from admission into the United States, under any law or treaty now existing or hereafter made, the decision of the appropriate immigration officers, if adverse to the admission of such alien, shall be final, unless reversed on appeal to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor; but nothing in this section shall be construed to admit of any appeal in the case of an alien rejected as provided for in section ten of this Act. 445. Life-Saving Service. The President of the United States may, by and with the consent of the Senate, appoint a suitable person, who shall be familiar with the various means employed in the Life-Saving Service for the saving of life and property from shipwrecked vessels, as general superintendent of the Life-Saving Service, who shall, under the immediate direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, have general charge of the service and of all administrative matters connected therewith, and whose compensation shall be at the rate of four thousand dollars per annum; and the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to appoint an assistant to the general superintendent, whose compensattion shall be two thousand five hundred dollars per annum. It shall be the duty of the general superintendent to supervise the organization and government of the employees of the service; to prepare and revise regulations therefor as may be necessary; to fix the number and compensation of surfmen to be employed at the several stations within the provisions of law; to supervise the expenditure of all appropriations made for the support and maintenance of the Life-Saving-Service; to examine the accounts of disbursements of the district superintendents, and to certify the same to the accounting-officer of the Treasury Department; to examine the property returns of the keepers of the several stations, and see that all public property thereto belonging is properly accounted for; to acquaint himself, as far as practicable, with all means employed in foreign countries which may seem to advantageously affect the interests of the service, and to cause to be properly investigated all plans, devices, and inventions for the improvement of life-saving apparatus for use at the stations, which may appear to be meritorious and available; to exercise supervision over the selec tion of sites for new stations the establishment of which may be authorized by law, or for old ones the removal of which may be made necessary by the encroachment of the sea or by other causes; to prepare and submit to the Secretary of the Treasury estimates for the support of the service; to collect and compile the statistics of marine disasters contemplated by the act of June twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four; and to submit to the Secretary of the Treasury, for transmission to Congress, an annual report of the expenditures of the moneys appropriated for the maintenance of the Life-Saving Service, and of the operations of said service during the year. The Secretary of the Treasury may detail such officer or officers of the Revenue Cutter Service as may be necessary, to act as inspector and assistant inspectors of stations, who shall perform such duties in connection with the conduct of the service as may be required of them by the general superintendent. Sec. 7. Sec. 8. Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized, June 20, 1874. whenever, in his opinion, it may become necessary for the proper administration of the life-saving service, and thẹ protection of the public property at the stations and houses of refuge herein authorized to be established, to appoint one superintendent for the coasts of Delaware and Virginia, one for the coast of Florida, one for the coasts of Lakes Erie and Ontario, one for the coasts of Lakes Huron and Superior, and one for the coast of Lake Sec. 4. Sec. 5. Sec. 6. June 18, 1878. Michigan, and also a keeper for each of said stations and houses of refuge; and the said superintendents shall have the powers and perform the duties of inspectors of customs. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to appoint an assistant to the superintendent of the coast of Long Island and Rhode Island, who shall perform the duties required of the superintendent at the life-saving stations within the State of Rhode Island, and reside on Block Island, and for his services he shall receive an annual salary of five hundred dollars. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to employ crews of experienced surfmen at such of the stations herein denominated complete stations and at such of the life-boat stations on the Pacific coast as he may deem necessary and proper, for such periods, and at such compensation, not to exceed forty dollars per month, as he may deem necessary and reasonable. The Secretary of the Treasury may accept the services of volunteer crews of any of the life-boat stations herein authorized, who shall be subject to the rules and regulations governing the life-saving service; and a list of the names of each crew shall be kept in the office of the Secretary of the Treasury. Such volunteers shall receive no compensation except a sum of not more than ten dollars each for every occasion upon which they shall have been instrumental in saving human life, and such of the medals herein authorized as they may be entitled to under the provisions hereinafter made: Provided, That no payment shall be made to any person who shall not have actually participated in the efforts to save the life or lives rescued. Section six of said act of June twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, is so amended as to extend the compensation of the enrolled members of volunteer crews of life-boat stations therein named to occasions of actual and deserving service at any shipwreck, or in the relief of any vessel in distress, and that such persons as may volunteer to take the place of any absent or disabled enrolled members of a crew, and who shall be accepted by the keeper, may be paid therefor, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury, a sum not to exceed eight dollars each on every such occasion: Provided, That all crews and volunteers employed under authority of this act who may be present at a wreck shall be required to use their utmost endeavors to save life and properly care for the bodies of such as may perish, and, when such efforts are no longer necessary, to save property and protect the same, under the direction of the senior keeper present or of the superintendent of the district, until the arrival of persons legally authorized to take charge; and for the time employed in so saving and protecting prop erty volunteers shall be entitled to compensation not to exceed three dollars per day each, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. If any keeper or member of a crew of a life-saving or life-boat station shall be so disabled by reason of any wound or injury received or disease contracted in the LifeSaving Service in the line of duty as to unfit him for the performance of duty, such disability to be determined in such manner as shall be prescribed in the regulations of the service, he shall be continued upon the rolls of the service and entitled to receive his full pay during the continuance of such disability, not to exceed the period of one year, unless the general superintendent shall recommend, upon a statement of facts, the extension of the period through a portion or the whole of another year, and said recommendation receive the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury as just and reasonable; but in no case shall said disabled keeper or member of a crew be continued upon the rolls or receive pay for a longer period than two years. If any keeper or member of a crew of a life-saving or life-boat station shall hereafter die by reason of perilous service or any wound or injury received or disease contracted in the life-saving service in the line of duty, leaving a widow, or a child or children under sixteen years of age, such widow and child or children shall be entitled to receive, in equal portions, during a period of two years, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, the same amount payable quarterly, as far as practicable, that the husband or father would be entitled to receive as pay if he were alive and continued in the service: Provided, That if the widow shall re-marry at any time during the said two years, her portion of said amount shall cease to be paid to her from the date of her remarriage, but shall be added to the amount to be paid to the remaining beneficiaries under the provisions of this section, if there be any; and if any child shall arrive at the age of sixteen years during the said two years, the payment of the portion of such child shall cease to be paid to such child from the date on which such age shall be attained, but shall be added to the amount to be paid to the remaining beneficiaries, if there be any. May 4, 1882. Sec. 8. Sec. 9. Upon the occurrence of any shipwreck within the June 18, 1878. scope of the operations of the Life-Saving Service, attended with loss of life, the general superintendent shall cause an investigation of all the circumstances connected with said disaster and loss of life to be made, with a view of ascertaining the cause of the disaster, and whether any of the officers or employees of the service have been guilty of neglect or misconduct in the premises; and any officer or clerk in the employment of the Treasury Department who may be detailed to conduct such investigation, or to Sec. 11. May 4, 1882. Sec. 3. Sec. 4. Sec. 10. June 18, 1878. Sec. 5. Aug. 3, 1894. examine into any alleged incompetency or misconduct of any of the officers or employees of the Life-Saving Service shall have authority to administer an oath to any witness attending to testify or depose in the course of such investigation. The enrolled members of the crews of life-boat stations may be called out for drill and exercise in the life-boat and life-saving apparatus as often as the general superintendent may determine, not to exceed twice a month, for each day's attendance at which they shall be entitled to the sum of three dollars each. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to discontinue any life-saving or life-boat station or house of refuge whenever in his judgment the interests of commerce and humanity no longer require its existence. The General Superintendent may transfer the apparatus, appliances, equipments, and supplies of any discontinued station or house of refuge to such other stations or houses of refuge as may need them, and may also transfer any portion of the apparatus, appliances, equipments, and supplies, of one station or house of refuge to another whenever in his judgment the interests of the service may require it. Hereafter all district superintendents of life-saving stations shall be disbursing officers and paymasters for their respective districts, and shall give such bonds as the Secretary of the Treasury may require, and shall have the powers and perform the duties of inspectors of customs. The appointment of district superintendents, inspectors, and keepers and crews of life-saving stations shall be made solely with reference to their fitness, and without reference to their political or party affiliations. Hereafter the compensation of the keepers of life-saving and life-boat stations and houses of refuge shall be at the rate of four hundred dollars per annum; and they shall have the powers of inspectors of customs, but shall receive no additional compensation for duties performed as such: Provided, That said keepers shall have authority and be required to take charge of and protect all property saved from shipwreck at which they may be present, until it is claimed by parties legally authorized to receive it, or until otherwise instructed to dispose of it by the Secretary of the Treasury; and keepers of life-saving stations shall be required to reside continually at or in the immediate vicinity of their respective stations. [Note: Compensation changed June 22, 1892; but powers bestowed in this section remain.] Hereafter the life-saving stations upon the Atlantic and gulf coasts at which crews are employed shall be manned and the stations opened for active service on the first day of August in each year, and so continue until the first day of June succeeding, and upon the lake coasts |