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A79199 1 (1899-07-26)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadacp0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 74 DECISIONS OF THE COMPTROLLER. DAMAGE TO A VESSEL OF THE NAVY BY COLLI- SION WITH A REVENUE-CUTTER VESSEL. The appropriation for construction and repair of vessels of (lie Navy is exclusively applicable to repairs of such vessels, and reimbursement of that appropriation by a transfer from the appropriatio for expenses of the Revenue-Cutter Service for the cost of repairing the damage done to ench a vessel by a vessel of the Revenue-Cutter Service i4 not authorized. (Comptroller Tracewell to the Secretary of the Treasury, Tuly 26, 1899.) By your reference of the- 19th instant you request to be informed whether the decision in 1 Comp. Dec., 261, applies to the case transmitted by you. In this case it appears that the United States steamer Alliance was damaged while at anchor in Hampton Roads, Virginia, June 9, 1899, by being fouled by the training ship Chase of the Revenue-Cutter Service, while attempting to tack across her bows. The cost of repairing this damage is stated to amount to $185.41, and the Secretary of the Navy requests that this amount be placed to the credit of the appropriation Construction and repair, 1900. This credit can only be given by a transfer from some other appro- priation, presumably from the appropriation for expenses of the Revenue-Cutter Service. In the decision referred to the Comptroller held that the head of an Executive Department is not authorized to pay the actual expensesof repairing a vessel injured in a collision with a Government vessel, the claim arising from the collision being one for unliquidated damages caused by the tort of the Government's officers. But in the present case there is no question of the payment of a claim against the United States. The claim, in so far as the matter may be considered as a claim, is merely by one branch of the Government against another. But the real question in this case is simply a question as to the appropria- tion which is properly applicable to the repair of the injured vessel. As the injured vessel is a vessel of the Navy, I think there can be no doubt that the proper appropriation for the Navy is applicable thereto. It seems equally clear that the appropriation for expenses of the Revenne-Cutter Service, which is applicable to repairs of revenue vessels only, is not applicable to repairs of vessels of the Navy. RENT OF BUILDIN5S, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 75 The fact that the damage to the vessel of the Navy was caused by a revenue vessel does not appear to be material. The appropriation for construction and repairs of vessels of the Navy is applicable to the repair of such vessels without regard to the origin of the injury necessitating the repairs, whether arising from natural deterioration or wear and tear, or from an accident of any kind, whether by the fault of the officers of the Navy or others or otherwise. RENT OF A BUILDING FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. The appropriation for the erection of :b new building for the l)epartuient of Justice upon the ground occupied in part by the existing building is construed to provide for the rent of a building for the use of that Department while the new building is being crected, within the meaning of the act of March 3, 1877, which provides that no contract shall be made for the rent, for the use of the (overnment, of nuy building in the District of Columbia, until an appropriation therefor shall havd been made in terms. (Decision by Comptroller Tracemell, July 26, 1899.) The Auditor for the State and other Departments, under date of the 25th instant, submits for approval, disapproval, or modification the following decision, which involves an original construction of the following act of Congress: Whereas the building now occupied by the Department of Justice is too small for its purpose, is unsafe, overcrowded, and dangerously overloaded, and has been so pronounced, after examination by the proper officials of the Treasury Department: Therefore, Re it enacted by the Senate and Bouse of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a fireproof building shall be erected for the accommodation and use of the Department of Justice upon the ground belonging to the Government at the corner of Pennsylvania avenue and Madison place (Fifteen-and-a-half street northwest), in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, part of which is covered by the building now occupied by the Department; and the construction of said building shall be in charge of the Attorney-General, who shall be authorized and directed to select and adopt plans for the said building and to make con- tracts for its construction and for the removal of the old build- ing, after proper advertisement and the reception of plans aid bids, and to pay to the persons submitting the two sets of

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