[PUBLIC-No. 212-72D CONGRESS] REORGANIZATION OF SHIPPING BOARD SEC. 306. (a) The United States Shipping Board shall be_composed of three commissioners to be hereafter appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. One of such commissioners shall be appointed from the States touching the Pacific Ocean, one from the States touching the Atlantic Ocean, or a navigable river directly tributary thereto, and one from the States touching the Gulf of Mexico, but not more than one shall be appointed from the same State. Not more than two of the commissioners shall be appointed from the same political party. (b) Terms of office of the first commissioners appointed under this section, shall expire, as designated by the President at the time of nomination, one at the end of one year, one at the end of two years, and one at the end of three years after the date of the enactment of this Act. The term of office of a successor to any such commissioner shall expire three years from the date of the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed, except that a commissioner appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed, shall be appointed for the remainder of such term. The commissioners appointed hereunder shall hold office until their successors are appointed and qualify. (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) the United States Shipping Board as constituted upon the date of the enactment of this Act shall continue to function until the date of reorganization of the commission pursuant to the provisions of such subsection. The board shall be deemed to be reorganized upon such date as the three commissioners appointed as provided in such subsection have taken office, and no such commissioner shall be paid salary, as such commissioner, for any period prior to such date. (d) This section shall be held to reorganize the United States. Shipping Board, and, except as herein modified, all laws relating to such board shall remain in full force and effect, and no regulations, action, investigations, or other proceedings under any such laws existing or pending on the date of the enactment of this Act shall abate or otherwise be affected by reason of the provisions of this section. (e) Whenever under existing law the concurrence of four or more of the commissioners is required, such requirement of law shall, after the reorganization of the board provided by this section, be held to be complied with by the concurrence of two commissioners. (f) $200,000 of the unexpended balance of the allotment of $500,000 made available to the United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation for experimental and research work, by the Independent Offices Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1930, and continued by subsequent appropriation Acts, shall not be expended, but shall be covered into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts. (g) The sums available for expenditure, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1933, for personal services of employees of the United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation assigned to and serving with the United States Shipping Board are reduced by $167,000 from the pay roll of March 31, 1932, and the amounts of reduction applicable to the various bureaus shall be as follows: (1) Bureau of Research, $30,000, (2) Bureau of Law, $103,000, (3) Bureau of Traffic, $9,000, (4) Bureau of Construction, $5,000, and (5) Bureau of Operations, $20,000. (h) The United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation shall, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1933, transfer from the operating funds and cover into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts the sum of $1,938,240. Approved, June 30, 1932. [H. R. 7238] AN ACT To amend section 5 of the Suits in Admiralty Act, approved March 9, 1920. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Suits in Admiralty Act (41 Stat. 525; U. S. C., title 46, secs. 741-745), approved March 9, 1920, is amended to read as follows: SEC. 5. That suits as herein authorized may be brought only on causes of action arising since April 6, 1917: Provided, That suits based on causes of action arising prior to the taking effect of this Act shall be brought within one year after this Act goes into effiect 1; and all other suits hereunder shall be brought within two years after the cause of action arises: Provided further, That the limitations in this section contained for the commencement of suits hereunder shall not bar any suit against the United States or the United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation, formerly known as the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation, brought hereunder on or before December 31, 1932, if such suit is based upon a cause of action whereon a prior suit in admiralty or an action at law or an action under the Tucker Act of March 3, 1887 (24 Stat. 505; U. S. C., title 28, sec. 250, subdiv. 1), was commenced prior to January 6, 1930, and was or may hereafter be dismissed because not commenced within the time or in the manner prescribed in this Act, or otherwise not commenced or prosecuted in accordance with its provisions: Provided further, That such prior suit must have been commenced within the statutory period of limitation for common-law actions against the United States cognizable in the Court of Claims: Provided further, That there shall not be revived hereby any suit at law, in admiralty, or under the Tucker Act heretofore or hereafter dismissed for lack of prosecution after filing of suit: And provided further, That no interest shall be allowed on any claim prior to the time when suit on such claim is brought as authorized hereunder." Approved, June 30, 1932. 1 So in original. [8. 4491] AN ACT Amending the Shipping Act, 1916, as amended, for the purpose of further regulat ing common carriers by water in interstate commerce of the United States engaged in transportation by way of the Panama Canal. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That when used in this Act The term " common carrier by water in intercoastal commerce for the purposes of this Act shall include every common and contract carrier by water engaged in the transportation for hire of passengers or property between one State of the United States and any other State of the United States by way of the Panama Canal. SEC. 2. That every common carrier by water in intercoastal commerce shall file with the United States Shipping Board and keep open to public inspection schedules showing all the rates, fares, and charges for or in connection with transportation between intercoastal points on its own route; and, if a through route has been established, all the rates, fares, and charges for or in connection with transportation between intercoastal points on its own route and points on the route of any other carrier by water. The schedules filed and kept open to public inspection as aforesaid by any such carrier shall plainly show the places between which passengers and/or freight will be carried, and shall contain the classification of freight and of passenger accommodations in force, and shall also state separately each terminal or other charge, privilege, or facility, granted or allowed, and any rules or regulations which in anywise change, affect, or determine any part or the aggregate of such aforesaid rates, fares, or charges, or the value of the service rendered to the passenger, consignor, or consignee. Such carriers in establishing and fixing rates, fares, or charges may make equal rates, fares, or charges for similar service between all ports of origin and all ports of destination, and it shall be unlawful for any such carrier, either directly or indirectly, through the medium of any agreement, conference, association, understanding, or otherwise, to prevent or attempt to prevent any such carrier from extending service to any publicly owned terminal located on any improvement project authorized by the Congress at the same rates which it charges at its nearest regular port of call. Such schedules shall be plainly printed, and capies shall be kept posted in a public and conspicuous place at every wharf, dock, and office of such carrier where passengers or freight are received for transportation, in such manner that they shall be readily accessible to the public and can be conveniently inspected. No change shall be made in the rates, fares, or charges, or classifications, rules, or regulations, which have been filed and posted as required by this section, except by the publication, filing, and post ing as aforesaid of a new schedule or schedules which shall become effective not earlier than thirty days after date of posting and filing thereof with the board, and such schedule or schedules shall plainly show the changes proposed to be made in the schedule or schedules then in force and the time when the rates, fares, charges, classifications, rules, or regulations as changed are to become effective: Provided, That the board may, in its discretion and for good cause, allow changes upon less than the period of thirty days herein specified: And provided further, That schedules or changes which provide for extension of actual service to additional ports at rates of said carrier already in effect for similar service at the nearest port of call to said additional ports shall become effective immediately upon notice to the board. From and after ninety days following enactment hereof no person shall engage in transportation as a common carrier by water in intercoastal commerce unless and until its schedules as provided by this section have been duly and properly filed and posted; nor shall any common carrier by water in intercoastal commerce charge or demand or collect or receive a greater or less or different compensation for the transportation of passengers or property or for any service in connection therewith than the rates, fares, and/or charges which are specified in its schedules filed with the board and duly posted and in effect at the time; nor shall any such carrier refund or remit in any manner or by any device any portion of the rates, fares, or charges so specified, nor extend or deny to any person any privilege or facility, except in accordance with such schedules. The board shall by regulations prescribe the form and manner in which the schedules required by this section shall be published, filed, and posted; and the board is authorized to reject any schedule filed with it which is not in consonance with this section and with such regulations. Any schedule so rejected by the board shall be void and its use shall be unlawful. Any violation of any provision of this section by a common carrier by water in intercoastal commerce shall be punished by a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000 for each act of violation and/or for each day such violation continues, to be recovered by the United States in a civil action. SEC. 3. Whenever there shall be filed with the board any schedule stating a new individual or joint rate, fare, or charge, or any new individual or joint classification, or any new individual or joint regulation or practice affecting any rate, fare, or charge, the board shall have, and it is hereby given, authority, either upon complaint or upon its own initiative without complaint, and if it so orders without answer or other formal pleading by the interested carrier or carriers, but upon reasonable notice, to enter upon a hearing concerning the lawfulness of such rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, or practice: Provided, however, That there shall be no suspension of a tariff schedule or service which extends to additional ports, actual service at rates of said carrier for similar service already in effect at the nearest port of call to said additional port. Pending such hearing and the decision thereon the board, upon filing with such schedule and delivering to the carrier or carriers affected thereby a statement in writing of its reasons for such sun |