The history of the Irving family of maritime heritage in B.C. is filled with illuminating, exciting and dramatic stories as well as some that simply describe the family's life. John Irving, only son of Capt. William and Elizabeth, was an interesting fellow who occupies a colourful place in our history.
In 1881, John Irving, himself a captain and manager of a fleet of vessels, decided to initiate a set of rules and regulations "governing freight and passage on the Pioneer Line of steamers."
In a "card" in the newspaper addressed "to merchants, farmers and the travelling public" he drew attention to his list of rules, commenting, "These rules and regulations have been adopted in consequence of the very general dissatisfaction arising out of the system, or rather want of system, of past years, and we feel confident that they will prove alike advantageous to all concerned and give general satisfaction, after a fair trial. They will be uniformly enforced without deviation or exception."
The nine clearly laid out rules and regulations followed in the paper.
Obviously John had some concerns with the way his business was going and how it was being used by his customers, and he was setting out to correct the problem.
Reading between the lines we can identify some of what might have been bothering Capt. John Irving.
Rule 1 very clearly stated that there would be no credit given for "freight, fare, meals or beds."
Rule 2 said that the company was not responsible for packages not properly marked and placed appropriately for shipping.
Rule 3 was for shippers and demanded that there be receipts in duplicate for each package.
Rule 4 made it clear that if you shipped an item you had better have a receipt for the piece or the com-pany was not responsible for loss or damage.
Rule 5 concerned the payment for all shipping charges before the goods were to be delivered. If you didn't pay, then the goods were "stored at owner's risk and expense."
Rule 6 stated that if you had a claim for loss or damage of goods you must have a proper bill and present it within 10 days of shipping the item.
Rule 7 centred on having a company representative or consignee on hand to receive goods which must be paid for before the goods were off loaded. Rule 8 concerned tickets which were to be purchased at New Westminster or Yale - extra rates were charged for tickets purchased on board. And Rule 9 said that if you were not treated in a "gentlemanly" way by any of the crew, you were to report same to the manager.
These might seem pretty straightforward today, but at the time, they would seem to point to a problem or two with the shipping of goods and payment of fares. An interesting piece from our maritime heritage.
