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Rice-Oxley then turned to the problems of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, on which we have seen a few telegrams from and to the FCO. He said that the German members of the International Shipping Federation had called at the BSF yesterday. They told BSF that they had some 37 ships employing about 500 GEIC islanders, and German officers. The ships are under the German flag. The Germans are prepared to pay the islanders up to the ILO minimum rate, but not above it: to go above would not be a commercial proposition. Rice-Oxley said he considered that ratings should be paid according to the standard of living in their own countries. He referred to a meeting with Formon (presumably that reported in FCO telegram no 174 of 5 July to Governor GEIC) and said they were reasonably optimistic that Foggon was going to be able to help on this issue. Rice-Oxley said that Blyth was sympathetic to the CEIC (as we know) and thought that anything HMG said to Blyth might be effective. He urged us to do all we could to help here.
Rice-Oxley said that the ITF Fair Practices Committee will meet on 18 July. At the meeting, the Indian unions are expected to protest against the ITF policy. He said he could not guess the outcome, but that it was unlikely that the Indian unions would make any great inroads into ITF policy.
Rice-Oxley also said that the International Shipping Federation will be meeting the ITF on 1 August. They will talk about the general situation, and the ISF will try to get the ITF to alter their definition of an FOC ship. Rice-Oxley told me, again in confidens, that the BSF will "put forward some formula aimed at advising members to consult with their national unions more than in the past". He refused to be more specific than this, but offered to explain further after the meeting.
Generally, Rice-Oxley said that he did not see any great deal of daylight in the situation, and that the more people who talked with authority to the ITF seeking a reasonable agreement the better. He thought nothing but good could come of HMG's talking to the ITF. He asked to be kept in touch with developments on our side.
This is a hurried and rambling account of what transpired in a long telephone conversation with Rice-Oxley. I hope you can follow it.
Yours sincerely
filmin
GR Wilson
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