446
6. The 509 British vessels carried 3,786 British Officers and 51 Foreign Officers, as follows:-
British,
Dutch,
Norwegian,
United States, French,
Swedish,
.3,786 2
45
1
1
Total,
............3,837
Thus, the proportion of Foreign Officers in British ships was 1.07 per cent. comprising five nationalities. An increase of 0.18 per cent., with an increase of ships.
The 376 Foreign ships carried 2,764 Officers, of which 183 were British, borne as follows:-
-
In Chinese Ships,
United States,
17
11
Japanese,
French,
Belgian,
Total,
98
18
60
3
183
The proportion of British Officers in Foreign ships was, therefore, 6.62 per cent., distributed among five nationalities. A decrease of 2.68 per cent. with a decrease of ships.
CREWS.
IN BRITISH VESSELS.
17.8% were British.
1.9% Other European.
17
81.2% Asiatic.
IN FOREIGN VESSELS.
1.8° were British. 26.9% Other European.
19
71.3%
Asiatic.
1
This shows a slight increase of British and Other European in British vessels and Other European in Foreign vessels, with a slight falling off in the proportion of Asiatic.
TRADE.
7. Once more it is necessary to call attention to the want of accuracy in the returns under this heading. There being no Custom House in the Colony, it is impossible for accurate returns to be compiled, but the information given by the Officers and Agents of ships might with advantage be of a fuller and more detailed description. It is true that I am empowered to call for copies of manifests of cargo imported, but, so long as the favourite and comprehensive term "Case of Merchandise" continues to be employed, such manifest will not help us much, while to deal with the various weights and measures of the cases, &c., as entered in the manifests, would require a very much larger staff than we now possess. it is, the returns are compiled by the Assistant Harbour Master, from information given by the Officers of the ships, or, in some cases the Agents. It frequently happens that the Officer giving the information is ignorant of the existence on board of certain items which it is imperative should be reported, e.g., Dangerous Goods.
As
This being so, I do not consider it necessary to say more on this subject than that, from these perfunctory reports, it appears that:-
Import Cargo has increased by 167,229 tons, or 4.2% Export
,, 16.0% Transit Cargo has increased by 276,976 tons, or 9.6% Bunker Coal shipped decreased 10,065
17
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12
360,742
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1.6%