20
the master of
his
papero
of a Foreign ship to de with his
deposit
own Conant instead
of being required to place them in the hands of the Harbour Master- and I am certain that the leonents themselves
entirely approve of the
am
-angement. In all the open ports of China a Shipmaster depraits his profure either with the Comentar representative of his own Country, or if there be such
no
person at that particular port, then with the Conant of some
freindly
power. The depreit of the papers is the
only security for the of the master
and
good
behaviour
his officers,
funt
to
who, if they emed
ponpers might sun
their
Rea withit
deeply into debt
or commit
254
on Shore
on
2/
many grave offences almost with impunity. I think that on many grosends the repeal of the existing provision would be highly objectionable.
No. 2. I cannot concur with the Board
of Grade in thinking that the Ordinance in
Seamen with question deals with runaway unnecessary rigour. The Merchant Shipping Act contains stringent provisions for this punishment of this offence, and the ~
provision contained in the Ordinance in-
question is not nearly so severe as that
which
was to be
found in older Ordinances in
this bolony, where
are
to be
found
numbers of "Crimps", whose interest it is to ~ detain sailors in their houses untit after the departure of the ships to which they
L