296
in the United Kingdom.
8.
The importance of such acknowledgment to the Mercantile interest in a tropical port like this where the waste of life and demand for new hands is necessarily great, must be readily seen, and as we have at all times abundant material for the construction of our Board. I venture to submit that it is not unreasonable that our certificates should be recognized as sufficient.
9.
It will also, I think, be perceived that it is hard to require a qualified person to undergo the expense and the trouble of requalifying himself.
10.
If the certificate of the Board of Trade be essential, I would suggest that the local certificate be replaced in due course by the London document, on report of the result of the local Examination.
On the second point, I should wish to be informed if the 1361⁄2 clause of the Merchant Shipping Act is to be read literally, and no certificates to be required of masters appointed in this part of the world to British Ships, and I ask this because I know that the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company has been commanded by an officer for years who has no certificate whatever: