230
be made to him I consider it should
only be as a gratuity for his extra personal trouble, and not for demurrage, though
As
his claim for actual additional expenditure
has already been conceded, and
These statements are
manifestly
of
unquestionably erroneous
of a native equivalent to direct perversion of the truth, I think his further claims
must be
slight.
One thing however is certain, viz:
that the sick seaman
probably
would have died, if detained here, has reached England alive, and I though the local Departmental arrangements
formerly lamentably defective, they
are now
longer. I therefore respectfully suggest that the Board of Trade need
have no apprehensions as to the future consequences of maintaining the principle that the life of the sailor is to be preferred
to the interest and convenience
of Ship owners,
especially as such cases are not unfrequently occurring, as we may learn from the Colonial Surgeon.
12.
I may add that my
attention has
been frequently attracted since my arrival here to the hardships inflicted
on men, so careless and thoughtless, as ordinary seamen generally are, by the selfishness of Masters of Vessels. The latter make no scruple often of getting rid of a great
proportion of their men when they arrive home, can do so with impunity, and
substitute cheaper labor during their stay