530
W
a2099
by
1526
04.5
Enclosure 2.
men declined to have any part of the wages and bonus due to them deposited with the Harbour Master and could not be forced to do so as their six months agreement had not expired and they would have refused to be discharged, as two of them in fact did. By agreeing to the discharge under the conditions embodied in your telegram of the 14th, I committed myself to allowing the men to be discharged without there being any provision for their maintenance (except as vagrants in the House of Detention) from the time they become distressed seamen until an opportunity offers for repatriating them as such.
3.
I regret this error by which I have subserved the financial interests of the owners at the expense of the interests of the Colony to which, as pointed out in my despatch of the 16th, the discharge here of seamen in circumstances likely to lead to their destitution is a serious matter. In this connection I would draw your attention to the final paragraph of an article which appeared in one of the local newspapers on the 27th instant of which I enclose an excerpt.
4.
I would further respectfully suggest that the Colonial Office should decline in future to interest itself in the various schemes of the owners of the Steamships "Inkum" and "Ixula" to substitute at a minimum of expense Chinese for European crews on their ships at Hongkong.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient
Humble servant,
W. M. F. Nathan
Governor &c.,