759
"June last, two Captains of British Merchant Ships were fined for "olowing their steam whistles other than for the purpose of naviga- "tion, at 4 o'clock in the morning in Hunghom Bay, thereby dis-
"turbing the peace and quietude of the neighbourhood". the cases
referred to are those of two steamlaunches the "Albatross" and the
"Hoi Ning" which entered Hung Hom Bay at 4 a.m. in the morning of
the Eth. June, the second launch following the first and the two
together emitting 10 blasts of their whistles, while according to
evidence given before the Magistrate there were no craft in their
way. According to the Merchant Shipping Guild "it is obvious
"that these alarms would not be made without there was some speci-
"fic cause in the way of danger", and on this assumption they
"feel that prosecutions of the kind are exceedingly frivolous and
"unnecessary". There is no doubt that at this port the almost
continuous whistling which goes on throughout the day and through
some of the hours of night is an unavoidable necessity in connec-
tion with the navigation of the vast number of small steamers
that constantly ply in the harbour but if to this has to be added
unlimited whistling for the purpose of attracting the attention
of persons on shore and other purposes not connection with naviga-
tion very serious inconvenience and confusion would result. It was
doubtless to obviate these that the regulation in Subsection 10,
Section Ill of fable M to Ordinance No.10 of 1899 was enacted and
in spite of the protests of the convicted parties there seems to
be no reason to doubt that the regulation was infringed in the
cases referred to by the Merchant Shipping Guild.
5.
Another instance quoted by "The Merchant Service
Guild" to show "the way British shipping and British Merchant
"Captains are unnecessarily harassed and interfered with by the
"authorities at the port" is "where a Merchant Captain was prose-
"cuted for anchoring in Junk Bay because in his opinion it was
"dangerous for him to attempt to enter the Harbour through the
"Lyeemun Fass", the cese quoted was one in which the Norwegian
Captain