My
(Copy). 9322.
HOME OFFICE.
155,339/24.
Sir,
WHITEHALL.
6th April, 1915.
15
יל
I am directed by the Secretary of State to refer to your letter of the 9th February last (I. 3641), forwarding a letter from Mr. G. Norrington as to the attitude taken up by the Shipping Federation in regard to claims under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1906, made by dependants in Hong Kong of Chinese seamen belonging to the crews of British ships, and to say for the information of the Board of Trade that he is informed by Mr. Brett, the Secretary to the Federation, with whom the matter has been discussed, that the Federation never insist on dependants who are domiciled abroad' coming to England to support their claims, but merely stipulate that satisfactory evidence shell be submitted showing:
(1) that the claimants' relationship to decessed
bringe them within the list of dependants within the
meaning of the Act;
(2) that the claimants have been, in fact, dependent
on the earnings of the deceased; and
(3) the degree of actual dependency.
As regards the particular cases to which Mr. Norrington] refers, Mr. Brett states that there was no deviation from this practice. No evidence of any kind was put before the Federation that the widows of the deceased were married according to the Chinese Marriage Laws, and the sworn
The Assistant Secretary,
(Larine Department),
Board of Trade,
7, Whitehall Gardens,
S. V.