anclosure in Shanghai despatch to Peking Number 506 of December 21, 1935.
Joint letter from Messrs. Jardine, Matheson and Company, Limited, and Messre. Butterfield and swire, Shanghai, to H.B. M. Consul-General, Shanghai.
December 7th, 1935.
19
sir,
We have for acknowledgment your letter of 24th
October. It is with much regret that we note the
Commander-in-Chief, China Station, has informed His
Majesty's Anbassador that it is not feasible to allocate
a British warship to superintend the V/T communication
scheme for British tonnage operating in northern waters,
a task which appears to us to be of the highest importance
in commerce protection. Whilst we appreciate that the
present times are no doubt placing on H.M. Navy extra
burdens, these should not be of a permanent nature and
we shall be grateful if you will submit the following
observations to the Commander-in-Chief with a request
that he will give the matter his further consideration.
With regard to the question of improving the
existing arrangements, additional and more modern tonnage
has been brought into our schedules to Northern ports
and the more powerful W/T installations on these shipa
have facilitated ship-to-ship communication. At the
same time, increasingly competitive conditions have
forced the British companies to examine more and more
closely the question of avoiding competition between
themselves; the obvious result of any move to this end
18 to space out loadings and sailings of British ships
and such an arrangement increases the difficulty in
communication as compared with a situation where ships
sail in company.
With
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