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considerable repairs being necessary, which were not
completed until the end of January, 1938, the Hongkong
Register was not issued until the 2nd February, 1938.
The members of the crew were not aware of the
above formalities, and only knew we took over the ship
on the 31st December, 1937, so their statement that the
transfer took place two months previous to detention of
the vessel at Mako was quite correct, in so far as their
knowledge guided them.
Regarding the statement by the Captain that
the ship was transferred at the end of August, 1937.
The S.S. "ASIAN" was first placed before us by a Ship-
broker in early August, 1937, and we then made a
preliminary inspection with a view to purchase, of which
Captain Creer was aware, but due to the general condition
of the ship at that time, we did not purchase, and it
was only when we lost our S.S. "Kai tangata" in October,
1937, that we again opened negotiations for the purchase
of the S.S. "ASIAN", as we urgently required another
vessel to carry out fixtures made for the "Kaitangata".
As Captain Creer only transferred from our
S.S. "Seistan" to the S.S. "ASIAN" on the 13th January,
1938, he was apparently under the impression that
purchase was probably made in August, as the vessel was
laid up here all that time, and his statement was made in
good faith.
Our contention is that the Certificate of
British Registry was sufficient proof that the vessel
was British owned, as had the British Authorities and
Registrar of Shipping at Hongkong not been satisfied
that everything was in order, British Registry would not
have been granted. We would add that before British
Registry was granted, full details were submitted to the
Board of Trade in London, and it was only on their
being