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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :—

C.O. 882

8

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

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No. 38..

COLONIAL OFFICE to BOARD OF TRADE.

[Copy to Governor, Secret, November 8, 1904. L.F]

[Answered by No. 39.]

SIR,

Downing Street, October 25, 1904. WITH reference to previous correspondence respecting the case of the S.S. "Inkum," I am directed by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton to transmit to you, for the consideration of the Board of Trade, a copy of a telegram* from the Governor of Hong Kong with regard to the refusal of the crew of the S.S. "Bawtry" to proceed to Vladivostock with a cargo of coal

I am to ask what reply should be sent to the enquiry whether the Law Officers of the Crown have been consulted on the subject of the liability of a crew to serve on a vessel bound to a belligerent port, and carrying contraband of war, and what instructions should, in the opinion of the Board, he sent to Sir M. Nathan.

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SIR,

No. 39.

I am, &c.,

H. BERTRAM COX.

BOARD OF TRADE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received October 28, 1904.)

[Copy to Governor, Secret, November 8, 1904. L.F.] Marine Department, 7, Whitehall Gardens, London, S. W.,

October 27, 1904.

I AM directed by the Board of Trade to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 25th instant,t forwarding a copy of a telegram from the Governor of Hong Kong with regard to the refusal of the S.S. "Bawtry" to proceed to Vladivostock with a cargo of coal.

In reply, I am to state, for

Foreign Office to Board of Trade, August 29.

the information of Mr. Secretary Lyttelton, that the Board have not asked the Law Officers of the Crown to express an opinion on the legal points raised in the case of the S.S. "Inkum," but I am to forward here- with copies of correspondence with the Foreign Office as marked in the margin, from which it will be seen that when Sir C. Macdonald asked for advice on similar cases arising in the Far East, the Board suggested, for the consideration of the Marquess of Lansdowne, that a case should be submitted for the opinion of the Law Officers.

Board of Trade to Foreign Office, September 26.

I am to add that the Board themselves are not prepared to express an opinion on the legal points involved.

SIR,

I have, &c.,

FRANCIS J. S. HOPWOOD

Enclosure 1 in No. 39.

Foreign Office, August 29, 1904.

I AM directed by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to transmit to you to be laid before the Board of Trade for their consideration a copy of a despatch from

† No. 38.

• No. 37.

19

His Majesty's Minister at Tokio respecting the refusal of the crews of three British ships, arrived in Nagasaki with cargoes of coal, to work, on the ground that the vossels were carrying contraband of war.

I am, &c.,

The Secretary to the

F. A. CAMPBELL.

Board of Trade,

(No. 44. Consular.)

MY LORD,

Tokyo, July 20, 1904.

SOME days ago the British Acting Consul at Nagasaki applied to me for instruc- tions under the following circumstances:-

The crews of three British ships which had arrived in Nagasaki with cargoes of coal, consigned to Japanese subjects at that port, had refused to work, on the ground that the vessels were carrying contraband. This action was taken by the men on the advice, I understand, of the Hong Kong representative of the Seamen's Mission. The matter was subsequently settled in the case of one vessel by the Captain's giving a rise of wages to the crew, and, in that of the other two, by the intervention of Mr. Acting Consul Holmes, who was able to convince the crews that they were not entitled to any rise of wages, and that having arrived at the port to which the contraband was consigned, they could no longer have any ground of complaint. Mr. Holmes informs me, however, that one of the vessels is about to take on board a cargo of coal at Moji for Singapore, and that the crew threaten again to refuse to work, citing the case of the British S.S. "Allanton," which, as Your Lordship is aware, was seized by a Russian cruiser while bound for a neutral port. I have not yet heard from His Majesty's Consul at Shimonoseki that the ship's crew have given any trouble at Moji,

I have ventured to bring this matter to Your Lordship's notice, as although the objections raised by the crews in the circumstances described by Mr. Holmes appear to be clearly untenable, case of a kindred nature may arise in which the seamen's refusal to work may be due to there being real danger of capture. In such cases I should be in doubt as to what course should be pursued, and I should, therefore, be very glad to be supplied with any observations which may occur to the Board of Trade as likely to be useful for my guidance.

A more serious case than those reported by Mr. Holmes occurred at Yokohama some weeks ago, the circumstances of which have been reported to the Board of Trade by Mr. Acting Consul General Hobart Hampden. The case was that of the S.S. "Ras Bera," a British ship under Japanese charter, whose crew refused duty on the ground that the ship was carrying contraband of war to a Japanese port. Mr. Hobart Hampden held a Naval Court, which decided that carrying contraband of war was no justification for the men's refusal to work. It, therefore, forfeited their wages, and discharged them from the ship.

I shall be interested to learn whether the decision of this Naval Court has been approved by the Board of Trade.

The Marquess of Lansdowne, K.G., &c., &c., &c.

I have, &c.,

CLAUDE M. MACDONALD,

P.S.-I enclose an extract from a private letter from Mr. Holmes, from which Your Lordship will see that the master of the "Ashley," one of the three vessels referred to in this despatch, had already had difficulties with his crew at Hong Kong.

C. M. MACDONALD,

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