CO882-(8-9) — Page 44

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Meference :--

C.O. 882

27

of

The general history of the undertaking at the commencement of these notes Gradual will furnish the particulars as to its growth and the policy pursued. The principal acquisition line of this has been to avoid competition, as witness the closing of Bon Accord Monopoly Dock, Pulau Brani; the joint-purse arrangement and subsequent absorption of the by the New Harbour Dock Company, Limited; the gradual acquisition of a dominating Company position in the Prye River Dock Company, and in the Slipway and Engineering a to un- Company, Tanjong Rhu; and the "understanding" with the engineering firms in generally. Singapore.

dertaking

As a result, the last five years have been practically free from local competition. Local Com- This freedom cannot be guaranteed a permanent continuance. Already we find petitors. that Riley, Hargreaves, and Company, Limited, have got one slipway, and are now constructing a second one at Tanjong Rhu, in competition with the Slipway Com- pany there. There is a probability of the construction of a floating dock by the Straits Engineering Syndicate within a very short time. The Penang Foundry Company are proposing to build in Penang a dock to compete with that at Prye River. Outside the Colony particulars of works recently constructed or in project at the Dutch porus, Bangkok, Saigon, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Manilla, Colombo, Bombay, Rangoon, and North Australia are being obtained. Regard must be had to the recent developments of private firms in Japan, and altogether there would appear to be considerable justification for saying that the Company's income from its dock work is not well secured, and that there should be a good chance of having applied to it a small number of years' purchase.

of deficien

In support of the above it will be shown that the Company are no longer able Criticism to take the largest vessels that now come here, and as it is admitted that the tonnage, of defe length, beam, and draught of ships are all increasing, it would appear that year by their year the percentage of tonnage which could not be docked by the Company would business. have increased. It cannot take the larger warships, either of our own or other countries. It should, it is considered, be contended that, although the Company's life depends on the regularity of trade, it has not chosen to spend anything to ensure this by providing a large dock to accommodate our own warships, " because it might

not pay.

14

mente.

This brings us to the discussion which has gone on for many years over the Admiralty proposed construction of an Admiralty Dock." It will surely be admitted as require. intolerable that between Colombo and Hong Kong on one line and between Calcutta and South Australia on the other, there should continue to be no dock large enough to take any British ship afloat. As Tanjong Pagar did not propose to provide it, some other agency must have done so, and then the Company would have had to permanently lose the docking of the warships, of the largest mercantile vessels, and so many of the smaller merchant vessels as would be attracted by a modern and well-equipped dock not necessarily working for "12 per cent.," but glad to accept profitable work to reduce its outlay on works of necessity provided and main- tained for emergencies. It will be a very weak point in their case in this respect when in the elaborate new scheme prepared in October, 1904, and which was esti- mated to take 15 years to carry out, they are confronted with paragraph 79, which reads:-

The construction of a large graving dock, the best site for which, in our opinion, we have indicated on the plan, will no doubt come on for consideration when the prefing needs of improved cargo and coaling facilities have been provided for. A dock of this character will entail a very large additional outlay, and, in view of the magnitude of the works which we have herein recommended for adoption, we have not thought it necessary to do more than allude to this further undertaking in general terms.”

Apparently, therefore, the British Navy and the New Mercantile Marine may Sams sink or swim for twenty years to come, but it must be without help from the first- ignored. class coaling station of Singapore, where the Company held such a strong position for affording such accommodation.

The Company also appear to have failed in their duty to develop their business The

to its best advantage by neglecting to improve the channel off their own works. This channel is at present obstructed by reefs, and, in consequence, several accidents have occurred. neglected.

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

8 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON