CO885-24 — Page 269

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

|ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRABE NOT TO!

208

APPENDIX A.-REPORTS.

In the foregoing paragraphs we have not dealt with the ships under the control The ships of the Government of India and of the Commonwealth of Australia. captured or detained in Indian or Australian ports have been de facto in the pos- session of the Governments of India and of the Commonwealth and are being managed under separate arrangements for those Governments. Having regard to this, and as no decision appears to have been reached with reference to the constitu- tion of a single Imperial Prize Fund, or of the ultimate allocation of the receipts and expenditure on account of the detained ships, we have not considered that the management of these ships could usefully be transferred to the Committee. They are, however, referred to in the letter from, the Director of Transports which is appended to this report, and we have, therefore, included a separate recommendation in regard to them.

We understood in the first We have hitherto not referred to sailing vessels. instance that the Transport Department did not consider that they could usefully employ any of these, but they have since suggested that some of them might be used as coal hulks. At present the detained sailing vessels, with the exception of a few in the United Kingdom of less than 100 tons, are employed in trade, and we do not recommend that they should be withdrawn from this employment for the purposes mentioned unless the demand for them is really urgent. The condemned sailing vessels we propose to put up for sale as soon as practicable, and we consider that this is the most advantageous course to pursue with regard to them.

To sum up, we recommend :--

(a) That all detained steamships should be handed over to the Transport Department as soon as they are free of their present commitments, except the steam- ships employed in the coasting trade, steamships under the control of the Govern- ments of India and of the Commonwealth of Australia, steamships required for the carriage of wheat from India to the United Kingdom, and certain steamships on demise charter. We estimate that this will eventually place eight steamships of 40,440 (gross) tons at the disposal of the Transport Department.

(b) That condemned steamships should be sold as soon as possible. No sale of a condemned steamship should take place, however, without the Transport Depart- ment being given the opportunity of saying whether they require her to meet additional demands of a definitely naval or military character for which the particular ship may be specially suitable, and no ship should be taken except for such a purpose and by arrangement with the Committee and after valuation.

(c) That the Governments of India and of the Commonwealth of Australia be invited to hand over to the Transport Department such detained steamships. if any, as are being used by them in purely commercial enterprises, on the understanding that the Department will release an equivalent amount of tonnage belonging to the regular lines which serve those Dominions.

(d) That existing arrangements with regard to sailing vessels be left undisturbed, unless any of these are shown to be specially suitable for transport services.

R. A. WISEMAN,

Secretary.

12th May, 1915.

SIR,

E. J. W. SLADE, G. L. BARSTOW,

W. J. EVANS, C. HIPWOOD, T. H. HOLT,

H. W. MALKIN,

C. TENNYSON,

L. D. WAKELY.

ANNEXURE A TO NO. 4.

Admiralty, 26th April, 1915. WITH reference to the meeting of the Oversea Prize Disposal Committee attended by the Director of Transports and Mr. T. Royden, at which the proposal to transfer the management of the prize and detained ships to the Director of Transports, Admiralty, was discussed, I beg to transmit herewith, for the considera- tion of the Committee, my proposals on the subject, which have been submitted for the approval of the Board of Admiralty.

APPENDIX A.-REPORTS.

209

The Board have approved these proposals with the exception of the latter part of No. 4, viz.: "or for other Government service for which the Transport Department is required to provide." For this they have proposed to substitute "The Transport Department will also be responsible for the use of any of the vessels in question engaged as to one part of their journey for transport work and as to the other for A further communication will be made on this cargo work for the Government."

point.

As several prize vessels have already been notified to, and accepted by, this Department for naval and military work, I would be glad to receive the early concurrence of the Committee in these proposals, in order that no delay may occur in the employment of the vessels, the question of the Indian and Australian ships being left for separate settlement.

A further communication will be made to the Committee as to the position of ships at Alexandria and the form of agreement under which the crews taken over by the Admiralty are being employed.

The Secretary,

Oversea Prize Disposal Committee, Colonial Office, S.W.

I am, &c.,

GRAEME THOMSON,

Director of Transports.

Enclosure.

PROPOSALS of the Admiralty as to the REQUISITION of Prize and Detained STEAMERS.

1. The list to which the Director of Transports refers to be furnished without delay.

2. All vessels, whether prizes or interned steamers, should be notified to the Director of Transports, so that he may have priority of request for their use if he has immediate service for them.

3.

Steamers controlled by the Indian and Australian authorities.-The fol lowing proposals have been made to the India Office, Colonial Office, and High Commissioner for Australia on T. 13126/15.

(a) Indian.—As the ships are to be employed homeward in the conveyance of Indian wheat, the Admiralty will not press for their transfer.

If they are first offered to the Admiralty for conveyance of Govern- ment stores to the Mediterranean and India, no objection is raised to their carrying private cargoes outwards.

(b) Australian-Ships not required to carry stores belonging to the Com- monwealth and State Governments to be offered to the Admiralty before being chartered for the conveyance of private cargoes.

4. Allocation of these vessels by the Transport Department to be for the naval

and military transport services or for other Government service for which the Transport Department is required to provide.

5. In the event of any notified vessels not being required by the Transport Department under 4, immediate notification in every case to be made to the Oversea Prize Disposal Committee.

6. Prizes requisitioned by the Admiralty to be valued by two approved valuers, and their value on the date of condemnation credited to the Prize Fund.

ANNEXURE B TO NO. 4.

STORES CARRIED FOR THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT IN BRITISH SHIPS REQUISITIONED BY THE TRANSport DepaRTMENT.

Coals for Government Railways

Various military stores Road metal

Hay

Oil

Spirit and fuel oil

100,000 tons a month since 1st January, and

this is continning at the same rate.

29 cargoes since 12th August.

24,000 tons from 1st January. 20,000 tons from 1st January.

25,000 tons from 1st September.

31,150 tons removed from Rouen in September

last.

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