CO129-324 - Governor Nathan - 1904 [10-12] — Page 549

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the Inkula stated in their letter of 13th December that their vessel was engaged to carry coolies from China to South Africa "and for that purpose will require a Chinese crew". Therefore the Italian crew were engaged "to go from Italy for the run out only". Therefore there was or should have been no misunderstanding between the contractor, the men, and the Hong Kong Government were only concerned to see that due provision was made under the Act for the subsistence and maintenance of the seamen to the satisfaction of the Harbour Master. According to the Harbour Master's minute of 15th December, which formed an enclosure to the Governor's despatch of 16th December, the master of the vessel interviewed the Harbour Master on the 13th December and wished to discharge the crew and take on a Chinese crew. The Harbour Master did not consider that the balance of wages to the men was sufficient to justify that course, and it appears that the ship's agent realised that he, the Harbour Master, could take no other view and agreed that it would be better to send home the men as passengers at a cheap rate. A similar account is given in the Harbour Master's minute of 22nd December, enclosed in the Governor's despatch of 27th December, with the addition that the master of the ship is said to have stated that under the terms of the agreement he had the option either to send the men home or to give them a month's wages in lieu;

the Harbour Master says he informed the Master that he was prepared to agree to the second alternative if the men agreed to it, provided that the money, or such part of it as he deemed sufficient, was handed to him as a guarantee for the men's maintenance while they remained in Hong Kong. This is stated by him to be the usual procedure in Hong Kong when men are paid off, but the present crew would not agree to it, and the Harbour Master therefore advised, and the master and the agent agreed, that the other alternative should be adopted and the men sent home as passengers at cheap rates. Arrangements were made with a German firm to take them to Genoa, apparently (as appears from the earlier minute) at £17 a head, but the owners refused to take this course.

The owners' account, written on the 13th December, was that the Hong Kong authorities informed the captain that the men must be returned to Italy and that they had instructed the captain to take no responsibility in the matter, and to refer the British authorities to the Italian representative. On the 14th, the owners came to this office and a telegram was sent to Hong Kong asking whether the law would not be complied with if the men were discharged in accordance with agreement, the owners guaranteeing the cost of repatriation if the men became distressed seamen. The Governor telegraphed on the 15th that this would meet the case, and the Harbour Master now explains in his minute of 24th December that he informed the ship's agent that the agreement, i.e., the guarantee, must include the expenses of the men's maintenance whilst waiting to be shipped, and that the agent assented and so informed the owners by telegraph.

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