CO129-328 - Governor Nathan - 1905 [1-6] — Page 779

j

had to keep them for the unexpired portion

770

about 4 months

of their agreement. This is what,

I assume,

happened in

the case of the two men who did decline to be paid off and

left the port in the "Inkula".

(4).

Is it the case, as Captain Barnes- -Lawrence states that crews paid off in Hongkong are in the habit of allowing part of their pay to be de- -posited with the Harbour Master as a guarantee for their maintenance while remaining in the Colony and that the refusal to adopt this course in the present case was unusual ?

The due provision for the subsis-

-tence and maintenance of which the Harbour Master has to

be satisfied under sub-section 5 (a), section 7 of "The

Merchant Shipping Ordinance, 1899" before allowing dis-

-charge in the port is, as stated in the 2nd. paragraph of

my Despatch of the 27th. December, usually taken to be the

deposit of $60 for the subsistence and maintenance of each

man in the Sailors' Home it having been found by experience

that a deposit of this amount is nearly always sufficient

to provide for a seaman until an opportunity occurs to

send him to Europe.

Crews paid off in Hongkong are

therefore, except in special circumstances, given no option

in the matter of a part of their pay being deposited with

the Harbour Master as a guarantee for their maintenance

while remaining in the Colony and the permission given for

the

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