CO129-339 - Acting Governor May Governor Nathan - 1907 [1-3] — Page 376

372

receive 22 cents and another 23 cents I have been in the

habit of paying a 5 cent piece to the man entitled to 23¢

and requested him to give the 2 cents to the other man.

The coin is supplied by the Masters of the ship.

5.

In answer to charge D. I have never habitually

or otherwise substituted silver dollars short in value

and/or subsidiary silver coins for the bank notes or coin

received by me from the masters of ships for the purpose

of paying off the crews of the ships nor have I ever made

any profit by so doing. Masters of ships invariably bring

their own subsidiary coins procured either from their agents

or compradores for payment to their crew.

6.

In answer to charge E. I have never habitually

or otherwise deducted from the wages of crews being paid off

loans made to members of such crews by Boarding house Masters

and others nor have I charged a commission to the lenders or

to anyone else for so doing.

Generally in reply to the above charges I would

point out that in those cases of which I know nothing I am

unable to put forward any explanation except mere denial,

I have always endeavoured to carry out my duties with strict

regularity and to the best of my ability. I would also

point out that members of Chinese crews almost invariably

owe money to Boarding Master or to one another and the

lenders always look to paying off time to obtain payment;

this gives rise to frequent dissatisfaction amongst them-

selves. And applications are sometimes made to me to

make deduction which I refuse to do and this gives rise

to dissatisfaction with me. The process of paying off

always leads to a certain amount of quarrelling in respect

of loans. Charges of similar nature were brought against me

in Captain Rumsey's time and Captain Barnes Lawrence's

time and they both expressed themselves quite satisfied with the

explanations I gave.