CO129-420 - Governor Sir May - 1915 [1-2] — Page 212

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vessel and not in her equipment for saving life. A proportion

of her boats are usually damaged by such a storm long before she herself is endangered, and in the seas which run in such

storms it would be impossible to make much use of any remaining

intact should the necessity arise of abandoning the ship.

4.

The same consideration arises in connection with

vessels carrying emigrants to and from the Netherlands-India and the Straits Settlements, and from the enclosed extract of a

minute by the Harbour Master you will observe that Captain Basil Taylour is of opinion that it is not practicable to apply the provisions of the Convention governing the supply of boats and rafts to vessels engaged in the emigration trade. In this

opinion I concur.

5.

On page 4 of the memorandum accompanying the letter from the Chamber of Commerce it is stated that vessels trading between Java and Eastern Siberian ports are rarely, while on their voyages, more than 200 miles from the nearest coast. This statement is not accurate. Such vessels are dur- ing portions of every voyage at a greater distance from the nearest coast. But if the 200 mile limit in Article 3 of the Convention were extended to 300 miles then this Colony could see its way to join the Convention for the vessels to which the Chamber of Commerce and the Harbour Master refer could be exempted. From the point of view of the safety of passengers there seems little objection to the alteration. The 200 mile limit is obviously an arbitrary one. Passengers in ships with insufficient boat or raft accommodation for all and which founder 300 miles from the shore would be in no worse plight than they would be in if the vessel foundered only 200 miles from land. In each case as many as the life saving equipment could accommodate would have a chance of escape and the

remainder would be drowned.