CO129-456 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1919 [10-12] — Page 119

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15 JFC 91

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

107

HONGKONG. 20th October, 1919.

My Lord,

I have the honour to acknowledge the

receipt of Your Lordship's Confidential Despatch of the 30th June regarding the Hongkong Shipping Requisition Scheme.

The Ministry of Shipping's letter of the

21st June has been referred to Mr. Young and Mr. Fletcher, who are the only two members of the local committee now in the Colony, and they report that the only difference in treatment appears to lie in the fact that the Hongkong Government paid a commission of 5 per centum upon actual earnings, while the Managing Agents of the Indo-China Steamship Company and the China Navigation Steamship Company received a commission which was calculated on the lines set out in Mr. Long's telegram of the 3rd February, 1919. They point out that in the majority of cases the owners managed their own vessels, and that the payment of full commission was properly offset against the heavier expenses incidental to the running of ships of a more or less obsolete type and in a bad state of repair; and they agree that in any case it is no longer practicable either to calculate the commission which would be payable under the instructions of the 3rd February, or to induce the owners and managers to refund any portion of the money which they have

already

E RIGHT HONDURABLE

VISCOUNT MILNER, G.C.B.,

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