CO129-460 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1920 [1-4] — Page 136

A

COPY.

Hon. Coloniel Secretary,

C.O

17161 [RES

135

The whole matter hinges uporf the3quisition as

to whether pilotage is necessary here. In the opinion of my pre- -decessors and of myself, it is not necessary. Any Master Mariner, provided with the charts and sailing directions (as he should be), ought to be able to bring his ship into the harbour, and take her out again, without the assistance of a pilot, even if he has never been here before. Further, the existing, Chinese, pilots do not

take charge as pilots, but merely assist the Master with local

information, such as what buoye are available; if a stranger, in what part of the harbour it is best for the ship, with her parti- -cular cargo, to lie, &c., &c., but of pilotage, strictly speaking,

little or none is done. And, as pointed out by the Chamber of

Commerce years ago, none is wanted in the vast majority of cases.

[Of course, I refer to ordinary times. In war time it was different,

and different methods were employed.]

2.

Then the question of licensing pilots was

first mooted (in 1903) it was decided that licences should be

issued only to Europeans, as is now again suggested. After a trial

lasting for a year or two, it was found that the pilots were bare-

-ly able to make a living with the fees as laid down in the

Regulations, and the Chamber of Commerce complained that the fees

were too high, and said that they wanted the Chinese back.Chinese

were then allowed to present themselves for examination, provided they were British subjects (this is a point of which the writer of the letter to the Guild is obviously ignorant), and, as more and

more Chinese passed and received their licences, they gradually ousted the Europeans who charged the legal fees, while the Chinese undersold them. The last of the Europeans dropped out last year,

and now there are none but Chinese.

3.

Should a European pilot service be again brought in, I can see no reason to suppose that history will not repeat itself. The pilots will not be able to make a living ·

especially with the increased cost of living now prevailing -

unless