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I propose, subject to your concurrence, to ask Messrs. Dodwell & Co., on behalf of the Kailan Mining Administration, to manage the vessel for the present, on the understanding that the Administration will use her to bring coal to the Colony for Government purposes or for purposes approved by the Government, at rates based upon the rates charged for the ship, the accounts to be subject to audit. In other words the vessel will be ru by the Administration upon lines similar to those upon which liner requisi- tion vessels are run.”
The S.S. Wollmera was requisitioned by the Naval Authorities on the 30th November. 1917, under the terms contained in Admiralty Charter Party "T 99", and she was handed over to the Hongkong Government to control.
8. The Vital Requirements Committee had in the meantime been considering in the most minute detail the question of sparing more ships for full requisition and the employment of less suitable vessels to take their place in the trade on the China Coast, and their advice was being constantly asked as to the allocation between numerous applicants of the very limited cargo space which was allotted to the Colony on the Home and Indian runs.
On the 10th December, Mr. A. G. M. Fletcher, who had become Chairman of the Committee, addressed the following letter to the Government regarding the shipping situation as it then stood :—
"I have the honour to inform Your Excellency that a meeting of the recon- stituted Vital Requirements Committee was held on the morning of the 5th December, for the purpose of considering their present position and their future policy in the matter of the requisitioning of ships.
The question of procedure has been to a large extent settled in the Committee's and the Commodore's letters of the 29th November and the 1st December respectively. The Committee suggest that the procedure should be defi- nitely as follows:-The Commodore will refer requests for requisitioning to the Sub-Committee, who will consider the matter in conjunction with Mr. Cary: corresponding direct with the Commodore. The Sub-Committee will report their recommendations to Mr. Edkins, Mr. Anton, and Mr. This Dodwell, who will form a quorum of the Committee for the purpose. quorum will use their discretion as regards consulting the other members of the Committee, and their considered opinion will be reported to the Commodore through the Colonial Secretary. The Colonial Secretary or the Assistant Colonial Secretary will act as Chairman of the Committee, in which capacity he will keep the Government informed of what transpires. The Commodore will supply the Governor with copies of his requests for requisitioning.
The Commodore and Lieutenant Oldman have asked the Committee to state the number of vessels now remaining on the China Coast which in their opinion can be spared for Imperial purposes, and they have suggested that an approximately accurate figure can be arrived at through statistics obtained to show the cargoes which are vital to the life of the Colony; whereby under a process of elimination tonnage now carrying non-essentials and semi-essentials can be definitely set on one side as available for imperial purposes. The Committee find themselves unable to supply this informa- tion, for the following reasons: --
In the first place the trade of the whole China Coast is in question. Hong- kong's trade statistics extend over a period of a few months only, and, with trade conditions continually changing, with ships required for one purpose to-day being diverted for another to-morrow, the Committee regard those statistics as not sufficient for the purpose required. They regard the im- mensely voluminous figures compiled by the Chinese Customs as equally insufficient for the purposes of any decision on the vital requirements of Hongkong.
It is unnecessary to reiterate the point that Hongkong is merely a distributing centre and that her vital requirements do not consist solely in food for the population and inaterial for the docks. The Governor's draft telegram of June last to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, which was concurred
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in by the Committee, has put their views very clearly. They maintain their opinion, then expressed, that "Hongkong, being only a great trading port and distributing centre for South China, subsists practically on ship- ping alone, upon which with its connected avocations the native population of Victoria and Kowloon, numbering about 400,000 persons, depend for their living. They urge strongly that no further ships should be requisitioned from Far Eastern waters without first reviewing the situation and indicating the services for which the vessels are required; and that it is essential to keep alive a nucleus of the British shipping services trading with Hongkong".
The difficulty of estimating the number of ships that can yet be taken is enhanced by the uncertainty as to the movements of Allied and neutral tonnage. It is rumoured that Japan proposes to place restrictions upon the use of her tonnage. The Committee are informed that the S.S. Prometheus under the Norwegian flag, on time charter on the coast, has been taken over by the Imperial Authorities. There are some twenty-five vessels run- ning in similar circumstances in local trades, and, if these or any of them are similarly taken, any estimate regarding available British tonnage falls at once to the ground.
The Committee's position is in short that if British and Chinese interests are to be maintained no British ship can be spared, although in extreme national urgency every British ship might have to be spared. The Committee are working under the following instructions:-Decided to requisition all British steamers on Indian and Far Eastern Liner Services in order that they may be employed with utmost possible economy on most essential services Secretary of State's telegram of the 7th March: "Unless and until you are otherwise directed, it is not the desire of the Government to interfere either with the nature of your business or the method of conduct- ing it" letter of 5th May, from the Ministry of Shipping: "All British liners are being requisitioned, but that does not necessarily imply that they would all be diverted from their previous trade routes Secretary of State's telegram of the 10th August: "The Home Office want every possible relief" Secretary of State's telegram of the 12th May.
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The last is the key to the whole situation. While in the opinion of the Com- mittee all British vessels on the coast are probably required to keep together a nucleus of the British trades established through long years of patient effort, yet when and in so far as the Imperial need is the greater some ships can and must be spared.
The Committee wish in this connection to draw attention to the appointment of Colonel Thomson. They consider it essential that the representative of the Shipping Controller should be an experienced shipping man and that he should as far as possible remain on the China Coast, where alone he can study and understand the conditions peculiar to that coast. The Com- mittee have been unofficially informed that Colonel Thomson has very con siderable experience of shipping; but he has hitherto conducted operations from India. The result would seem to be somewhat unfortunate from the point of view of Hongkong, judging by the case of the Hongkong-Calcutta Jun. In 1914 the British India and the Indo-China Lines had each eight vessels on that run. At the present day the British India Line retain three vessels against the Indo-China Line's one, and the Controller has recently taken the Indo-China boat Chaksang, which has been specially built for the run; whereas in the opinion of the Committee one of the British India boats would be more suitable for Imperial purposes. The Committee ask that no further ships may, if possible, be taken until Colonel Thomson has had time to review the situation on the spot. The Committee suggest that in any event Lieutenant Oldman should remain adviser to the Admi- ralty and that Mr. Sutherland and Mr. Nuttall or his substitute should be appointed as Colonel Thomson's local representatives.
The Committee hope that their representations will not be read as indicating an obstructionist policy. They most emphatically realise that the Im- perial needs are paramount, and that the Colony must do the utmost in its power, irrespective of private interests, to further the common end.
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