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The British Chamber of Commerce at Hongkong, true to its ancient lineage, has been consistently dumb.
What, then, is left for the Mercantile Marine to do? The Government cannot or will not do anything except copy old laws and call them new ones.
Remembering that they are the means of keeping the Colony fed, the officers are loth to forcibly emphasise their utterly impossible position by strangling the river trade.
By doing so they alienate the sympathy of the public (who are first, last and all the time their ultimate masters) by starving them, and not only them, but their own dependents also, in addition to which they lose their own source of income and are thus doubly penalised for no fault of their own.
If their do not act thus drastically is there any other way the position can be treated ?
As has been constantly pointed out in the Press, the travelling public together with shipowners and merchants are equally interested in this problem why then has no definite action been taken by them?
Is the Mercantile Marine (the war being finished) to quietly step into the back ground and shoulder all the responsibility by offering their lives in "resisting to the utmost" as a premium of insurance on the property, comfort and well being of others who persist in remaining supine ?
If only these bodies would come out into the open with some suggestions of their own, progress might be made.
Even if their ideas are absolutely opposed to those of the professional sailor-man surely they have sufficient courage in their own convictions to argue them openly and unreservedly, always supposing that they really wish to put an end to, or at least mitigate, the evil. This last may possibly be termed innuendo; it is not so intended; but, if it serves to sheet home, to those whose interests are identical with ours and whose responsibility to the travelling public is no less, that some thing on their part is wanting, it will have done some good.
It is then to all these parties that we submit this review of the matter, after eighteen months fruitless negotiations with the Hongkong Government.
The requesta contained in the Guilds' letter of February 4th, 1924, addressed to the Hon. Col.Secretary, were formulated after the most prolonged and careful consideration by practical and experience d seamen, who conscientiously believe that the adoption of the suggested measures is the only means whereby adequate protection for all the interested parties can be secured.
For the China Coast Officera 1 Guild W.E.Kirby,
Secretary, Shanghai, T.T.Laurenson, Asst. Secretary, Hongkong.
For the Marine Engineers' Guild of China,
J. Watson,
Secretary, Shanghai, W.J.Stokes, Branch Secretary, Hongkong.
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