Enclosure No. 6.
THE SEAMEN'S UNION (SWATOW BRANCH)
AND THE S.S. "SEISTAN".
In July 1927 the "Seistan" (Capain Inglis)
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working on Mr. Nemazee's account visited Swatow. The ship
carried a crew of a strike breaking nature which had been
on board for several years, and which had proved itself
entirely satisfactory to captain and owner. The Union sent
representatives on board and asked for the crew to be paid
off and a new crew taken on, with a hint of a boycott in case
of refusal. His Britannic Majesty's Consul was consulted
by the Captain, and he strongly recommended resistance to
the demands of the Union, even if the ship had to leave
the port empty. Mr. Nemazee wired his agents (the China
Traders) to do all possible to settle the trouble. After
the interview with the Consul the Captain and China Traders
signed an English document at the request of the Union,
promising to change the crew. On this occasion nothing was
said about the nature of the new crew: i.e. it was not
specified in the document that the new crew should be Swatow
men or members of the Union. Nor was any date entered. No
copy of the document was taken, and the original was left
in the hands of the Union.
It has later appeared from the accounts submitted
to Mr. Nemazee that his agents paid $441 to the Union at
this time: $300 was a "subscription", and $41 the cost of
a dinner. The Seistan got away with her original crew and without further trouble. She left for Singapore direct, without calling at Hong Kong; the crew could only be changed
in Hong Kong, as the articles could not be closed elsewhere.
This will explain why the Union took no further action at
the time.
During the journey down to Singapore, the ship was
chartered
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