CO129-544-16 Request for Board of Trade prohibition on engagements of marine officers without repatriation clause 15-8-1933 - 12-12-1933 — Page 7

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Any further communication should be addressed to :-

TH ASSISTANT SECRETARY,

at the address given opposite.

The following number should be

quoted M10943/33

OPY,

Telegraphic Address:

SHIPMINDER, PARL, LONDON.

Telephone No. : Victoria 3840.

Sir,

MERCANTILE MARINE DEPARTMENT,

BOARD OF TRADE,

GREAT GEORGE STREET,

LONDON, S.W.1. 12th December, 1933.

With reference to the letter addressed to you from this Department on the 26th August, (M.9543/33) about the disposal of the discharged crew of the 5.5. "Stanleyville", I am directed by the Board of Trade to inform you that their attention has been drawn, in a telegram from the Governor of Hong Kong, dated 15th August, of which a copy is enclosed, to the difficulties that have followed the discharge at Osaka of officers of the S.S. "Desna" and "Darro" on the 26th July and 29th July respectively, under special repatriation clauses in the agreements with the crews reading, for example, as follows:-

"It is further agreed the First and second Mates, Third and Fourth Engineers are to be discharged on arrival at Osaka or Yokohama by consent of the proper authorities, and provided with a passage either to Hong Kong or Shanghai repatriation at owners expense.

The Board are advised that such clauses are not contrary to law, and they are therefore unable to p ohibit their inclusion in agreements with crews; but in view of the prevailing conditions affecting the employment of officers in the Far Last, they are strongly of opinion that it is undesirable for the proper authority to give his consent to the arrangements contemplated in such a clause unless he is satisfied that, having regard to the relevant provisions of the Merchant shipping Act, 1906, these arrangements will be fair and reasonable to all who may be concerned, including the Authorities, of the places named in the clauses as return ports, or of other places where the men discharged may become destitute on route to their homes.

His Britannic Majesty's Consul General,

British Consulate General,

Osaka.

In

UL..