CO129-570-10 Sino-Japanese War- Japanese seizure of the S.S. ASIAN- claims 15-2-1938 - 12-12-1938 — Page 28

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Hongkong, and his statement was made in good faith.

7.

Thus the individual points mentioned in Your

Excellency's Note "as giving rise to considerable doubt"

are all explicable without difficulty. Moreover at the

time of the detention the Japanese Kaval Officer in charge

of the boarding party was aware that the vessel had just

left Hongkong and that since she had obtained clearance

from this British port the papers must have been in order,

so that had any doubt entered his mind, he could have cleared

the matter promptly by a short wireless message to the port authorities instead of detaining the ship. In other words

the detention itself, its protraction to fourteen days and

the consequent losses to the owners of the vessel were in the

circumstances quite unnecessary, and the responsibility for causing those losses falls on the Japanese Naval Authorities.

8.

I have further the honour to remind Your Excellency that, apart from the special circumstances of the case, the presence of a certificate of British registry was sufficient proof that the vessel was British-owned, since, had the Brit- ish authorities and the Registrar of shipping at Hongkong not been satisfied that everything was in order, British registry would not have been granted. In this particular case however, before British registry was granted, full details were sub- mitted to the Board of Trade in London and it was only on the Board's being satisfied that the sale was a bona fide one to the British owners that British registry was approved.

9.

In regard to the removal of goods from the vessel

during the period of detention, the Captain confirms his

/statement