To the Editor of the "Norma-Cuina Dany News."
Sw—In a commentary on- the subject of ships' officers' salaries in the editorial columns of your issue of April 8, 1927 appears inter "alia, the following statement:— to know, flits charge of pandering to She the, opinion of many. who 0
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harps" In this Tenner, trout by lids and. upparentiy outred "by tein mone that the writes ofthe ater quated above, rounded on fact, the" body whicl tiger in China" for. the With regard to the above theme, recentrevents in connection with the local shipping dispute between the China Navigation Ca, and the Officers' Guilds should be of more than, usual interest, Prior to #1e commencement of the strike, 1 4 China Navigation Co.'s floaty, staff was notified by the compa' y that, if a strike were really to vecur, "such ships could be manned would be run, an the others would be laid up at Whatever port they happened to and where they could safely At thie outbreak of the strike, the company proceeded to review the yesourees at their disposal with a view to operating a skeleton service. Fortunately or unfortunately, according to the point of view, they. found that there" was a distinct shortage of "loyal" engineers, and that any feet which might be porated under the. existing conditlona. wauld be. a skeleton. indeed, tind a very, poor specimen at that. They: therefore cast about for the wherewithal to. bolster i up and tapa it into some form of decency, About the middle of July, they approached a prominent engineer, well-known in local shipping circles, with a request that he isstte certificates of competency to certain Chinese fitters in the company's employ. Accordingly, after his animation, these fitters obtained certifieutes of competency, and thus armed proceeded to sign on various river boats, and the said vessels cleared nad proceeded "upon their only one duly engineer, holding a British Board of Trade certificate boa, The Merchant Shipping Act provides that very foreign, going Steamahip shal provided with Otieers duly" corti-Aegfe unde a Act seconding to, the following Seale—=(i) Tt the, ship i's sit sigannship of 100 nominal Rorspoder Se upward, stich at i Toast vd the other a first lass engineer" duly certi= it would seem that, in order their action, the Company were having recourse' to the King's Regulations under Article 155 of the China Order in Council 1904 and Article 16 of the China (Amendment) Order in Council 1907 No, 8 of 1915—a regulation which they would have scorned to use in normal times. The requirements of the said regulation are as fol 'That the master of lowdah, office and oes ingots be sulicient for the teasing abe and Tu the eas plying from Shai hal t0 any the Yangtze ge its tribute george th Pact AL 90 hey be respectable and cupable' mon. For this" purpose, they "must, untos {hey held ertieates under the Mer chant Shipping Act, obtain front n com Petent authority, approved by "the Vonsui-General, certiteates. of com Fetency in the form required.
'As soon as' these facts were noised abroad, a representative of the Guilds waited upon the gentleman who had issued the certificates, and learned that the said certificates were not the certificates of competency required by the above regulations, Communications therefore addressed by the jer to H. M. Shipping Vice-Consul, pointing out that the certificates were not given as certificates of competency in the form required by the King's Regulations, as he had not the authority to conduct sceh examinations. The examiner further cancelled and.withdrew all the said certificates and requested that [they be returned.
Thus ended: the first episode of the matter.
The next "developments in this Jconneetion wore the issuing of the necessary certificates of competency by the: Engineer Superintendent the China Navigation Company, and the clearing of the strs. Tatung, Poyang, Ngankin, and Shasi through Shipping Office with the aid of hone crtienten, Unfortunate. ly, the draughting of the Regulation quoted above, in the opinion of competent authorities, leaves much. to be desired, and'clarity of express sion is a feature conspicuous by its absence. However, since these Jeertificates of competency were ie cepted by "H, "B, M, Consulate, }we may assume that such procedure [was legally correct. We take leave, however, to doubt whether H, B. [Consulate has acted as the soul of discretion in the matter, Ts the C, N. Co's engineer superintendent suitable authority to conduct such examinations, view of the fact that the company by. whom he ip employed isan interested party? There is moreover, in Shanghai, a firm of Government Surveyors holding. an appointment under the British Board of: Trade, and one would imagine that these gentlemen would be the competent authority to conduct the necessary examination. They wore, a8 a matter of fact, never consulted in the matter. Why?
Moreover marine engineers on all focal vessels ae now asking them-elves the value of their certifeates, they may, superseded fitter. Tt must be emp: the marine engineer is a specialist} lof no. mean ord since he must ha gone through 53 years. of ized training before he can it for his second: close certificate, then required to: pass: very jsevore written: examination la a multitude of technical subjects including the following:—Physical Jcharactistics of metals; facts rolating to steam, heat and combustion, Jand formation of smoke; use, Jeonstruction, and principles of] pressure gauge, barometer, salinometer, ete.; cause, effects, and remedies of incrustation and currosion; correction of defects due to corrosion, flaws, and accidents; testing fairness of shafting; construction and working of steering: engines, gears, electric light machines and dynamos, electric motors, -refrigating—machinery, Hiydeaulie machinery, and intern [combustion engines; application indicators and calewlation of mean [pressure and horsepower; projection: dvaughtsmanshi ete. There lis also a viva-race examination of similar proportions, It has been necessary to go into the Board of Trade requitments fully, in order to show the high standards required at home. Incidentally, the Engineer Superintendent of the C, N, Ca. has always, looked for higher—qualifieations Jamong the candidates for positions the company, expressing the opinion that B. Se, men were the men he wanted, It would now appear that, though he might like British B. So's, he considers that ithe average Chinese fitter has_all the necessary qualifications. The [very first requirement of the Boord Jof Trade is "That the candidate] shall be able to write legibly, spell correctly and espress himself' generally in creditable English." How many of the successful EN, Ca' candidates could pass even this first preliminary test?
Finally, the most important aspect Jof the China Navigation Co's action, probably the effect that it i liable to have upon the dist and therefore the. safety, of all local vessels in the future. No stretch of imagination is re-to picture the number one fireman, or fitter, in. the near future, informing the British second Jengineer in his "creditable" English that he "No wanchee do that [fashion; my savee more better yeu; Imy before bong second engineer all the same you," Nor will this point jot view be confined to those
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.