May 3.
Tax information which: Renter cabled from Hongkong on "April 26 regarding the scheme of Jnearanoe, of shipe'ofcers Soe Hongkong Government. hea inst piracy inaugurated by
now been supplemented by_the receipt of the Government Notice Glo. 293) promulgating the follow: scheme. The Notice reads aa]
hereby: notified for general information that grants will be made by Government; in the event of the death or disablement of officers of ships fon the Hongkong register by reason of piratical attacks, provided that in no case will grant be made unless Go ernment. istled that the Piracy Regulations have properly observed.
In the event of death the equivalent of two years? actual will be credited to the es, tate of the deceased, and in case of disablement an allowance equivalent to the actual rate of wages of the injured; officer will be paid so long as} is certified by a Government Medical Officer to be unfit to perform his duties, up to a maximum period of one This is one of those regula. tions which everyone must hope never will need to be brought into operation, providing, as. it oes, for an eventuality whicn inevitably must spell bloodshed] and suffering if it materializes Nome the less, it constitutes just provision and one that is absolutely necessary. The offi cers have been clamouring, and understandably so, for some such scheme for months, and its in. auguration should spel the dis- th satisfaction on this matter that hae been so prevalent. A point worthy of notice is that while the Hongkong Government] shoulders all of the financial re-shipowner is by no means absolved from the inception of something.on similar lines. Opinion among shipowners this point is stated to be somewhat divergent, for while some aye said to be definitely opposed the payment of any insurance premia on behalf of their officers, on the ground that in paying taxes they pay for adequate protection, others are inclined. to insure their officers. We know of one firm which already has} each of its officers insured against the effects of piracy to large extent, the premier being $360 a year for each officer and the insurance being effected with one of the biggest insurance concerns in the Far East. The clause in the Government} scheme to the effect that in no} ease will a grant be made unless the Government is satisfied that the Piracy Regulations have properly been observed leaves loophole for the Government, though it perhaps is uncharit: able of us to. say so. In the event of a piratical attack, it is) conceivable that, owing to force of circumstances, the Regula. tions will be either disregarded or wrongly construed by some one on board, perhaps without! serious. consequences; such things have happened before and are likely to happen again. Let us hope that the Regulation Maeans that if a master officer gets killed or wounded in repelling a piratical: attack ana it is afterwards proved that he personally complied with the Regulations to, the best of.his ability" and''" opportunity," the grant will not be withheld,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.