Newman enquired about the custom of paying bonuses to masters of ves~ sels and.was told by witness that 'a number of charterers paid bonuses and a number did not. It rested entirely with the charterers. 'The frst payment was made on December 15 and this, Capt. Turner stressed, was for his own personal use. "He' (Mr. Koo, general' manager of the char-torers) handed me $000," went on witness, "and I said "What is this? He replied $200 for Whangpoo pilotage and $400 for you The rest of the conversation was carried on in pidgin English about details of the voyage, which prompted Mr. Newman to ask what was the pidgin English for Whangpoo pilotage.
Mr. Newman added, "This money came to you out of the blue then?' and witness replied, "Not out of the blue but out of Mr. Koo's hands.
'Continuing his questions, Mr. Newman suggested that there was not one coastal captain who was receiving a sum of $1,200 a month, after which remark' Capt. Turner stated that they did not speak about it. "I'm not as well informed as you on that point, Mr. Newman", he added, "so T can't answer it He divided that $400 he had received on December 15 among the crew in the ratio of $50 for himself and $350 for the crew. The master of every ship had to use his diser tion to get the best results for both the owners and the charterers. The crew, he added, had based their claim to bonus every month on a false statement from the charterers. "If you will consider the type of people these charterers are—people who will betray their country and trade with the enemy—anything can happen, Capt. Turner continued.
Capt. Turner denied that he deliberately did not give receipts to get himself out of an awkward predicament, stating that he had never been "Lucky son why the crew was dismissed was that the charterers were dissatisfied and not because of trouble between members of the personnel and himself over the bonus.
These monies were paid for dangerous work such as delivering car-foes to the Japanese military forces in Tientsin, and when they were lurider fire. "The reason why witness did not pay the crew was owing to the fact that the presents from the charterers decreased. He added that hho used the word "Bonus" on statements made by him because he had been in a hurry at the time of writing. "It Mr. "Koo wanted me to overload the Mr. Newman—Did he pay you for a little deck space outside your cabin?—Was it a little deck space? T thought it was quite a large space. It was occupied by bundles of paper with something inside the paper. He gave me a present of $400 for carry-Ing this. The papers had a bad smell.
The Judge—Most_ things have a bad smell in this cit Mr. Newman—In other words you were taking a bribe?—A present was given to me for having a bad smell outside my room.
Mr. Newman—What was in the Paper?—A bad smell. I didn't look. They were for the manager of the Yokohama Specie Bank in Tientsin.
Capt. Turner then added that the ship was never overloaded. He saw to that personally. Mr. Koo was very pleased with him and he gave him the $400 as a. present.
The Judge then pointed out that it was very unwise to accept presents from natives of this country because these presents were likely to be construed as bribes and the acceptance of bribes was a criminal offence.
Copt. Turner stated that he might have signed blank manifests to obhgo the charterers, adding that although it was a dangerous thing to do, one was likely to "get the sack" it one refused.
Addressing the Judge, Mr. Me-Donald stated that, in his opinion, there was no case to meet. The two words "Bonus" was a good general word to describe all these payments which were not wages. They were gratuities to him or bonuses. have no doubt that Capt. Turner will be exceedingly. careful in future about the use of the word bonus' and that he will tear out the page Ip his dictionary containing it," he added.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.