196.6/1114
The Canadian Legation to the Department of State
Aide-Mémoire
Senate Bill S. 314 “relating to the payment of advance wages and allotments in respect of seamen on foreign vessels” is the re-introduction of a Bill, S. 2945, which failed to pass the 70th Congress. This proposal is causing serious apprehension to Canadian shipping interests, which have brought to the attention of the Canadian Legation the reasons for their objection to its terms. They state that in the case of Canadian vessels trading to United States ports the effect of the Bill would be to render null and void any contract or agreement made under British or Canadian law between a master and his crew, since on entering a United States port the crew would be at liberty to ignore their agreements entirely, to desert the vessel, and to compel the master to pay their wages in full, irrespective of any advances which they had received or of any allotments which had been paid to their dependents. The master would be helpless to prevent the desertion of his crew or to resist their demands; and he would be obliged to engage a new crew on their own terms and to remain in port until he was able to do so, all of which would cause great inconvenience and serious financial loss to the ship. Mention is also made of the bad effects on ship’s discipline which would result from the enactment of such a law, even if the crew did not actually desert and demand their wages.22
- On February 11, 1931, the Department was informally advised of Canada’s continued opposition to the pending bill (196.6/1129).↩