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Japp, Hatch & Company Limited
Brokers for building, sale, purchase & chatering of steamers, also coal exporters
20, Castle Street

Liverpool, March 19th 1917
Messrs Worms & Co - Paris

Dear Sirs,
We have your two favours of the 15th and 16th inst.
"Mary Watkinson". We trust will safely arrive in Dieppe. With reference to the postscript in your letter, we note that you can obtain an authorisation from the Bureau des Charbons without having to state from what colliery or collieries the coal is obtained. We may say that our representative was at a meeting of the Committee for the supply of coal to France and Italy on Saturday morning, and the question of exporters submitting applications which merely stated the quantity of coal and the districts from which the coal was intended to be wrought was under consideration, it has been laid down by the Central Executive Committee in London that applications by exporters must distinctly state from what colliery the coal is coming from for shipment, as it is the intention, apparently, that the Local Committee shall obtain from the County Supplies Committee their approval, as to whether such collieries can be permitted to make shipments of coal, as naturally any colliery which is not up-to-date with its supplies to munition works and with coal for utility purposes, will not be allowed to send any for export, so that you will see why we wrote you in our letter of the 12th inst. regarding the naming of coals. The Coal Exports Committee have laid it down that they are not disposed to issue licences in such wide terms, and think it should be practicable for Local Committees in consultation with the Supplies Committees to decide whether any application for export from named collieries can be recommended with reasonable certainty of the coal being available. We understand there are some exporters here at the present time who have got authorisations for shipments over the second quarter of this year and who cannot state from what colliery they will be drawing the coal, inasmuch as they have not got it bought. We are quite ourselves of opinion that applications should be passed by Local Committees by allowing the exporter merely to state that the coal will be, say in the case of Lancashire coal, from the Wigan and St. Helens districts, or in the case of Yorkshire coals, from South Yorkshire or Associated Hards districts, or in the case of North Welsh coal, say from the Wrexham and/or Ruabon districts, and then when exporter has a ship in hand to load, he can satisfy the Local Committee by producing a letter from the Supplies Committee that the colliery, from which he had bought the coal, was authorised, to ship, or the Secretary of the Coal Committee can always communicate direct with the Supplies Committee and ascertain if the colliery, as named by the exporter, is in order in making the necessary shipment. However, we are watching this position and shall let you know what transpires.
Meanwhile we have no authorisation from you as yet for the Collins Green coal for shipment over the second quarter, and you will no doubt remember that in reference to the licence which expired on the 31st December 1916, only those exporters who held a licence for the first quarter of 1917 were given permission to receive an extension to make a shipment in January under their 1916 licence, so that they could avail themselves of the last quarter's licence to make the first shipment in January by a steamer which had been late in turning up to load in December, and we ourselves were able to avail ourselves of this order in council and got the first shipment in January to Bordeaux under the 1916 licence. No doubt you will do all you possibly can to see we have an authorisation for at least some portion of the Collins Green coal over the second quarter, before the end of this month.
With regard to what you write with reference to the small vessels getting 45/= we cannot understand this in the case of British tonnage. You will remember that last week we sent you a cutting from a local paper and under Clause 3 it distinctly states:-
Rates for British Ships. As there has been some misunderstanding "on this question also, the Shipping Controller wishes it to be clearly understood that the rates for British, French and Italian ships engaged in the coal trade are those laid down in the printed schedules of voyage rates with the corresponding rates fixed by your Committee for time charters, and if these rates are departed from it will be necessary to consider the question of requisitioning. It is requested that the Local Committees will report at once to the Shipping Controller any eases which come to their notice.
All Allied ships are to be chartered through the Local Committees, and only ships having a permit from the Local Committee will be loaded."
You will see from this that it is emphatic that British, French and Italian ships are not to be allowed to receive more than the present schedule rate, so that if a British or Allied owner is reported as having received over the schedule rate he will lose far more than the difference between the schedule rate and whatever rate he receives if the Government requisition his vessel for the duration of the War. We shall be glad to have the name of the vessel which you told us had been fixed at 45/= from Runcorn to Treport, as we ought to watch this matter very closely, in order to see whether or not these vessels are really penalised if they accept & are loaded at over limitation rates.
We note you are going to ask Messrs. Burness to put the question to the Inter-Allied Chartering Executive, and we await with much interest to hear what reply they are able to make you on this point.
Yours faithfully,

Japp, Hatch & Cy Ltd