WAGES

Sunday Times, Perth, 21 April, 1912.

WRECK OF THE KOOMBANA

Wages of the Drowned Crew

The letter below from the Shipping 

Master at Fremantle to Mr. W. E. 

Moxon, manager of the Adelaide

Steamship Co, will be read with 

interest, and those who may be entitled

to receive any of the wages referred

to may apply to the Shipping Master,

Fremantle. The steamer was apparently 

lost about March 21, but the company 

decided to pay wages up to March 31. 

The letter is as follows :-

Harbor & Light Department,

Shipping Master's Office.

Fremantle, W.A., 18/4/'12.

W. E. Moxon, Esq,

(Mgr. The Adelaide S.S. Co)

Fremantle.

Dear Sir,-I am in receipt of

your letter of the 17th inst, and

have to acknowledge with thanks

receipt of your cheque for £461

4s, wages, for crew of late s.s.

Koombana which will be paid in

accordance with the Merchant

Shipping Act.

I am very pleased to find that

your Company has been so 

generous in paying the full month's

wages for March, and shall be

glad to receive the receipts for

the wages which you are paying,

and which are not included in the

cheque,

-Yours faithfully.

THOS. W. SMITH.

Shipping Master.

Many of the crew referred to were sole bread winners, leaving behind widows and orphans. It is almost insulting, viewed from the perspective of the modern era, that an additional 10 days' wages would be viewed in such favourable light. 

What about thereafter????