Letter

              The Navigators and Engineer Officers Union -
Federated together with:
The China Coast Officers Guild. 
The Canadian Merchant Service Guild. 
The Merchant Service Guild of Australasia. 
The Marine Engineers Guild of China. 
The Navigators & General Insurance Co. Ltd. 
The New Zealand Merchant Service Guild.
The Straits Merchant Service Guild.
In the OFFICERS (Merchant Navy) FEDERATION which is a member of THE NATIONAL MARITIME BOARD 
All correspondence to be addressed to the General Secretary.
23 LEADENHALL ST., E.C.3.
Telephone: MANsion House 0454 (4 Lines).
Telegrams:  Unideckeng. Fen. London.
2/DST/LW
President : Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Heaton-Ellis. K.B.E. C.B. M.V.O.
Chairman : Capt F. J. Thompson, O.B.E. R.O. R.N.R.
Vice-Chairman : Mr. D. Carmichael, 1st Class Eng. B.O.T.
General Secretary : William H. Coombs (Master Mariner).
26th. February, 1940.
H. V. Tewson, Esq.,
Assistant General Secretary, 
Trades Union Congress, 
Transport House, 
Smith Square, 
S.W.1.
Dear Mr. Tewson,
Further to our recent telephone conversation, re the possibility of obtaining employment in British Merchant Navy vessels for those Spanish Officers who are still in this Country, I have been in touch with the Ministry of Shipping on this subject for some little while.	I do not think I can do better than enclose herewith for your information, a copy of the letter which I have received from the Ministry of Shipping, which indicates the position.
It has occurred to me that should any difficulty arise in obtaining berths for these officers in an Officer capacity, it might well be arranged with the co-operation of Mr. Spence of the National Union of Seamen, to find employment for them as Ratings.	As I mentioned to you on the telephone, in the case of Navigating Officers, it is, of course, vitally essential that they should be thoroughly 
conversant