LABT
(28)
REF.
***T
REF.
28
Mr A R Rushford (Legal Adviser)
WORLD WIDE (SHIPPING) GROUP
Reference
J2
REGISTRATION* IN HONG KONG
4877
1. I am sorry my minute of 28 June reached you without explanation. It left me with an attached note apologising for the absence of supporting documents because they were in action elsewhere.
2. I must also apologise for not phrasing my questions in a manner in which it was possible for you to answer. In their present form I agree it appears more appropriate for them to be referred to Law Officers in Hong Kong.
3. I should explain, however, that Ministers-including the Prime Minister have shown interest and we are called upon to obtain advice both here and Hong Kong with a view to discovering a solution which might make it possible for Mr Pao's fleet to be registered in Hong Kong. Furthermore, in respect of shipping, Hong Kong is as much a part of the British Register as is a port in the UK and the question arises, therefore, as to the extent to which Hong Kong is obliged to apply British law in this context.
4. I should, therefore, be grateful for your advice on the following questions:-
(a)
(60)
Merchant Shipping Ordinances in Hong Kong are modelled on UK legislation: is this because the Colony is obliged to do so under "application" Sections of various British Merchant Shipping legislation principally the Act of 1894?
Can Section 735(1) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 be applied in Hong Kong:
(i)
land
(ii)
(c)
to change the law requiring masters, chief officers and chief engineers on ships registered in Hong Kong to be British,
to introduce a separate Register of Shipping in no way responsible to the British Registrar of Shipping, Cardiff?
Does the phrase "provisions which are substantially the same as or equally effective with" at Section 2 of the British Merchant Shipping (Equivalent Provisions) Act 1925
preclude it being applicable in the requirements
described at (b) applic (ii) above please?
/(a)
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