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Mr Forrester
WORLD WIDE SHIPPING
Our latest information is contained in Sir Hugh Norman- Walker's letter to me of 6 January.
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As you will see, the Colonial Secretary confirmed that the Director of Marine would use his powers of exemption for officers other than the Master (who would still have to be British) provided that it was recognised that other officers would need to be of a standard to meet British requirements. During the discussion between Mr Pao and Sir Hugh Norman-Walker it was apparently suggested that the comparatively small number of local candidates who were successful in obtaining certificates of competency in the Hong Kong examinations centre would be a "deterrent to Hong Kong registry at the present time". I do not follow this argument because, while Hong Kong would no doubt like to have Hong Kong people employed by Mr Pao, if suitably qualified people were simply not available the World Wide Shipping Group would have to appoint officers of other nationalities. This question might be cleared up with Mr William Lee this afternoon.
3. Apart from this Mr Pao and the Colonial Secretary seem to have spent most of the time discussing the possibility of creating a Hong Kong Register. This will of course take time and I am a little surprised that Mr Pao seemingly pressed this aspect of the matter. When I spoke to Mr William Lee last September he emphasised that Mr Pao did not wish to press for a separate Register for Hong Kong.
4. In these latest papers we have had from Hong Kong there is a good deal of talk about "the specifications of the ships to be registered". Here again, I am not quite sure what Mr Pao is getting at. He cannot expect that we shall depart from the normal safety regulations on which there are international standards. He already knows however (from Mr Milburn's letter to him of 5 May 1971) that acceptance of particular items of equipment is a matter for Hong Kong and that there is no need for all equipment to be "British".
5. I still believe that if Mr Pao really wishes to have his ships registered in the Colony then all that is required is for representatives of the World Wide Group to sit down with the Hong Kong authorities and to work out the best way in which this object could be achieved within the framework of the existing law. I have no doubt that the law both in the United Kingdom and in Hong Kong dealing with employment of aliens will be amended in due course; this will however take time. It is now clear from Sir Hugh Norman-Walker's latest letter that Hong Kong will probably legislate for a Hong Kong Registry, but this also will take time.
31 January 1972
E O Laird
Hong Kong Department
Page 150Page 151
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