V44
The Crowso
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CONFIDENTIAL
For Dept's
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please Wachz
31/10
Sir Duncan Watson KCMG
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London S
DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY
TALT
SUNLEY HOUSE
90/93 HIGH HOLBORN
LONDON WC1V 6LP
Telephone: 01-4056911 Ext 463
30 October 1972
RECEIVED IN
R⭑GIS??N»,51 - SKOV 1/2
(74)
My
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REGISTRATION OF SHIPPING IN HONG KONG
As you may know from discussion between Mark Goodfellow and Leslie Standen, the Department has now reached its conclusions on the proposals by the Hong Kong Government and Y K Pao for changes in the Hong Kong shipping legislation.
I attach a draft minute, addressed to the Prime Minister, which I propose to submit for Mr Heseltine's signature. The lines of this have been agreed by the Minister.
As you will see, we have concluded that it would not be right at the present time to agree to the establishment of a separate register of shipping for Hong Kong or to go as far in the relaxation of manning requirements as the Hong Kong Government would like. We are, however, prepared to meet as far as possible the wishes of Hong Kong to be responsible for the acceptance of safety equipment as meeting regulations applicable to UK ships and to agree to a degree of relaxation in the manning field, short of a change in legislation, which we believe will in practice go a fair way to meeting Hong Kong's main problem, which relates to the shortage of second mates and second engineers.
I should be grateful for any comments on the line proposed and on the draft see particularly the final paragraph. In view of the lapse of time since the Prime Minister saw Y K Pao, I I would be grateful for a reply by the end of the week.
Yours
eve
J
ARCHER