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tons in question already have British First Officers and it
would be possible for Mr Y K Pao to meet the DTI's full
requirement. That he has not offered to do so may possibly
be out of solidarity with his fellow Hong Kong owners, or
possibly because he does not want to be restricted in this
way. The DTI, however, on the strength of Mr Lee's conver-
sation with Mr Archer, are inclined to believe that the
or British qualified, refusal of a requirement for British, First Officers is a
bluff; that Mr Y K Pao can accept this, and will do so if
they stand firm.
5. This is a risky supposition. Mr Y K Pao will obviously
wish to maintain maximum flexibility. As Mr Royle has already
minuted, he will want to change both Masters and First Officers
around, and a rigid requirement that all Hong Kong ships must
carry both will restrict his freedom of action. However, the
DTI'S line is that in reducing their manning requirements to
this level, they have already gone as far as they possibly can
without substantial political difficulty in this country. If
therefore it turns out that Mr Y K Pao will not accept their
proposition, (although, so they say, he could do so if he
wished, they would recommend that the register should not come into being. I understand that Mr Heseltine has approved this
line.
6. It remains to be seen what the Prime Minister thinks of
it.
From a conversation with Lord Bridges, I suspect that he
/may
- 2.
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