Mr Crowson
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1.
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covering CONFIDENTIAL
HKK 21/3.
Reference.
HONG KONG SHIPPING REGISTER
You asked me to examine the draft provided by Mr Burbridge of DoT in reply to Mr Jones's letter of 11 June on the above subject.
2. The DoT is uncompromising on the requirement for special written examinations for deck officers (paragraph 3 of Mr Jones's letter), which will be very unpalatable in Hong Kong. I do not find Mr Jones's objections on this point very convincing and suspect that his real fear is that a substantial number of candidates would fail to qualify, making it difficult for Hong Kong shipowners to find deck officers from their traditional sources of recruitment. The importance which attaches to this question was stressed in discussions with Sir Murray MacLehose, who agreed that this constituted a major problem.
3. The draft seems to meet the agreed plan that we should try to play this long. I have substituted a new introductory paragraph to take account of Mr Stuart's absence and have also proposed a few minor amendments in the text. All in all, however, the draft seems to make all the essential points and our scope for amendment is in any case limited in view of DOT's overriding responsibility for policy on this matter.
31 July 1974
K Hanna
Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Dept
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