Reference...
HKK 21/3...
ia
RESTRICTED
Mr Stuart HK/IOD
PROPOSED SEPARATE HONG KONG REGISTER ITF RESOLUTION
1. With reference to Mr Archer's minute of 18 Febru- ary regarding the letter and resolution received from Mr J Slater, General Secretary of the Merchant Navy and Airline Officers' Association, I understand that this subject was raised in the Fair Practices Committee of the ITF by Mr Slater and that the resolution was based on his draft. The National Union of Seamen (NUS) took little part, I understand.
2. However, there is no question about the serious- ness with which the ITF regard the proposal for a separate Hong Kong shipping register (I have already recorded doubts expressed by Mr Charles Blyth, the General Secretary, about the possibility of lower standards being adopted if such a register were to be accepted).
3. As regards the final sentence of paragraph 3 of Mr Archer's minute, enquiries I made last week in Hong Kong seem to suggest that Hong Kong ships under flags of convenience were only exceptionally paying the ITF rate i.e. £115 per month minimum. One or two had been 'caught' while calling at Australian or New Zealand ports but otherwise the ITF campaign seems tohave had little effect, according to the Director of Marine, on ships confined to Far Eastern waters and the tanker fleets operating between the Gulf and Japan and the West coast of America. Nevertheless I feel sure that one important advantage that the Hong Kong owners hope to derive from the Hong Kong register is freedom from ITF interference and the acceptance of Hong Kong seamen's rates, and not international rates, for ships under the new register.
27 February 1974
c. Mr J N Archer (MAR) DTI
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Foggon
Overseas Labour Adviser