CONFIDENTIAL,
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Mr. Hunt brought up the question of section 17(1) in
Part IV of the Trade Union Registration Ordinance, which stipulated
that "no person shall be an officer or a member of a registered
trade union unless he is ordinarily resident in the Colony and
habitually engaged or employed in a trade, industry or occupation
with which the trade union is directly concerned". He said that
unions in Britain had expressed various worries about the effect
of this provision on union activity by the crews of ships which
might be registered in Hong Kong. Mr. Price explained that the
provision was designed mainly to prevent registered trade unions
from being infiltrated by undesirable elements. The provision was,
in his view, reasonable in Hong Kong's circumstances, and he
doubted whether it would create substantial difficulties particu-
larly since there was an escape clause in priviso (a). H.E. the
Governor said it was not clear what the British unions were
worried about. If there were substantial difficulties, and if
these were made known to the Hong Kong Government, consideration
could always be given to the possibility of removing such
difficulties. Mr. Hunt thought this was unlikely to be a
sticking point.
9
He
After further discussion, H.E. the Governor said he would
contact Mr. Y.K. Pao on the question of further interviews.
hoped, however, that the D.T.I. team could now proceed on the
assumption that Worldwide Shipping's manning standards were
acceptable. The important point to bear in mind was that the
object of the exercise was to get Hong Kong shipowners to give
firm indications of the tonnage they would put on the proposed
Hong Kong Register.