From the Secretary of State
removed and their decisions have not been influenced by any other considerations than those of adhering to the long established and humanitarian practices inherent in international law.
In addition to the MV Sabonga (on which my Secretary of State was pleased to see the announcement from No 10 yesterday) there are immediate pressures on the Bank Line, which also owns the Roachbank, and the Cardigan Shipping Company, which owns the Norse Viking which has 40 refugees on board and is presently making for Whampoa on the Chinese Hainland close to Hong Kong. The difficulties faced by the owners and masters of these ships have been set out fully in the letters from Lord Inverforth, Chairman of the Bank Line to the Lord Privy Seal (copied to the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State) and in the more recent letter from the President of General Council of British Shipping to the Prime Minister.
In assessing the government's reaction to the points made by the Shipping industry, the Secretary of State is anxious to emphasise that HMG has no legal powers to direct Masters of UK Registered Ship in any circumstances whatsoever. Nor is it possible, without legislation, to issue instructions to British vessels to proceed to any particular port of call or to stay there. Nor necessarily could we rely on voluntary co-operation since there could well be serious commercial and legal implications for ship owners if they acted in breach of their contracts with shippers or other ship owners, such as the Danish and Venezuelan interests who chartered in the Sabonga a the Roachbank. My Secretary of State does not believe that legislat. on this issue is practicable or desirable.
More generally, my Secretary of State believes that while we should certainly seek to limit the number of refugees we could look to the United Kingdom for re-settlement, he believes there is a very strong case for maintaining the undertaking to accept refugees rescued by UK Registered Ships who are not re-settled elsewhere. The number of refugees which have been given asylum in the UK is very low in