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basic format of the new legislation is decided. It is
of the points raised by
likely that many but not all
- ·
those who commented will already have been included.
Some of the others are clearly worthy of consideration. The appropriate forum for this would appear to be the proposed Shipping Advisory Board where all sides of the
industry would be represented.
(b) Ferries and the River Trade
13.5.
The Hong Kong and Yaumatei Ferry Company drew attention to the need for special consideration to be given to those vessels on the register which operate in
local waters or the river trade, We believe that it
would not be appropriate for vessels operated solely in these areas to be required to comply with exactly the same regulations as apply to ocean going vessels. That said we could not condone a system which had inadequate safety requirements. What is needed is a system of safety standards appropriate for the protection of the very large numbers of passengers and crew sailing each day within Hong Kong and to China and Macau from Hong Kong. There can, however, be no questions of splitting the register into sub-registers catering for different
categories of vessel.
13.6.
A small working party has been established within the Government to advise on local and coastal
traffic.