the Merchant Shipping Act 1970, but continued to apply in colonies. The Merchant Shipping Act 1988 provided for the repeal of section 89 of the 1970 Act, but the repeal has yet to be activated, pending the termination of Article 28 of the UK/Italy Convention. When the Merchant Shipping Act 1970 was extended to certain territories, Section 238 of the 1894 Act remained in place. However, in the case of the Cayman Islands, Section 238 was repealed, and the provisions of Section 89 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1970 were applied with modifications. Now that the relevant provision in the UK/Italy Consular Convention has been terminated, we are in a position to repeal these two Sections.
4. I suggest the following course of action:
(a) a letter to the Department of Transport telling them that it is now open to them to activate the repeal of Section 89 of the 1970 Act;
(b) a circular letter to colonial territories telling them that we are now proposing to repeal Section 238 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 and explaining why, and indicating that unless we hear to the contrary within a relatively short period of time we intend to go ahead with the repeal; you will need to consult HKD about Hong Kong;
(c)
a letter to the Home Office suggesting that they inform the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man in like terms;
(a) once we have the go-ahead we could then produce an order which would extend the repeal of Section 238 of the 1894 Act to all colonial territories, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, and amend the order extending the Merchant Shipping Act 1970 to the Cayman Islands to remove the references to Section 89.
5. I should be grateful if you would clear your letters with me in draft.
J. A. Curtis
for
Chris Whonersley
CW5ACH/2