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Unobjectionable but needing modification if Rule 2 is altered as suggested.
-Rule 4-
Appears to require some slight verbal amendments to make it quite clear.
It may be as well to mention here that tanks and petroleum compartments are never opened or open except for the purpose of cleaning and ventilating the tanks or compartment after the oil has been pumped out.
-Rule 5-
This might usefully declare or define what description of certificate would cover the oil and by whom it ought to be executed.
-Rule 6-
When the cargo is covered by a valid certificate from the port of loading properly authenticated, that certificate and the Master's declaration should as a rule be accepted as sufficient and no inspection or test should take place. No such inspection is made in the Suez Canal where the Master's declaration is accepted as sufficient. Penalties might properly be imposed for false certificates or declarations.
This rule ought to be amended by simply inserting after the words: "the Harbour Master shall," the words: "if no satisfactory certificate is lodged".
-Rules 7 & 8-
No remarks.
-Rule 9-
The sealing and labeling should, we think, be done in the presence of the Captain or Chief Officer of the vessel.
-Rules 10 to 18-
No remarks provided the testing is confined to cases in which the cargo is not covered with a satisfactory certificate from the port of loading. We would, however, point out that the Government Analyst should determine at once after investigation and experiment whether any and