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(clause 17) refers clearly to the Board of Trade Registra-
-tion under the Merchant Shipping Act). There were thus
two classes of "Registration" which may be conveniently
described as "Board of Trade Registration", and "Inland
Registration". A further confusion was introduced by the
condition prescribed by Regulation 2 (of the 1898 Regula-
-tions) which introduced a further "Customs House Registra-
-tion" for fiscal purposes. These Inland Wators Regulations
are not, however, really applicable to the matter at issue
since the term "Inland Waters" is defined as in the 4th. --
Article of the Chefoo Convention and includes all territori-
-al coast waters. In fact the Mackay Treaty says that such
registered steamers may not ply between inland places
without special permission, and the Regulations say that
no unregistered steamer may ply inland.
What is required therefore is
that Regulations solely applicable to launches of small
tonnage which ply exclusively in bona fide rivers and are
not sea-going vessels should be framed with the object of
enabling such vessels to be properly registered and
authorised to fly the flag. The first obvious difficulty is
to find a means of restricting the scope of such Regula-
-tions to vessels only plying on rivers, in order that
they