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The abnormal conditions of the present war have caused a great shortage of competent and suitable certificated officers and section 2 relaxes some of the ordinary peace requirements in the case of
As regards the deck offi- river steamers not exceeding 400 tons.
cers,
an extra Chinese pilot is substituted for the mate, so that such river steamers will be able to run with a certificated master and 3 Chinese pilots. As regards the engineers, the section sub- stitutes for the second engineer, in cases where a second engineer is required, a Chinese engineer holding a certificate of competency from the Harbour Master and specially approved by the Harbour Master for the service contemplated in the Ordinance.
The provision with regard to the deck officers was approved by the Secretary of State in his telegram of the 16th February, 1917. The case of the engine room officers had not then been brought to
In view of the above approval and the notice of the Government.
of the urgency of the occasion it was thought unnecessary to refer the case of the engineers to the Secretary of State before legisla-
ting.
The amendment of section 37 of Ordinance No. 10 of 1899 wa s decided upon mainly in order to extend to all launches used for business purposes the system of licences and licence fees which has hitherto applied only to the launches included within the terms
The of subsection (1) of section 37 of Ordinance No. 10 of 1899. system is also being applied to motor boats, except such as are
It may be mentioned that the absence used solely for pleasure.
in the new regulations, a copy of which is attached, of any refer- ence to launches used solely for pleasure is due to the fact that
The motor boats which are used there are no such launches here.
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solely for pleasure are on quite a different footing, the great majority being comparatively small and inexpensive craft.