No 297.
2 JUL 1930
RECEIVED
VOOL OFFICE
34
72763
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONG KONG 29th May, 1930.
2
My Lord,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt
of Your Lordship's despatch No.62 dated 7th March on the
subject of the exemption of the owners and masters trading
in China seas in accordance with the provisions of Section
5 (9) and (11) of Ordinance No.32 of 1929.
2.
Since the repeal by Section 4 of Ordinance
No.15 of 1927 of the 1914 Piracy Prevention Ordinance there
has been no effective control by the police authorities
over the guards employed directly by ship owners, and it
was considered desirable that, by excepting ships which
normally ply in the danger area from the general exemption
granted to the masters of ships under Section 5(9) of the
Ordinance now under discussion, some control would be
exercised both on the personnel of the guards and on the
fitness of ships' officers to carry arms. Indeed the
section is the direct outcome of the seizure by certain
pirates in 1928 of revolvers and ammunition which had been
left by officers of the ship in their cabins without
proper precautions.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
LORD PASSFIELD,
&C.,
&c.,
&C.
3.