Telegrams- “SHIPMINDER, PARL, LONDON." Telephone-WHITEHALL 5140 Ext.
Any further communication on this subject should be addressed to:-
e Assistant Secretary,,
Mercantile Marine Department
(address as opposite)
and the following number quoted :—
M.5974/34.
OF
If
Sir,
MERCANTILE MARINE DEPARTMENT,
BOARD OF TRADE,
GREAT GEORGE STREET,
767
WESTMINSTER, S.W.1.
454
25th April, 1934.
E
[m2]
[205]
[ne 6]
With reference to your letter of the 14th March
(33755/34) forwarding copies of correspondence with the
Governor of Hong Kong concerning the protection from
piracy of ships trading in Chinese waters, I am directed
by the Board of Trade to refer to their letter to the
Admiralty of the 17th April (M.3974/34) and to the letter
addressed by the Admiralty to this Department on the
18th April (M.1188/34) (copies of which have been
forwarded to your Department).
It will have been observed from these letters that
the Board are of the opinion (a) that the issue in Hong
Kong of the Safety Certificate under the International
Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea cannot properly
be made conditional upon the fitting of grilles or the
provision of armed guards, (b) that to make the issue in
The Under-Secretary of State,
Colonial Office,
S.W.1.
/Hong