Gentlemen,
Marine Department, Hong Kong.
6" Mark, 1948.
The recent occurrence of fires in local river craft is a matter of grave concern to the general public of Hongkong and to the shipping commu- nity in particular. This concern is no doubt shared by yourselves and I invite your co-operation in the introduction and enforcement of the follow- ing measures designed to ensure the stricter control of passenger traffic on river steamers:-
2.(i) Every Asiatic member of the crew of cach river steamer must bo furnished with a card bearing his photograph (duly stamped with the company's stamp), reference number on articles,, and Master's signature. Those cards arc to bc produced when procceding to and from the ship and at other times when requested by an officer of a Government department in the course of his duties. When any change in crew takes place, it is the responsibility of the Master to see that the card of the scamon boing ro- placed is handed in at the Mcrcantile Marinc Office.
(ii) Passenger'e baggage, between the entrance to the wharf and the ship, is to be handled only by authorised coolics who will wear a red coolic jacket bearing the name of the wharf and the number of the coolic. Thc proprictor of each wharf must supply to the O.I.C. Waterfront Searching Unit a complete list of coolics employed, with photographs, and must notify any changes which are made.
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(iii) All passengers must be in possession of a ticket before attempting to board the vessel. No passenger is to be allowed to board the vessel more than 2 hours before the advertised time of departure. The Mastor is responsible for sccing that nobody boards the vessel on the off-side cxcept as provided in Section 5 of Government Notification No. 134 (Hongkong Port Regulations, Page 104) When it is necessary for any persons to board the vessel in this manner, the Master should draw the attention of the police officer in charge of the search party to their presence. After tho cm- barkation of passengers has commenced, no member of the crew shall leave the wharf without a reason which is considered adequate by the 0.1.C. search party.
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(iv) Arrangements may be made for the sale of passage tickets immediato- ly inside the gate of the wharf provided that a second barrier is crccted in such a manner as not to interfere with the searching of passengers and their luggage. If such arrangements arc mado, no ticket should thus be sold more than 2 hours before the advertised time of departure.
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No passenger without a ticket should be allowed to pass the second barrier and tickets should be inspected and counted at this barrier. It is suggested that this best be done by the issue of numbered tickets divided by perfor- ations into two sections and that the one portion of such a ticket should bo surrendered when passing the barrier. To facilitate recognition, thosc tickets should be issued in different colours on different days. number of tickets issued must not exceed the number of passengers for whom space is available. When embarkation of passengers is complete, the corrcet totals (ascertained by counting passengers and chooked by the counting of the surrendered portions of tickets) must be reported to the officer in charge of the police search party who will enter those totals on the port clearance, initialling and stamping the entry. The surrondored portions of passage tickets will be handed to the police officer for transmission to the Marine Department. After the completed clearance has been delivered to the Master or his authorised representativo, no further passengers shall bo allowed to embark. No passenger, having once embarked, shall be allowed to disembark, without forfeiting his right to passage.
(~) The practice of allowing passengers to carry unrestricted amounts of personal luggage in the spaces allotted to passengers makes it difficult, if not impossible, to measure the space remaining for passengers, and also materially aggrovates the fire hazard by causing congestion and supplying combustible material which would support any conflagration. Luggage to bc carried in passenger accommodation must therefore be restricted to light hand baggage. It is recommended that owners of river craft consult to- gether as to how this may bost be accomplished, and that this department be advised at an early date of the methods proposed. If no adequate measures are taken at an early date, official action will be taken to ensure that this menace to the safety of the travelling public is removed.