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52
which might be caused by substances other than celluloid, which are
chicfly t be found in the regulations to the Dangerous Goods Ordinance,
J
1873. Although the contain cause for the serious loss of life and damage at the Wing On Godowns is attributable to the violent flaming of cinematograph film, storage of which is controlled by a separate series of regulations under the Celluloid and Cinematograph Films Or- dinance, 1923, it is convenient to treat film and celluloid as dangerous goods in the broader sense of the term. There there is a discrepancy between the two sets of regulations, attention will be drawn to it.
Legislation for the Handling of Dangerous Goods and Celluloid in General: 61. The processes involved in the handling of goods in the Colony are
as follows :
a)
b)
c)
arrival by ship or by train or by air, or manufacture in the Colony from raw materials;
transfer by lighter or road transport or man-handling to ware- houses, shops, or manufacturies, or transfer to further trans- port for immediate despatch from the Colony;
storage of goods which have arrived in ware-houses or shops or manufacturies;
忍
removal from storage by man-handling or road transport or lighter to ships, trains, road transport or aircraft;
e)
departure from the Colony by ship, train, road transport or aircraft,
The problem is to ensure that dangerous goods and celluloid in bulk and
in small quantities are handled at all stages so as to involve the mini- mum fire risk and danger to human life, and this is the reason for the existence of the Dangerous Goods Ordinance, 1873 with its regulations last revised in 1940, and the Celluloid and Cinematograph Films Ordin-
ance, 1923. It should be stated here that we did not regard our terms
of reference as including consideration of the storage and handling of dangerous goods in vessels, trains or aircraft except in so far as car- riage in these conveyances impinged on land storage or transport within
the Colony.
62.
The potency of the Dangerous Goods Ordinance rests largely in the regulations to the Ordinance, Broadly, the Ordinance concerns itself