1961-HKRS30-8-51_Part01 — Page 30

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Shuen Wan Chan (High Island), thence by the western and northern shore of Leung Shuen Wan Chau to its eastern extremity, thence by a straight line drawn true north to the mainland shore.

Tolo Hurbour Area.

The waters of Tide Cove. Telo Harbour and Plover Cove within ao areu bounded by the mainland shore, by a straight line drawn from the western extremity of U Kwai Tsui to the south-western extremity of Pak Sha Tau Chau (Harbour Island), thence by the northern shore of Pak Sha Tau Chau to its eastern extremity, thence by a straight line across to the point of land on the mainland shore in position 22° 27′ 42′′ North Latitude 114° 15′ 26′′ East Longitude.

COUNCIL CHAMBER,

7th February, 1967.

Explanatory Note.

Liv

Clerk of Councils.

(This Mote is not part of the regulations, but is intended to indicate their general purport),

These regulations replace subject to amendment the Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliances) Regulations, 1995.

The purpose of this measure is to bring the regulations relating to life saving appliances more closely into line with the Merchant Shipping (Life Saving Appliances) Rules, 1958, made by the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation in the United Kingdom. Those rules amend and consolidate previous Rules and arrange ships into classes and provide for life saving appliances to ba carried by ships of each class. They include such requirements as appear to the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation to implement the provisions of the Intentational Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea. 1948, relating to life saving appliances and are applicable to the Colony in respect of certain classes of ships by virtue of section 37 of the Merchant Shipping Ordinance, 1953, but they do not provide for ships which are subject to the provisions of the Simla Rules, 1931, (to which Hong Kong is a party) made pursuant to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1929, nor do they provide for certain kinds of local craft.

3. The Simla Rules are designed to meet the special needs of ships plying in Asiatic waters and carrying large numbers of unberthed passengers, in the pilgrim and other trades, which require certain modifications in respect of the requirements relating to the carriage by ships of life saving appliances generally accepted by international agreement, which is also the case in respect of certais kinds of local craft. These regulations therefore arrange ships to which the Simla Rules apply and such local craft into classes comparable with those to which the Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliances) Rules, 1958, of the United Kingdom apply, and are designed to be read as one with those Rules. The effect is to apply to such ships and craft the provisions of those Rules subject to such modifications, embodied in these regulations, as appear to the Governor in Council to implement the requirements of the Simta Rules. 1931, and the requirements of local craft.

4. The principal amendments, other than as to form, to the regulations- previously in force are-

(All reference to ships of Group 1 Classes 1, 2, 7 and 11 under the previous regulations has been omitted from these regulations becaust the Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliances) Rules, 1958, apply

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without modification to such ships of Group 1 Classes 1, 2 and 11, and the previous special class, Group 1 Class 7 (ships plying locally an international coasting voyages), is no longer considered necessary and has been dropped from the regulations.

(b) Ships of Group 1 Classes 3, 4 and 9 under the previous regulations are referred to as ships of Classes A, B and E respectively under these regulations and equated to ships of Class 1 under the Merchant Shipping

•Life-Saving Appliances) Rules, 1958, modified by these regulations to meet the requirements of the Simla Rules, 1931. The effect is to leave the requirements relating to the carriage of life saving appliances by those ships unaltered.

(c) Ships of Group 1 Classes 3, 6 10 and 12 under the previous regulations are referred to as ships of Classes C, D, F and I respectively under these regulations and are equated respectively to ships classed under the Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliances) Rules, 1958, Classes C, D and F being equated to Class II and Class J being equated to Class IX. In the case of ships of Classes C D and F the provisions of the Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliances) Rules, 1958, are modified by these regulations in order to retain the scale of life saving appliancea applicable under the Simla Rules, 1931, but in other respects bring the requirements for life saving appliances applicable to those ships into line with the requirements for life saying appliances applicable to ships of Class II under the Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliances) Rules, 1998. In die case of ships of Classes H and J the provisions of the Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliances) Rules, 1958, are applied respectively without modification, except in the case of ships of Class ) carrying salvage parties where provision is made for the carriage of additional inflatable lifcrafts or buoyant apparatus to provide floatation for the extra persons carried on board.

(d) Ships of Group | Class 8 under the previous regulations are referred to as ships of Class G under these regulations and are not equated to any corresponding class of ship under the Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliances) Rules, 1958. These regulations substantially reproduce the scale of life saving appliances to be carried by such ships under the previous regulations.

(e) Ships of Group 1 Clasa 13 and Group II Clasa 4 under the previous regulations are referred as ships of Class H under these regulations and are equated to ships of Class VIII under the Merchant Shipping (Life- Saving Appliances) Rules, 1938, and those Rules are applied without modification.

(f) These regulations introduce a special Class K for local deep sea trawlers, Previously there were no local regulations applicable to such craft and provision for life saving appliances was made in respect of them by agreement between the owners and the Marine Department the require- ments being based upon a considerably modified form of the Rules from time to time applicable to trawlers operating from the United Kingdom. These regulations in so far as they apply to ships of Class K are therefore based upon the scale previously adopted voluntarily by the majority of local trawler owners and the provisions of the Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliances) Rules, 1958, as to such scales are not applied.

(g) Ships of Group II Classes 1, 2 and 3 (ships plying exclusively within the waters of the Colony) under the previous regulations are all classed together and referred in as ships of Class L, under these regulations and special scales of life saving appliances applied to them by these regula- tions unrelated to the Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliances) Rules, 1958. These scales reproduce in substance the scales applicable to such ships as contained in the previous regulations subject to certain modifica. tions to ensure floatation for the total number of persons carried in a ship at any one time.