CO129-536-10 Need for leglisation concerning number of certificated officers carried on passenger ships 18-11-1931 - 15-6-1932 — Page 16

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REPLIES OF THE GOVERNMENTS

ESTONIA

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1. The Estonian Government is in favour of the adoption of a Draft Convention on this subject covering all the persons mentioned in points (a) to (d). It has all the more reason for this reply in that the obligation to carry certificated masters and officers is already provided for in the Estonian Acts of 15 December 1927 on the composition of navigating staff on merchant ships and of 12 December 1925 on the composition of engine-room staff.

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FINLAND

The adoption of an international Convention on this matter must undoubtedly be approved, and such a Convention should be drafted by a Conference possessing sufficient com- petence for dealing with questions affecting maritime naviga- tion. This is all the more essential as the terms of the resolution adopted by the international conference held in London in the spring of 1929 are very indefinite, the resolution simply mentioning that ships are to be sufficiently and effi- ciently manned, and each ratifying Government being left to see that this provision is applied in respect of its own ships. (a)-(d) The replies to these points are in the affirmative. Section 31 of the Maritime Act of 1873 at present in force provides that masters shall possess the knowledge and experience which are to be determined separately. This provision, however, does not apply to officers serving on small vessels and sailing vessels engaged in coasting and inland navigation, including voyages to Russian ports in the Baltic and on Lake Ladoga, to Swedish ports in the Gulf of Bothnia, to the Aland Islands, and to Stockholm. Section 62 of the Order of 17 April 1924 concerning merchant vessels, amended by Order of 13 April 1924, specifies what officers, including master, chief officer, and engineer officers, ships of each class are required to carry in different waters. The provisions regarding capacity are contained in the Order of 15 June 1928 concerning certificates of competency for deck and engineer officers on Finnish merchants ships.

FRANCE

1. In reply to this first Question the French Government thinks it useful to recall that it was an international incident, viz., the collision between the French ship Lotus and the Turkish collier Boz-kourt". which brought before the International Labour Office a proposal for the establishment internationally of a minimum requirement of professional

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QUESTION 1

capacity in the case of captains and officers of the mercantile marine. The results of the incident in question, which were of a serious character both for the crew of the "Boz-kourt ". eight of whom perished, and for two officers of the Lotus who were arrested and sentenced in Turkey for breaches of the ́international steering and sailing regulations demonstrate in striking manner the necessity for an agreement to prevent a recurrence of such incidents.

The interest of the incident considered in itself, as is recalled in the Grey Report, lies in the fact that the Turkish master held no certificate of capacity for command and that he was ignorant of the international steering and sailing rules.

When the matter was discussed at the Thirteenth Session of the International Labour Conference, it was not disputed that, both from the standpoint of the safety of the ship and of the material and moral protection of the crew, it was desirable that each maritime country should require certain conditions to be complied with by its navigators before they were permitted to discharge functions directly affecting the sailing of the ship.

The matter no doubt is a question of safety, and for this reason attempts have been made to take it out of the hands of the International Labour Conference and reserve its considera- tion for one of the conferences at London which have laid down or are to lay down rules for the safety of life at sea. The London conference of 1929, however, like that of 1914 and succeeding conferences arising out of them, have to deal principally with material conditions of safety, i.e. the construction of ships, their subdivision, the size and number of lifeboats, and wireless telegraphy. It is true that attention has been given to the question of ensuring that experienced wireless operators are carried, but on this point reference was made to the Washington Wireless Conferences, and no fresh certificates were created. It was merely required that wireless telegraphists responsi- ble for safety should possess the international certificates prescribed by the Washington Conference.

Furthermore, the London Convention deals mainly with passenger vessels, and thus regulates only one particular phase of safety of maritime navigation on the high seas. It should be noted, too, that this Convention excludes from its scope a certain number of ships, even passenger ships, which navigate in specified waters or defined areas.

The question to be regulated is thus rather one of the material and moral protection of crews, as the report sub- mitted to the Thirteenth Session of the International Labour Conference indicates. On this footing, without going further into the controversies which preceded the discussions at the

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