CO129-536-10 Need for leglisation concerning number of certificated officers carried on passenger ships 18-11-1931 - 15-6-1932 — Page 38

CHAPTER II.

GENERAL SURVEY OF THE PROBLEM IN THE LIGHT OF THE REPLIES OF THE GOVERNMENTS.

I.

General principle. Adoption of a Draft Convention

(Question 1)

The first question on which the Questionnaire consulted the Governments, and which in effect contained the whole gist of the problem on the Agenda of the Conference, was whether the Conference should adopt a Draft Convention by which the States ratifying it would undertake to make possession of a certificate of professional capacity obligatory by national laws or regulations for the purpose of employment on board national merchant ships as (a) master or skipper, (b) navigating officer in charge of a watch, (e) chief engineer, or (d) engineer officer in charge of a watch.

1. The position on this question of the twenty- three Governments whose replies to the Questionnaire are included in this Report1 is summarised below.

(a) Eighteen Governments have had no hesitation in returning an affirmative answer. These Governments are:- Australia, Belgium, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Irish Free State, Italy, Japan, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Rumania, Spain, Yugoslavia.

As has already been noted in a footnote to the Introduction (ante, p. 7), the replies of Canada, New Zealand and Portugal, which are given in an Appendix to Chapter 1 and which are in addition to the twenty-three replies referred to above, were received while this Report was in the press, and it has not been possible to take account of them in Chapters II and III.

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