CO129-564-13 Hong Kong Harbour- regulation of traffic 30-9-1937 - 24-1-1938 — Page 10

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Attention was drawn to the necessity of some such

regulation by the fact that H.M.S. MEDWAY recently ran down

a sand junk, a collision which could easily have been

avoided had the junk luffed. Men of war use the narrowest

part of the harbour, where the traffic of small craft is

the greatest, and the tidal streams are at their strongest,

while the recklessness of the handling of some junks and

sampans may eventually lead to one of H.M. Ships being

endangered.

Merchant ships, which normally berth at Kowloon

or anchor in the Western part of Hong Kong harbour, where

there is room to manoeuvre, do not have to contend with the

same difficulties. Moreover at present the only fairways

specified in detail are those used when entering or sailing

by the Western Entrance; so far as the Eastern Entrance,

which is the entrance almost invariably used by big ships,

is concerned the only rules at present in force amount to

no more than that all craft are to obey the rule of the road.

It is also to be noted that at Singapore where small harbour

craft have to give way to sea-going steam vessels, conditions

are less exacting for men of war since the volume of junk

and sampan traffic is considerably smaller.

/In

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