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Kong, the framers of the local regulations tried to combine regulations for carriage at sea and storage on land in one Ordinance. One difficulty is that there is no international agreement on the subject of what con- stitutes dangerous gceas. There is a Committed at present sitting in the United Kingdom on this very subject it is specially concerned with the shipping aspect and we understand that it proposes a modifi- cation of classification though not a radical one. These developments are being closely followed by the Marine Department.
64
In Hong Kong dangerous goods are divided into 8 Categories, as
follows :
1.
2.
3.
Authorised explosives, which include ammunition and fireworks; Compressed gases;
Substances which become dangerous by interaction with water or air;
Substances giving off inflammable vapour;
4.
5.
Corrosive substances;
6. Substances which give off a poisonous gas or vapour;
7.
Strong supporters of combustion;
8.
Miscellaneous merchandise, which seems to include all com- bustible substances.
65. Listed under Category & is "excolloid scrap or waste" which the Marine Department regards as a proprietory term which would possibly cover the nitrocellulose film scrap stored in the Wing On Godown. Al- though in many ways a peculiarly dangerous substance, a danger which is recognised by the existence of special legislation in regard to its storage, celluloid as far as the classification in the Dangerous Goods Ordinance is concomed is correctly placed in Category 8 as it is nor- mally very stable, is not explosive, has a flash point above 150°F., is not corrosive, and does not support combustion. Its danger lies in the fact that once inflamed, it burns so much more fiercely and violently than cotton or felt or rubber or any of the other substances in this category. In this of course lies the reason why it is the subject of a special ordinance and regulations.
66.
We consider that the interpretation by the Fire Brigade of the
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