CO129-614-1 Commission of Inquiry into fire at West Point- report 26-5-1949 - 22-12-1949 — Page 55

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dangerous goods in the various categories is in some respects surpris- ingly rigid. For instance, during the course of the inquiry, it became clear that until the time of the fire Caustic Soda was not regarded as a dangerous substance, and then attention was only drawn to it by the purely fortuitous discovery that some of the Caustic Soda stored in Godown No. 5 contained as an impurity metallic sodium, a Category 3 substance. Caustic Potash, the chemical properties of which are almost identical with Caustic Soda, is listed in Category 5, which also refers to "other corrosive substances", and yet the simple deduction that Caustic Sode should be included among the latter had not been made. recommend that the lists of substances in each category should be care- fully checked up with the Government Chemist, not necessarily with a view to including every substance that might be included under each category, but rather with a view to excluding out-of-date proprietory names and including now ones which are of common occurrence in the Colon Attention should be directed from time to time to keeping these names up to date.

We consider that knowlege of elementary chemistry among some at least of the Senior Officers of the Fire Brigade is a necessity, if it is to carry out efficiently the duties with which it is charged.

Notification of the Arrival of Dangerous Goods in the Colony:

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67.

On arrival in the Colony the master of a ship carrying dangerous goods of any category other than 8 is required to notify the Director of Marine of their arrival, furnishing him with a true copy of the mani- fest of the dangerous goods. He is not required to notify the Director of Marine of the arrival of celluloid or cinematograph film. An inher- ent difficulty is that he is expected to know what are dangerous goods by Hong Kong law, as there is no recognised international classification of dangerous goods. We wore informed that it was the practice among reputable shipping companies or their agents to inform the Director of Marine about a week in advance, though there was no statutory provision to this effect. If goods are shown on manifests merely by some such general term as "chemicals", or deliberately misrepresented as is not infrequently the case, it is exceedingly difficult to provide the Dir ector of Marine with accurate information. There are numerous regul-