20
Mr. Laird.
Reference.
Registration of World Wide Group ships.
Mr. Lee in his letter of 23 December to Mr. Royle states that certificates of exemption to foreigners, granted by the Governor to permit them to serve in senior capacities in ships on the Hong Kong Register, provide for temporary relief in cases
of emergency.
2.
The Merchant Shipping (Aliens Employment) Ordinance makes
no mention of any conditions governing the issue of these
certificates but, in practice, it may well be that the Hong Kong Government does not issue such certificates very easily.
3.
No reply has been received to your letter to Sir H.Norman- Walker of 14 October at (13) in which you asked for confirmation that aliens can act in senior capacities in British ships
registered in the Colony.
4.
In view of the size of the World Wide Group fleet, it would be advantageous if it were registered under the British flag. I
recommend that a copy of Mr. Lee's letter is sent to Hong Kong
and that we ask for clarification on the point raised by him. If exemption certificates are issued on a temporary basis only,
there would seem to be a case for repeal of the Ordinance,
provided that Mr. Lee's assertion that there is a shortage of
senior British mariners is correct.
5.
Marine Division of DTI confirm that there is a shortage
of Chief Engineers but, provided terms of employment offered
are reasonable, there should be no difficulty in getting
sufficient Masters and Chief Officers of British nationality.
Draft letter to the Governor is attached.
6.
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NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Registry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential,
Restricted. Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
DRAFT
To:-
Sir David Trench GCMG, MC,
Governor of Hong Kong.
Type 1 +
From
2.0.Laird
Telephone No. & Ext.
Department
You will recall that Mr. Royle mentioned to you
when he saw you in London in December that Mr. Pao of World Wide (Shipping) Ltd. had suggested that, if senior ships officers not of British nationality could be employed, the obstacle in the way of registering his ships in Hong Kong would be removed. You confirmed to Mr. Royle that it is possible to grant exemption certificates to foreigners under the Merchant Shipping (Aliens Employment) Ordinance.
This was suggested to Mr. William W.Y.Lee by Mr. Royle and Mr. Lee has now replied saying that certificates of exemption only provide for temporary relief in cases of emergency. He goes on to allege that there is a shortage of British deck and engineer officers and suggests that there is justification/for a change in legislation to permit the employment of aligns in senior positions in Hong Kong registered ships I enclose copy of Mr. Lee's letter.
From preliminary enquiries here I understand
that, although there may be some shortage of senior engineer officers, there are adequate numbers of deck officers available for employment,/provided terms and conditions offered are
acceptable
The transfer of World Wide's fleet to the long Kong Register would be an important step and, if the difficulty regarding provision of senior officers stands in the way of its implementation, a way of solving this would seem to be the
issue of exemption certificates under the Ordinance referred
to above I should be grateful if you would let me know whether Mr. Lee/is correct in saying that such certificates are granted
on a temporary basis only or whether they cover long term
employment of officers not of British nationality.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.