RECEIVED IN
P. G. TRY No.51
DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY
BOARD-OF-TRADE
Marine Division
Sunley House 90 High Holborn London WC1
Telex 264084 Answer Back MARBOT London
Telegrams Marbot London WC1
Tack 21/6
ACK
J A Clewley Esq
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London, SWI
Telephone 01-405 6911 ext
306
Your reference
HKK 21/6
Our reference
MC49/1/0242
Date b August 1971
39
04
Hall
dunt port
Dear Clewley
WORLD WIDE (SHIPPING) LTD
LAST
34
You spoke to me on 3 August about the answers to the questions sent with your letter of 8 July to/Hoare. As I mentioned to you these questions range over the interests of 7 different branches in the Department and you will appreciate that as it is now the height of the holiday season some of the people from whom views are required are not here. However I think I can now answer most of your questions as follows leaving a few points to be cleared up at a later date.
QUESTION 1. Although Hong Kong is a port of British registry the Director of Marine Hong Kong, is responsible for the enforcement of and exemption from the shipping legislation of Hong Kong. The Director has already said in the final sentence of the second paragraph on page 2 of his letter of 5 May 1971 and again in the final para- graph of that letter that he has been given powers of exemption and it would therefore seem possible for him to grant the exemptions you postulate. Whether he would consider this a judicious use of his powers is another matter. Given that the ships are on the British register and Hong Kong is a dependent Colonial territory, I would expect the Director to follow policies which are not markedly out of line with our own. Present UK policy would restrict the issue of an exemption for a foreign national to occupy one of the statutory positions in a British ship to most exceptional cases and where we would expect the following circumstances to apply:-
(i) the representative organisations of the officers had confirmed that no certificated
British officer was available and willing to take up the post. *
Л
(ii) The ship was employed habitually between ports outside the United Kingdom,
(iii) The foreign national held an appropriate certificate of competency from a
reputable marine authority or in exceptional circumstances had experience appropriate to a particular job, for example coastal trading in the Arabian Gulf where native crews are employed.
(iv) The duration of the exemption was limited and in any case not exceeding one year
at a time.
QUESTION 2. The marine authorities in foreign ports would not interfere in such a matter and it is unlikely that HM Consuls would do so either unless specifically instructed by this department indeed they could be instructed not to object.
In any event they do not have the power to detain ships. An exemption given to a British
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