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3.
with the Director of Education and the industry on the problem.
13. Certain foreign certificates of competency are of equal or possibly higher standard to ours and provided the holder had adequate command of the English language and knowledge of his responsibilities under Hong Kong regulations, there could be no valid objection to debarring such officers on the grounds of ship safety. The exception would be the master of the vessel but in his case the consideration is not his competency to command but rather the need to subject him to British control.
14. Foreign certificates for service in Hong Kong registered · ships could not be granted general acceptance for the following
reasons:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
Certificates of Competency issued by some countries are of dubious value and handed out without examination, e.g. Liberia, Panama, Somalia.
Certain national certificates may not be acceptable for political reasons, including those issued in Russia, China, Taiwan.
No action could be taken against a foreign certificate of competency even if the holder committed the most gross act of negligence or incompetency resulting in the loss of the ship and crew.
15. Although it is possible and may even be advisable to enact a local Ordinance creating an independent Hong Kong Registry we would still be bound by the U.K. commitments to international agreements. A beneficial effect would be to allow us to exercise some measure of autonomy on points of detail.
16.
Mr. Pao asks that the surveillance during construction should be left to Surveyors of a classification society. I have the choice of utilising either Government or society surveyors for work in or out of Hong Kong. He seems to miss the point that any surveyor would be responsible to the Director of Marine Hong Kong, who would be the authority for enforcing the standards of safety and habitability as laid down by local enactment. It is therefore immaterial who physically surveys the vessel. The individual would always require a special or general appointment by the Hong Kong Government. I have added an annex to this memorandum describing the role of classification societies.
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para. 17
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