TNAG-0358-FCO40-394-Registration-of-merchant-shipping-in-Hong-Kong-1972 — Page 4

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Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1

JCA Hammond Esq

Clerk of Councils

c/o Colonial Secretariat

HONG KONG

Telephone 01-

File

PA

Your reference

Our reference HKK 21/2

Date 29 December 1972

Would you please refer to Executive Council decision of 5 December concerning memorandum XCR (72) 24. The Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Bill 1972.

1.

2.

No objections are foreseen to the proposed Amendment provided that your Government are satisfied that obligations incurred in respect of the following three International Labour Conventions are not infringed. These are IL Convention No 22 concerning Seaman's Articles of Agreement; IL Convention No 105 concerning Forced Labour and IL Convention No 87 concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize. All these Conventions have of course been a pplied, or in the case of the latter, substantiall applied to liong Kong.

3. Two further points have been made which I should pass on to you. It is pointed out that the term "lawful discharge" will need exact definition in the context of discipline: removal of seamen, this will be necessary to prevent unscrupulous owners from using the new legislation against seamen with a quite legitimate grieve The second point concerns the medical examination (Recruitment of Scamen Pill). The last line of Taragraph 6 of this section talko of a seaman being re-entered on the Register if he is certified an being medically fit. However, although the Clause empowers a Superintendent to order a further medical examination, it does not say that a man is withdrawn from the Register pending the examination. it would seem odd if he were to be "struck off" prior to the resulta of the examination being knows.

4.

I hope this is helpful.

cc (undisclosed)

Miss Swan

K 273 A

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M A Goodfellow

Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Dept

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