TNAG-0420-FCO40-466-Registration-of-merchant-shipping-in-Hong-Kong-1973 — Page 46

CONFIDENTIAL

5.

It was noted that the insistence on British Masters would be one of the few features of the arrangements which would commend themselves to the UK unions since it could be emphasised that the attraction of tonnage to the register would involve an expansion of job opportunities for British Officers with Master's certificates,

EXAMINATIONS OF OTHER OFFICERS

6

The advance party of seconded surveyors would have to work out in detail the arrangements for the examination of officers with foreign certificates who presented themselves for the award of Hong Kong certificates below Master, Several problems could be foreseen.

7.

There was the problem of assessing the worth of the foreign certificates already held. This would perhaps not present much of a difficulty in the case of certificates issued by certain traditionally maritime countries whose standards were known and respected. It was, however, to be expected that most of the officers presenting themselves would be holders of Taiwanese certificates and these would prove a particular problem since the syllabuses and standards were quite unknown. Mr Fletcher believed that the standard of officers now being turned out by Taiwan was in fact high; seafaring was very popular there and the college could be quite selective in admitting applicants so that the admission standard was probably equivalent to 6 '0' levels and 2 'A' levels in the UK. He undertook to secure the syllabuses and havo them translated so that the UK surveyors could study them.

8. There would inevitably be language difficulties in the exam- ination and assessment of candidates. They would all have to take an oral examination in English and demonstrate a knowledge of the language fully adequate to meet the needs or the job, they were to perform, bearing in mind that orders on the ships in question would be given in English. These oral examinations would not normally be taken with the aid of an interpreter, but if there was a particular communication problem, it should be possible to call on the services of one. It was to be expected that the translation of technical terms would be difficult in many cases. In some cases it would not be possible to award a certificate as a result of the oral examination and a written examination would have to be set which might have to be in Chinese. As a result of the examinations it might be necessary to recommend that an officer take a course in a particular subject or improve his English before a certificate could be given.

It was

9. A further problem related to the matter of failures. highly desirable that candidates in the Far East should not be subjected to a 'loss of face' in the event of not being of a sufficient standard. There might be an initial series of interviews some of which might be conducted by the study team who would give an indication in confidence as to which candidates were unlikely to succeed. It was made clear, however, that once a candidate did present himself for examination he would stand a real risk of failure, although this would be made as presentationally acceptable as possible eg by proposing re-examination after further study.

2

CONFIDENTIAL