FROM 2 MARSHAM ST LONDON
(WED) 08. 05'92 12:00
/NO, 3u61000615 1.
ips or types of ships from requirements in special circumstances. Where it has been used, the Secretary of State is required to lay before Parliament a report stating the cases in which such powers have been exercised and the grounds upon which this has been done. In the circumstances, we declined to support this option.
8. On the question of amending our own law (specifically 9.73, 1894) we resisted HK's suggestion on the grounds that it would be difficult to secure the necessary legislative time and that, post 1997, any appropriate amendment would be rendered otiose.
9. In practice however, we now have a private member's bill (due for second reading in February 1993) which would give us the opportunity to amend s.73. More than that, we think the amendment could be phrased in such a way as to apply not only to HK but also to the Caymans (who have written into their own law a requirement for Caymans-registered ships to fly a defaced Red Ensign carrying the colony's arms) or to any other Territory who wished to introduce a similar arrangement and secured UK approval. via an Order in Council (see Alan Scutt's letter of 27 February 1992).
10. Thus, although we do not currently consider the IK arrangement to be a problem, the Territory might nonetheless be reassured to know that we are giving consideration to clarifying the position in our forthcoming merchant shipping bill (although I do not think it would be advisable to be any more specific at this stage about precisely how this will be done).
11. I note, too, that Alan Scutt's 27 February letter suggests that FCO should inform Consuls etc. of the UK's current (non- detention) line while this Department would make sure
sure that UK surveyors were similarly informed. I have not been able to find any evidence that we have fulfilled the latter promise but perhaps Captain Winbow (currently on leave), to whom I am copying this letter, will be able to recall something. You may also be able to discover whether your own Department or KD have taken any steps in this direction.
ELIZABETH MURRAY
Domestic Shipping Policy
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