CREW'S KNOWLEDGE OF ENGLISH (Hansard, 11 March 1970)

§ Mr. Wingfield Digby
I beg to move Amendment No. 37, in page 23, line 11, after 'of', insert: 'the master'.
The Clause deals with the crew's knowledge of English and their capacity to understand orders, either directly or through a third person. In Committee, we had an interesting discussion on this point. I am glad to see the hon. Member for Oldbury and Halesowen (Mr. Horner) in his place; he produced some interesting examples of what could go wrong in circumstances where crews are taken on in foreign ports when they have little or no knowledge of seafaring and no knowledge of English. This has caused difficulties in the past, even where there is someone among them who can transmit orders effectively in English.
At present, the superintendent or proper officer in the foreign port is charged with ensuring that the ship does not sail if English is not properly understood by part of the crew. Earlier this evening we had a discussion as to how far there were suitable consuls and proper officers in foreign ports. It was generally recognised that in some cases they were not the right people to discharge this heavy responsibility.
The master is in the difficulty that the owners will obviously want to hasten the sailing of the ship and not have it delayed, because that is very expensive for them. It therefore seemed to us that we should write into the Bill a special responsibility for the master on his own 1479 initiative to be able to delay the sailing. He is the person who will be responsible if anything goes wrong as a result of orders not being understood by foreigners.
It would, therefore, strengthen his position with the owners, whose main interest is to get the ship to sail, if we could authorise him in the Statute to delay the sailing of the ship.

§ Mr. Goronwy Roberts
I appreciate that the general purpose of the Amendment is to place an obligation on the master to ensure that the officers and crew should be able to communicate with one another, and to enable him to set in motion the remedies envisaged by this Clause. However, the Amendment would not achieve very much. The Clause is triggered off, as it were, by the action of a superintendent or proper officer, and this is not affected by the Amendment. If a master is dissatisfied with the linguistic capacity of his crew, he can, under the Clause as drafted, approach a superintendent or proper officer.
I undertook in Committee to examine the Clause in the light of our discussions. I have done so. I have discussed it with others. I am reasonably satisfied that the approach in the Clause is the best we can reasonably achieve. I regret, therefore, that I cannot meet the hon. Gentleman in his proposal.

§ Mr. Patrick Jenkin
I hope that the Minister of State will look at this question again. We, too, have made inquiries about it. The Clause is drawn on the supposition that a master has to be prevented from going to sea with a crew which does not speak English. I am reliably informed that, on occasions, the proper officer or superintendent is reluctant to take the necessary steps to detain the ship. The pressure, of course, is on the master from his employers to take the ship out. He is the one who knows that, if his crew does not understand English, difficulties may ensue, but he has not at present the authority to take the decision.
Our intention by the Amendment is to recognise that it may well be the master who is reluctant to take a ship to sea, and to write into the Bill that his opinion 1480 can be given equal weight with that of the superintendent or proper officer. We do not wish to press the matter to a Division, but there is a point of substance here which it would be right to examine again.

§ Mr. Goronwy Roberts
May I add a word, with the leave of the House? I am not unaware of the difficulties which may arise if something is not done. Whether this Amendment does enough is one consideration I have had in mind. I shall continue to think about the problem. If I take no initiative, I hope that it will be understood that I have not been able to find a better approach.