NEW CONVENTION

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 144, 20 June 1931, Page 13

NEW CONVENTION

The International Convention for tlio Safety of Life at Sea, after considerable preparatory work, was signed by the various powers on 31st May, 1929. The Convention seeks to remedy many matters^ which recently havo received insufficient attention by the creation 'of minimum standards of equipment and by altering maritime practices. A standard of subdivision of ships, bulkheads, information on the stability of passenger-carrying vessels, life-saving apparatus, rafts, and radio installations are fill dealt with in tho various clauses of the Convention. It is only since the Convention of 1914 that tho principle of boats for all. oceau-going passengercarrying vessels has been endorsed, aiid tho 1929 Convention draws attention to the need for boats, to bo ready for launching and also the desirability of them being distributed over the whole length of the ship. The International Conference took one .important step when' it recommended that over and above provision in .lifeboats and rafts of approved design, and in addition to lifebelts for all on board, vessels should carry light buoyant apparatus, capable of being thrown from the deck, to carry 25 per cent, of the passengers and crew. These light rafts have proved of great value. The radio received attention not alone bocause of its importance as a unit, but because of the need for organisation of watch-kcopiug on board ships. Sending calls alone was not sufficient, said the Conference, it must be seen that they could be received by ships in the vicinity.

Clauses governing safety of navigation, which havo received attention in the House of Lords, provide that the word "starboard" or "right" shall be used "only when it'is intended that the wheel, rudder-blade, and head of the ship shall move to the right." The Conference was agreed that it was necessary that the system under which helm orders were given should be international, because ships have to employ pilots of all nationalities and may employ seamen of other nationality than their own. The steering and sailing rules have not been touched, but important alterations have been made in the rules governing- lights and signals, and on and after midnight of 30th June next, the new form of orders to helmsmen must be employed—that is to say orders must be given in the direct sense as sot out above.