MERCHANT SHIPS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 314, 11 July 1930, Page 7

MERCHANT SHIPS

LOADLINE MAXIMUM CONVENTION SIGNED [British Official Wireless]. RUGBY, July 8. A convention giving the maximum load, ng for all merchant ships belonging to 27 nations engaged in international trade has been signed at the International Loadliue Conference which has just ended in London. The convention was signed on behalf of the following Governments: Australia, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece-, Iceland, India, Irish Free State, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the Union of South Africa., the Soviet Republics and the United States. Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Henry Oliver, who presided, described the convention, in his concluding speech, as “a great means of placing the international oversea carrying trade of the world on a basis of safety such as never hitherto has been attained.” The convention provided for increases of free-boards in winter months, particularly in the smaller classes of ships; defines with increased precision methods to secure closing of openings in the weather decks and the sides of ships and for the protection of the crew, and revises the seasonal areas that regulate the loading limits of all ships.