MARITIME AND MIGRATION PROBLEMS 85
are Latin-American countries. Again, as in the case of
the convention for establishing facilities for finding employ-
ment for seamen, Austria, Czechoslovakia, India, Siam and
Switzerland have stated that they will not ratify because
+hey are not maritime countries.
As regards application of the Convention provisions, it
may be noted that all of the countries which have ratified
have legislation on the subject which was either already
enacted at the time of the adoption of the Convention or
has been passed subsequently.
In some instances this action merely entailed amendments
to existing laws. Measures to apply the Convention are
stated to be in progress or in preparation in a few countries.
Minimum AGE FOR ApmissioN oF CHILDREN To EMpLOY-
MENT AT SEA
The Draft Convention Fixing the Minimum Age for Ad-
mission of Children to Employment at Sea, adopted at Genoa
in 1920, stipulates that children under the age of fourteen are
not to be employed or to work on vessels except when mem-
bers of the same family only are employed. This provision
does not apply to school or training ships approved and super-
vised by public authority. For the purpose of enforcement
of this Convention, it is provided that every shipmaster shall
keep a register of all persons under the age of sixteen years
employed on board his vessels, and of the dates of their
births. As used in this Convention, the term vessel in-
cludes all boats and ships engaged in maritime navigation,
but excludes ships of war.?
Action Taken by Member Nations®
Twenty nations have registered their ratification of this
Convention with the League of Nations. While of the im-
portant industrial nations only Great Britain, Belgium,
Netherlands and Sweden are in this group, the fact must not
be overlooked that such industrial countries as Austria,
! For Luxemburg no information was recorded.
! International Labor Conference, Second Session, 1920, pp. 576-578.
' For references to specific countries see footnotes to Table 16, Appendix I.
