(Past editions can be viewed on http://www.asiaconference.biz)

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but an engineer is usually the father. (Anon)

• At the bow - Registration is free! New readers.
• Spindrift - Call for papers. Thoresen Maritime Awards. Fighting Fire. ISPS Code.
• Contributions - Professional Conduct
• Scuttlebut - Survey of Marine Surveyor's age profile. Panama behind in surveyor's pay (and rebuttal). Stowaway claims. Prestige claim. More inspectors. Yard threat. Bulker losses reduced. Pirate attacks soar. Rules needed.
• Insurance News - Sars
• Wig & Gown - None this month.
• Education and Training - New Engineering Course. Mediation training.
• Epistles - New intrinsically safe flashlight.
• People - Stephen Kershaw. Seafacs
• Books - Cargo stowage and securing - A guide to good practice
• Useful web sites for marine surveyors.
• Conference reports - None this month.
• Future events - Conferences which may be of interest to marine surveyors.
• From the Poop Deck - Interviewing skills. Decision making. Father's day.

At the Bow

FLASHLIGHT is a free monthly emailed newsletter for Marine Surveyors. It is circulated to anybody who wishes to receive a copy, eg, Marine Surveyors, P&I Clubs, their correspondents, Underwriters, Professional Institutes, Admiralty Lawyers, etc. Please pass it on to any of your contacts who you feel might be interested in receiving it. If you do not wish to be included in the circulation list, please contact the Editor at the email address below. Letters, opinions and articles relating to our profession are welcomed for the newsletter.

New readers this month:

Wan Shukry, MSTS Asia Sdn. Bhd, Melaka, Malaysia
Panyarat Limsuebchuea, Maersk Sealand, Bangkok, Thailand

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Spindrift

2003 Marine Surveying & Loss Prevention Forum

This year’s Marine Surveying & Loss Prevention Forum has been confirmed. Date for our 2 day Forum will be October 23-24th, 2003. Having the Forum on Thursday/Friday will allow all of our overseas visitors to at least spend the weekend to tour around Saigon and southern Vietnam Vung Tau is a well-known seaside resort just an hour out of Saigon, plus there are 2 new resorts (with golf courses) opening this year.

Our venue has been confirmed as the famous recently refurbished Caravelle Hotel, one of the oldest in Vietnam and a landmark in the Vietnam war (which wasn’t a war according to America!).

We have managed to keep our costs low, with a resultant delegate fee for the two days of USD450 and after long negotiations with the Caravelle Hotel, have managed to reduce their room rate to a mere USD108 (plus taxes) per night.

To avoid confusion, we would prefer to have delegates do their own bookings but if you do have any problems, please feel free to contact us and we will do our best to help.

For direct bookings please contact Ms Ngan Le Tuyet, Reservation Manager of the Caravelle Hotel at:
Telephone : +848 823 4999 (ext 27004, 27006,27041)
Email : rsvn@caravellehotel.vnn.vn

We are in the process of finalising speakers and will update our website regularly (www.asiaconference.biz). For further enquiries and/or bookings, please contact
Astor Tsang / Noel Wong
marine@asiaconference.biz
tel: +852 2840 0224
and we will be happy to send you a registration form to complete and return.

Hope to see all of you in HoChiMinh next October.

Ferdi Stolzenberg, Asia Conferences Ltd.

The 2003 Marine Surveying and Loss Prevention Forum, will be held in late October this year in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Interested parties should submit an abstract or summary of the proposed paper to Mr Mike Wall, email: mikewall@so-net.com.hk. A technical panel will be reviewing submissions.

Your editor was pleased to attend the 'Thoresen Maritime Awards Dinner" held at the Regent Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand on the evening of Friday 20 June 2003, at which awards were made to the company's sea and shore staff in categories such as:

Mr Safety
Safest ship
PSC Zero Deficiency (best ship)
Best cargo care (best ship)
Charterer's recommendation (the ship which fulfilled the charter in the
most satisfactory manner) Training - best score
Training - most improved
P&I Commnendation (sponsored and presented by the West of England P&I Club)
Best Superintendent
Best docking (on time, within budget, etc)
Most creative purchasing

If the ship was a winner, the Master, Chief Officer and Chief Engineer received the award. It was nice to see that in the event that an officer could not attend the dinner, his wife received the award on his behalf.

Thoresen currently own and operate around 30 vessels including general cargo shiips and bulk carriers with their fleet increasing daily, which should be a message for other Owners. They are clearly deeply committed to providing a quality shipping service in a safe and professional manner. They are also clearly committed to ensuring that their personnel are adequately supported and provided with all the necessary resources to provide such a service. Carrying out a condition survey on their ships is a pleasure not a labour. Their crews, whilst quite young in comparison to other fleets, are keen to learn and happy to cooperate.

Many other Asian Owners could learn a lot from this exercise. Ahhhh, if only .......

Fighting Fire

There has been growing concern with respect to the requirements for examining and pressure testing fire extinguishers on board SOLAS vessels. SOLAS II-2 leaves the requirement open to interpretation by the Flag State, but the associated IMO MSC/Circ.847 provides more specific guidelines.

Extinguishers should be examined annually be a competent person (from a shoreside company) and must be properly marked as examined according to the requirements. Permanently pressurised fire extinguishers and propellant bottles of non pressurised fire extinguishers must also be hydraulically pressure tested every 10 years. If the manufacturer has its own specified requirements that are in excess of the above, these must be adhered to.

ISPS Code

The ISPS Code is due to be implemented on 1 July 2004. For an excellent brief as to its contents and implications, Dr. James Cowley, formerly Vanuatu's permanent IMO representative has written a new maritime Bulletin on Maritime Security. To obtain a copy go to: http://www.vanuatuships.com/

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Contributions

Professional Conduct

A recent incident, caused me to ask questions relating to professional behaviour and codes of conduct. The incident involved foul, insulting language by one surveyor to another in the presence of clients during an initial meeting to discuss hull damage. As a consequence, I felt it was necessary to check out the existing guidelines relating to professional behaviour, so I read the AIMS, SCMS, IIMS, NAMS and SAMS handbooks to see what they had to say.

Firstly, it is my belief that professional conduct relates to two relationships, ie, firstly, with our client and secondly, other surveyors or personnel involved in the matter at hand.

SCMS refers to Professional Conduct, IIMS to a Code of Conduct, NAMS to a Code of Ethics, AIMS to 'Ethics and Institute Policy', whilst SAMS refers to a Code of Ethics and Rules of Practice. Some are longer and more complex than others but the main theme is how to behave when dealing with your clients and other surveyors.

Some of the Codes detail the professional standards which a member must fulfil with respect to technical training, knowledge and experience. Most include reference to 'the fundamental responsibility of the member surveyor to provide impartial professional judgement', together with providing the highest calibre of professionalism in all dealings with clients, associates, and fellow members.

The SCMS Byelaws have only seven subheadings paragraphs relating to professional conduct which mainly deal with the relationship between the client and the surveyor.

The IIMS Code of Conduct has two clear sections on Client Relations and Professional Relations, the latter detailing a surveyor's responsibilities towards other surveyors:

"A Member will:

cooperate with colleagues to achieve a complete and objective survey

not allow agreements reached by a surveyor in charge of a case to be modified by the direction of any organisation to which he belongs

not criticise a fellow surveyor or colleague to third parties

ensure strict confidentiality over information received from third parties whom are not involved with the case in hand

not carry out free surveys but negotiate fees which seek to achieve full cost recovery

discuss with other attending surveyors any contradictory statements or differences of opinion before issuing a final report."

The fundamental principles of NAMS are also good tenets to set one's standards by, ie:

"Surveyors shall uphold and advance the integrity, honour, and dignity of the marine surveying profession by:

1 . Endeavouring to compliment and expand the competence and prestige ofthe surveying profession;

2. Being truthful and objective in serving faithfully their clients,associates, and fellow Surveyors;

3. Carefully avoiding any practice which is contrary to law or would bring discredit to the member, the Association, or the marine surveying profession. and;

4. Using their knowledge and skill for the enhancement of the marine industry and the marine surveying profession.'

SAMS have a separate section in their Code of Ethics and Rules of Practice stating that surveyors will 'Strive to enhance the Profession of Marine Surveying' in that:

"The surveyor will:

A) Be professional, prompt and diligent and demonstrate respect for the survey profession. (Professionalism requires knowledge, skill, thoughtfulness, and preparation reasonably necessary for the assignment.)

B) Enjoy a favourable reputation within the local business community."

Whilst some of the above are called 'rules' they are clearly guidelines for marine surveyors and rarely need to be enforced. The other problem we have is when the offending surveyor is from a different professional institute than that of the offended surveyor. Which one should take action on behalf of the offended surveyor? What do we do about an offending surveyor who is not a member of any professional institute? (Sensible answers on a postcard please!)

Returning to the incident mentioned above, this was clearly a contravention of any of our professional institution's codes of conduct in that it involved unprofessional conduct towards another surveyor in front of clients, and was to the detriment of our profession. But how do we deal with such a situation? There are disciplinary procedures in place in all of the institutes but these are seldom used. It is sad to note that there appears to be no mediation mechanism in place in any of our professional institutes.

The key question here is whether the offending surveyor caused any detrimental consequences to the offended surveyor. The answer here is no as the offended surveyor maintained a calm and professional stance during the incident. The offending surveyor did more harm to himself and his company and therefore justice would already appear to have been served.

Mike Wall

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Scuttlebut

Anne Rutherford's contribution on 'Where are the Marine Surveyors of the future to come from?' raised a lot of interest from our readers. Of course, Australia has its own systems and ways of doing things, but the main thrust is the same the world over, ie, it would appear that the age profile for marine surveyors is getting older with fewer new surveyors coming in to replace the older members when they retire (if they ever do, 'cause they usually die in their boots!).

Whilst the problems would appear to be the same the world over, we really need to carry out research to confirm our suspicions. As we have continuously pointed out, we operate in a fragmented industry with little or no international or national representation on relevant bodies. Armed with the relevant information, our professional institutions should be able to make the case for special consideration on training allowances, etc, with IMO and Governmental organisations.

It is our intention to compile a questionnaire to be circulated to our readers which we hope will collect the necessary information which can by analysed and circulated to those who represent us.

Please let us know your views on the matter.

Mike Wall

Panama behind in surveyor pay

SURVEYORS contracted by the government maritime agency administering Panama's flag registry are not conducting thorough annual flag-state inspections and have not been paid for six months, some of those working within the international network have alleged. The Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) is pocketing more money but there is a "dangerous drop" in inspection quality, which has worrying implications for the AMP and the IMO, which regulates it, say the surveyors. Sources familiar with the issue confirmed the back payment problems, but were unable to comment about the quality of vessel safety inspections. The AMP collects about $1,000 from each ship registered as part of an annual inspection fee, from which surveyors receive $300. AMP figures show that more than $21.2M has been collected since 1999 from inspection fees. Panama flag state inspectors first raised technical and safety concerns in 2000 and 2001 after surveyors' payments fell more than 18 months behind. The AMP said as recently as early 2002 that all surveyor payments were up to date, following an audit to confirm outstanding money owed. The flag state network of surveyors stood at 143 in 2001, after the AMP sacked as many as 200 surveyors.

Panama denies surveyor pay delay

THE Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) has strongly denied there is any lag in payment to any of its contracted surveyors who carry out its annual flag-state inspections. "The authority changed its payment system two years ago and implemented new procedures for paying surveyors. This new Administration, under my authority, strictly applies the same rules to everyone," says deputy administrator Capt Luis Perez-Salamero. He was responding to claims made by surveyors across several continents that the AMP is about six months behind paying some of its international network of around 150 surveyors. In 2000, the AMP had fallen almost 18 months behind in payments but had worked to resolve the issue. The surveyors who claim they have not been paid are most likely those who have not completed the necessary documentation, Perez-Salamero says. The surveyors' identities are known to Fairplay but they declined to be named publicly, fearing reprisals from the authority. They denied AMP suggestions they had not filled out all the paperwork, either on line or follow up documentation, in time.

(Courtesy of Fairplay Daily News Service)

Ed: We have previously covered the issue of debt collection in our pages. Again it would appear that the only way of getting the larger debtors (both in quantum and company size!) to pay their debts is to shame them in the press. (See FLASHLIGHT 10 and 11)

Stowaway claims

Five crew members for the Panamanaian flagged bulk carrier 'Well Pescadores' are being questioned over allegations that theye assautled five stowaways from the Dominican Republic and threw them overboard. The accusationis emerged after threee of the stowaways werre rescued by anotehr ship off the coast of Texas.

(Ed: I recalll a similar stiation during my last trip to sea some years ago, when we found two Fijian stowaways, with long dreadlocks, on our ship which was being delivered to new owners in Singapore. The stowaways were clearly a threat to the handover, as Singapore does not allow stowaways ashore under any circumstances. The stoways knew they were on to a winner and that they would be repatriated and had big grins every time we fed them. However, having read the pilot book for Singapore we found a quick way of getting our revenge without resorting to violence. As a necessity, we shaved their heads, killing more than two birds with one stone!)

Prestige claim

ABS is to vigourously defend a US$700 millioni damages claim being brought by the Spanish Government, alleging that the Society's 'negligent and reckless' conduct resulted in the Prestige tanker disaster and the consequential oil spill. Filed in New York, the claim seeks compensation for damage to the einvironment and loss of incomce from tourism. Some may recall that ABS claimed that their surveyor was prevented from inspecting the starboard ballast tanks which eventually failed.

More inspectors

France has announmced progress in its work to boost its port state control, with the number of inspectors increased from 70 to 120 over the past three years. Transport minister Dominique Bussereau said that 37% of foreign ships visiting French ports in February were inspected and 28 ships considered to pose a risk to safety had been ordered to leave the exclusive maritime zone in the first two months of the year.

Yard threat

A new report has warned that European shipyards are rapidly running out of work as a result of a slowdown in global orders and increasing unfair competition from South Korean yards. The EU's seventh annual report on shipbuilding said the market share of EU yards has slumped from 19% in 2000 to 7% last year and warned of 'critical' difficulties caused by Liberia's unfair pricing.

Bulker losses reduced

Intercargo reports that measures to improve the safety of bulk carriers are paying off with marked falls in the number of lives and tonnage lost. Four seafarers and five ships over 10,000 DWT were lost during 2002, bringing the 10 year total to 108 bulker losses and 592 fatalities.

Intercargo report that none of the five losses were attributable to either structural failure, capsize or loading/unloading activity. Two losses resulted from contact grounding, two from flooding and one from a machinery fire.

Pirate attacks soar

New figures have revealed a massive increase in the rate of armed attacks and pirate raids on merchant ships during the first quarter of this year. An IMB report shows a tripling in the number of incidents over the past decade with a total of 103 attacks in the first three months of 2003, an 18% increase on the 87 recorded in the same period of last year. The number of attacks in the first three months of this year has already equalled the total number of recorded pirate attacks for the whole of 1993, Indonesia having the worst record, particularly around the Gelasa Straits and Anambas Islands.

See www.icc-ccs.org

Rules needed

Environment ministers from the world's eight most powerful nations have called for tougher action to be taken against substandard shipping. Following a summit in Paris, members of the G8 said the Prestige tanker disaster had 'again demonstrated that the existing rules on tanker safety and pollution prevention need to be further improved' and urged IMO to take a lead.

(Above courtesy of the NUMAST Telegraph)

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Insurance News

Sars

During the Sars crisis the Strike Club warned that it could pose a significant threat to global trading patters and could cause serious disruption to shipping operations if it continues to persist. We are pleased to report that Hong Kong and Beijing have been declared free of Sars by WHO and that business is rapidly returning to normal.

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Wig & Gown

None this month.

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Education and Training

New Engineering Course

A new marine engineering degree course has been launched by the University of Greenwich and the National Sea Training centre at North Kent College. Designed to prepare students for a professional career in marine engineering both at sea and ashore the course has been developed as a joint project between the two institutions.

Organised around the core of the BSc in Mechanical Engineering already run by the university, the four-year course covers marine, mechanical, electrical and electronic engineering subjects as well as options including vessel and fleet technical management.

The third ‘sandwich’ year will be used to gain workshop skills required for the Engineering Officer’s Certificate of competency and will also be used to complete work experience, such as sea time for students sponsored by shipping companies.

Much of the course will be taught at the university’s Medway site next to the former Chatham Dockyard. STCW 95 safety courses, such as survival and fire-fighting, will be completed at the NSTC in Gravesend and the workshop skills will be undertaken at North West Kent’s workshops.

Students wishing to pursue a seagoing career will complete the NVQ level 3 to gain OOW certificate at the end of the degree.

(NUMAST Telegraph April 2003)

Mediation Training

THE London Shipping Law Centre has confirmed that its specialist shipping and commercial mediation training and awareness course, which is being run in association with Regent's College, is to be held this year on September 19, 20, 26 and 27.

The course tutors will teach the skills necessary to practise as a mediator, helping participants to understand why conflicts arise, how to be an effective listener, how to use effective language and empathy in order to facilitate dispute resolution, and how to help parties re-evaluate their position in a dispute and generate options for a solution.

The course is based on fundamental principles of human behaviour, which it combines with commercial reality to provide tailor-made scenarios from shipping and commercial disputes to enable participants to practise their skills and have them assessed by experts. It is taught by shipping and commercial sector experts working with experts in human behaviour, all of whom are qualified mediators.

Contact: shipping@ucl.ac.uk or www.london-shipping-law.com

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Epistles

Further to our last contribution on flashlights, we have heard from Bruce Cibley in San Francisco about a flashlight which uses 14 LEDs instead of a bulb with a Frezel lens and a white light bean, running on 3 x C cells for a minimum of 50 hours. Since there is no bulb there is no spark hazard. For more information see:
http://www.ccrane.com/light_index.asp

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People

Normally located in the UK, Stephen Kershaw - a biologist and chemist with considerable experience of marine cargo, is also operating periodically from Thailand. Further details on the services offered and contact details are available at www.anglo-thai-technical.co.uk in both English and Thai.

When you are next travelling overseas on a job, why not contact Seafacs and let your clients know where you are to increase your chances of obtaining more work and cutting the clients expenses.

SIR Seafacs Information & Research PO Box 317, Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL8 6DP telephone: 01707 334192
fax: 01707 324615
email: seafacs@sir.co.uk
web: www.sir.co.uk

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Books

Cargo stowage and securing - A guide to good practice. Charles Bliault.
Published by the North of England P&I Association as part of their Loss Prevention Guides. Cost GBP30.

A small but handy book to complement the marine surveyor's library. Excellent advice with some good graphics. Good value.

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Web Sites

If your (marine surveying) company has a web site, let us know and we will try to mention it. Below are some web pages we believe might be useful to marine surveyors.

www.imo.org
International Maritime Organisation web page. Keep up to date with new conventions.

www.lrfairplay.com
Scroll down the home page until you see the heading 'Free Access' appear on the left hand side. Clicking on the words 'shipping sites' takes you to a search function. You can then search either by company name or by category (there is a 'consultants and surveyors' category, for example) or by country. Or by a combination - so you could search for consultants/surveyors in Australia beginning with the letter 'D', for example.

That pulls up a list; if you then click on the word 'free' in the right hand column you are linked through to the relevant website.

If your readers know of any companies with sites that we do not list (or that we have an out-of-date address for) we would like to have details to update the database.

• The Association of Certified Marine Surveyors
• Database containing safety-related information on the worlds merchant fleet from both public and private sources. Gives ship's particulars, Class Soc, P&I Club and PSC inspection record.
• The Federation of European Maritime Associations of Surveyors and Consultants
• International Institute of Marine Surveyors
• General access to the directory of the world network of Lloyd's Agents.
• Merchant Navy records on UK MN vessels and information merchant seamen, logs, agreements and crew lists, MN apprentices and deaths at sea
• Marine Support On Line
• Society of Accredited Marine Surveyors
• National Association of Marine Surveyors
• Safety at Sea International
• Society of Consulting Marine Engineers and Ship Surveyors
• Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers
  

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Conference Reports

None this month.

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Future Events

Some maritime conference web sites for you to keep up to date:

http://www.cconnection.org/
http://www.reedexpo.com/
http://www.grc.uri.edu/
http://www.wholelife.com/
http://www.ship-technology.com/exhibitions/
http://www.apmaritime.com/
http://www.lloydslistevents.com/
http://www.marineexpo.com/
http://www.seaworkexhibition.com
http://www.toc-events.com/

27-29 August 2003, Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore
INTERNATIONAL CHEMICAL AND OIL POLLUTION CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2003 (ICOPCE)
Organised by Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and Managed by IBC Asia ...
www.ibc-asia.com/ICOPCE.htm

4-8 August 2003. Marine Insurance: Law, Practice & The Markets - 3rd Annual Summer School. Homerton College, Cambridge, UK. See
www.lloydslistevents.com/lm1489

15-17 September 2003. International P&I - Analysing key subjects and hightlighting market developments. De Vere Cavendish Hotel, London. See
www.lloydslistevents.com/lm1498

18/19 September 18, 2003 Hull & Machinery Marine Insurance workshop. London.
Contact: http://www.lloydslistevents.com/

28-30 September 2003, NAMS 35th Annual National Conference West. The Westin Bayshore Inn, Vancouver, Canada.
Contact Conference Chairman Mr Roger Robinson
email rrobinson@mclarenstoplis.ca

29/30 September 2003. Port State Control Understanding current developments in Port State Control, including the impact of implementation of the ISPS Code in 2004, UK.Contact: http://www.lloydslistevents.com/

15-18 October 2003, The Society of Accredited Marine Surveyors (SAMS ) will hold their Annual Meeting & Educational Symposia, at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel, Norfolk VA. Call 1 800 344-9077 for registration or a copy of their membership roster.or contact Jim Wood at email: Marsurvey@aol.com

20 & 21 November 2003, 'ISM Yesterday ... ISM & ISPS Today' organised by the Events Department, IMarEST and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, UK. City Conference Centre, 80 Coleman Street, London, UK.Contact:
Yyda Moot at eyda.moot@imarest.org
or see www.imarest.org.

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From the Poop Deck

I joined the Navy to see the World. Now, how do I get out of it (the Navy that is!)

Interviewing skills

JOB interviews are never easy. Recent research shows that one-third of applicants make basic interview blunders. Like the shipping lawyer who was interviewing a nervous young candidate for a position and who, in an attempt to find out something about the candidate's personality, asked, "If you could have a conversation with someone, living or dead, who would it be?" The candidate responded, quick as a flash, "The living one."

DID you hear about the illiterate prostitute who applied for a job in a
warehouse?

(Courtesy of Changing Course, Spinnaker Consulting:
email: newsletter@shippingjobs.com. www.shippingjobs.com)

The story given below gives us an insight into DECISION MAKING.

Which one will you choose?

A group of children are playing near two railway tracks, one still in use while the other is disused. Only one child plays on the disused track, the rest on the operational track. A train is coming, and you are just beside the track interchange (points) lever. You could make the train change its course to the disused track and save most of the kids.

However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the disused track would be sacrificed.
Or would you rather let the train go its way?

Let's take a pause to think what kind of decision you could make .....................................

Most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrifice only one child.

You might think the same way, I guess.

Exactly, I thought the same way initially because to save most of the children at the expense of only one child was rational decision most people would make, morally and emotionally.

But, have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the disused track had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place?

Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who chose to play where the danger was.

This kind of dilemma happens around us everyday. In the office, community,in politics and especially in a democratic society, the minority is often sacrificed for the interest of the majority, no matter how foolish or ignorant the majority are, and how farsighted and knowledgeable the minority are.

The child who chose not to play with the rest on the operational track was sidelined. And in the case he was sacrificed, no one would shed a tear for him.

The friend who forwarded me the story said he would not try to change the course of the train because he believed that the kids playing on the operational track should have known very well that track was still in use, and that they should have run away if they heard the train's sirens.

If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die because he never thought the train could come over to that track!

Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe.

If the train was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengers on board at stake! And in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few kids.

While we are all aware that life is full of tough decisions that need to be made, we may not realize that hasty decisions may not always be the right one.

"Remember that what's right isn't always popular.....and what's popular isn't always right."

With Father's Day in Asia having been celebrated this month ........

Happy Father's Day!

Whether a man winds up with the nest egg or a goose egg depends a lot on the kind of chick he marries.

Trouble in marriage often starts when a man gets so busy earnin' his salt that he forgets his sugar.

Too many couples marry for better or for worse, but not for good.

When a man marries a woman, they become one, but the trouble starts when they try to decide which one.

If a man has enough "horse sense" to treat his wife like a thoroughbred, she will never be an old nag.

Judgin' from the specimens they pick for husbands, it's no wonder that brides often blush.

On anniversaries the wise husband always forgets the past...but never the present.

A foolish husband remarks to his wife: "Honey, you stick to the washin', ironin', cookin', and scrubbin'. No wife of mine is gonna work."

The bonds of matrimony are a good investment only when the interest is kept up.

Many girls like to marry a military man. He can cook, sew, make bed, and is in good health...and he's already used to taking orders.

Grandpappy and his wife were discussin' their 50th wedding anniversary when she said, "Shall I kill a chicken tonight?" "Naw," said Grandpappy, "Why blame a bird for something' that happened fifty years ago?"

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Disclaimer: Articles and reports reflect the views of the individuals who prepared them, and, unless indicated expressly in the text, do not necessarily represent the views of the editor. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this publication is accurate, the editor makes no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness or correctness of such information. The editor accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any loss, damage or other liability arising from any use of this publication or the information which it contains. The contents of the publication are the responsibility of the editor alone.

News, views, enquiries, suggestions, articles and letters for inclusion in
future editions of FLASHLIGHT may be sent to:

Mike Wall
Tel:  +852 2259 3150
Fax: +852 2259 3151
Email: mikewall@so-net.com.hk