(1)During the period beginning with the passing of this Act and ending immediately before the day appointed under section 26(1) above for the abolition of the Pilotage Commission—
(a)the Commission shall give the Secretary of State such advice as he may request from it in connection with the reorganisation of pilotage services under this Act;
(b)the Secretary of State may, if he considers it is appropriate to do so, exercise his power under paragraph 4 of Schedule 1 to the Pilotage Act 1983 (power to declare the office of any person who is a member of the Commission to be vacant) whether or not he is satisfied as mentioned in that paragraph;
and no person shall be entitled to any compensation for loss of an office declared vacant by virtue of paragraph (b) above.
(2)During the period mentioned in subsection (1) above, subsection (1) of section 2 of the [1983 c. 21.] Pilotage Act 1983 (Commission to consist of not less than 10 and not more than 15 persons appointed from among certain categories of persons) shall have effect with the substitution for " 10 " of " 5 "; and on and after the appointed day that section shall have effect with the following modifications—
(a)in subsection (1) for the words from "from among the following" onwards there shall be substituted the words " and the Secretary of State shall appoint one member to be the Chairman of the Commission "; and
(b)for subsection (2) there shall be substituted—
“(2)It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State before appointing any person as a member or as Chairman of the Commission to consult on the appointment such persons as he considers are representative of the persons in the United Kingdom principally interested in the activities of the Commission.”.