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Superintendent exercises his powers under section 18.
12.
Clause 14 amends section 18 so as to increase from
6 to 24 months the period for which the Superintendent may
suspend a seaman's registration for desertion or refusal or
neglect to join ship or proceed to sea. The period of
suspension in other cases under section 18 is also increased
from six to twelve months. Section 18 is further amended by
the deletion of subsection (2) which has been found to be
impractical to apply. A new subsection (2) enables the
Superintendent in any case where he thinks fit to issue the
seaman with a written caution to be of good behaviour in the
future.
13.
In
Section 22 is designed to avoid delays in
commencing hearings of appeals and cases referred.
practice, without any fault on the part of the Authority, the
Board is sometimes not able to commence the hearing within
the time limit fixed by subsection (1) or (2), because the
seaman has not been served with the required notice of hearing.
Attempts at personal service may fail because the seaman
is abroad, has changed his address or is evading service.
As a result of clause 16, service by registered post will
suffice for the purposes of section 23 in the case of appeals
under section 20 but this may fail for the same reasons as
personal service and also people in Hong Kong are reluctant
to accept registered mail. Clause 15 amends section 22 so
as to provide for extending the time for commencing a hearing
where reasonable attempts to serve the seaman with the
notice of hearing required under sections 20(3) and 21 have
failed.