A186
Ord. No. 53/78
MERCHANT SHIPPING (AMENDMENT)
HONG KONG
L.S.
No. 53 OF 1978
I assent.
Short title and commencement.
Addition of new sections 5A and 5B. (Cap. 281.)
MURRAY MAcLehose,
Governor.
5th July, 1978.
An Ordinance to amend the Merchant Shipping Ordinance.
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Enacted by the Governor of Hong Kong, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof.
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Amend- ment) Ordinance 1978 and shall come into operation on a day to be appointed by the Governor by Proclamation in the Gazette.
2. The principal Ordinance is amended by adding, after section 5, the following-
"Rating as A.B.
[cf. 1948, c. 44 s. 5(1), (5) & (6).]
Certificates
as A.B.
granted in
other parts of Commonwealth. [cf. 1948, c. 44 s. 5(4).)
5A. (1) A seaman engaged to be entered in any British ship registered in Hong Kong shall not be rated as A.B. (that is to say, an able bodied seaman) unless he is the holder of a certificate of competency.
(2) The Superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office or other officer authorized by him before whom a seaman is engaged to be entered in any British ship re- gistered in Hong Kong shall refuse to enter the seaman as A.B. on the agreement with the crew unless the seaman produces a certificate of competency or such other proof that he is the holder of such a certificate as may appear to the Superintendent or other officer authorized by him to be satisfactory.
(3) In this section "certificate of competency" means a certificate of competency as A.B.-
(a) granted in accordance with rules made under
section 6; or
(b) having, by virtue of an order under section 5B,
the same effect as if so granted.
(4) Section 126 of the principal Act and section 58 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1906 shall cease to have effect in relation to any seaman for the time being engaged in a British ship registered in Hong Kong.
5B. Where provision is made by the law of any part of the Commonwealth, other than Hong Kong, for the grant of certificates of competency as A.B., and the Director reports to the Governor that he is satisfied that the conditions under which such a certificate is granted require standards of competency not lower than those required for the grant of a certificate of competency as A.B. under rules made under section 6, the Governor may