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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, AUGUST 6, 1914.
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shall be allowed up till midnight (Greenwich Mean Time), on Friday, the 14th day of August, 1914, for loading or unloading their cargoes and for departing from such port:
Provided that such vessels shall not be allowed to ship any contraband of war, and any contraband of war already shipped on such vessels must be discharged.
4. Enemy merchants ships which cleared from their last port before the declaration of war, and which with no knowledge of the war arrive at a port to which this Order applies after the expiry of the time allowed by Article 3 for loading or unloading cargo and for departing, and are permitted to enter, may be required to depart either immediately, or within such time as may be considered necessary by the Customs Officer of the port for the unloading of such cargo as they may be required or specially permitted to discharge.
Provided that such vessels may, as a condition of being allowed to discharge cargo, be required to proceed to any other specified British port. and shall there be allowed such time for discharge as the Customs Officer of that port may consider to be necessary.
Provided also that, if any cargo on board such vessel is contraband of war or is requisi- tioned under Article 5 of this Order, she may be required before departure to discharge such cargo within such time as the Customs Officer of the port may consider to be necessary; or she may be required to proceed, if necessary under escort, to any other of the ports specified in Article 1 of this Order, and shall there discharge the contraband under the like conditions.
5. His Majesty reserves the right recognised by the said Convention to requisition at any time subject to payment of compensation enemy cargo on board any vessel to which Articles 3 and 4 of this Order apply.
6. The privileges accorded by Articles 3 and 4 are not to extend to cable ships, or to sea-going ships designed to carry oil fuel, or to ships whose tonnage exceeds 5,000 tons gross, or whose speed is 14 knots or over, regarding which the entries in Lloyd's Register shall be conclusive for the purposes of this Article. Such vessels will remain liable on adjudication by the Prize Court to detention during the period of the war, or to requisition, in accordance, in either case, with the Convention aforesaid. The said privileges will also not extend to merchant ships which show by their build that they are intended for conversion into warships, as such vessels are outside the scope of the said Convention, and are liable on adjudication by the Prize Court to condemnation as prize.
7. Enemy merchant ships allowed to depart under Articles 3 and 4 will be provided with a pass indicating the port to which they are to proceed, and the route they are to follow.
8. A merchant ship which, after receipt of such a pass, does not follow the course indicated therein will be liable to capture.
9. If no information reaches one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State by the day and hour aforementioned to the effect that the treatment accorded to British merchant ships and their cargoes which were in the ports of the enemy at the date of the outbreak of hostilities. or which subsequently entered them, is, in his opinion, not less favourable than that accorded to enemy merchant ships by Articles 3 to 8 of this Order, every enemy mer- chant ship which, on the outbreak of hostilities, was in any port to which this Order applies, and also every enemy merchant ship which cleared from its last port before the declaration of war, but which, with no knowledge of the war, enters a port to which this Order applies, shall, together with the cargo on board thereof, be liable to capture, and shall be brought before the Prize Court forthwith for adjudication.
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10. In the event of information reaching one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries State that British merchant ships which cleared from their last port before the declaration of war, but are met with by the enemy at sea after the outbreak of hostilities, are allowed to continue their voyage without interference with either the ship or the cargo, or after capture are released with or without proceedings for adjudication in the Prize Court, or are to be detained during the war or requisitioned in lieu of condemnation as prize, he shall notify the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty accordingly, and shall publish a notification thereof in the London Gazette, and in that event, but not otherwise, enemy merchant ships which cleared from their last port before the declaration of war, and are captured after the outbreak of hostilities and brought before the Prize Courts for adjudication, shall be released or detained or requisitioned in such cases and upon such terms as may be directed in the said notification in the London Gazette.
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