878
A.D. 1891.
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 10TH OCTOBER, 1891.
Conveyance of letters by crew or passengers of mail ships forbidden.
(2.) The Order shall recite or embody the terms of the Convention, and may be varied or revoked by Order in Council, but shall not continue in force for any longer period than the Convention.
(3.) Every Order in Council under this Act shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament forthwith after it is made, or, if Parliament be not then sitting, after the then next meeting of Parliament, and shall also be notified in the London Gazette and published under the authority of Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
2.-(1.) Where this section applies to a Convention with a Foreign State, the master of a British mail ship to which this section applies when carrying mails to or from any port of the Foreign State, and the master of a mail ship of the Foreign State to which this section applies when carrying mails to or from any port of the United Kingdom, shall not, nor shall any person on board the ship,
whether a
a passenger or belonging to the ship or any other person, convey in the ship for delivery to another person in the Foreign State or United Kingdom, as the case may be, any letter, other than the letters contained in mail bags entrusted to the master by a postal officer of the United Kingdom or of any Foreign State, or than the despatches sent by the Govern- ment either of the United Kingdom or of any Foreign State.
(2.) If a person on board such ship acts in contravention of this section, or refuses or fails on demand to give up to a postal officer, or, if such person is not the master, to the master, any letter so conveyed by him, he shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding five pounds.
(3.) It shall be the duty of the master of the ship to secure the observance of this section by all persons on board the ship, and to inform the proper authorities at the port at which the ship arrives of any breach of this section by any of those persons, and if he wilfully fails to perform that duty he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds.
(4.) Provided that a person shall not be liable under this section to a fine for any offence for which he has been punished by the law of the Foreign State.
(5.) Nothing in this section shall apply to any letters which if sent from the United Kingdom would be exempted from the exclusive privilege of the Postmaster- 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. General under the Act of the session of the seventh year of King William the Fourth and the first of Her present Majesty, chapter thirty-three, intituled "An Act for the management of the Post Office."
c. 33.
Regulation as to giving of security for ships engaged in postal service.
3.-(1.) Where the owner of any ships, British or foreign, applies to the High Court in England, and
(a) produces a certificate of a Secretary of State that such owner is subsidised for the execution of any postal service within the meaning of a Con- vention with a Foreign State to which this Act applies, by reason of receiving from the Foreign State, or from the Government of the United Kingdom or of a British possession, a bona fide subsidy for the postal service mentioned in the certificate, and
(b) produces sufficient evidence of the nature of the said service and the num- ber of and the prescribed particulars respecting the ships engaged therein, and
(c) gives notice of the application to the Board of Trade,
the High Court, after hearing the owner, and the Board of Trade if they wish to be heard, shall fix the nature and amount of the security which the owner ought to place under the control of the court for the purposes of this Act as respects the ships engaged in that postal service, and fix the maximum number and tonnage of the ships to which the security is to apply.
(2.) The security shall be the bond of the owner guaranteed either-
(a.) by the personal security of a surety, accompanied by an adequate real
security given by the surety; or,
(b.) by the payment or transfer into court of cash, or of securities of the
Government of the United Kingdom..
(3.) If the owner gives such security to the satisfaction of the High Court, then so long as the security is maintained and is sufficient to the satisfaction of the Court, and the number and tonnage of the ships for the time being actually engaged in carrying mails for the postal service in respect of which the security is given does not exceed the number and tonnage of the ships to which the security applies, the ships actually engaged in carrying mails for the said service shall be deemed to be exempted mail