THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 31ST OCTOBER, 1891. 959
As the withdrawal of a Certificate would in some cases entail inconvenience, not only upon its possessor but also upon the owners of the ship and cargo, it is scarcely necessary to caution Officers that the exercise of this power should only be resorted to when the evidence is perfectly clear; and if the ship is bound to the United Kingdom, and the report above mentioned has been sent to the Government of the Possession by which the Certificate was originally granted, the Board of Trade should nevertheless be informed of the facts.
Every case of death of a Colonial Certificate-holder which may come to the Officer's knowledge should be reported without delay to the Government of the Possession by which the Certificate was granted.
The attention of Officers and Functionaries in British Possessions abroad engaged in the conduct of Official Inquiries in wreck and discipline cases is directed to the fact that the Certificates to which the Order in Council applies will be liable to cancellation and suspension in precisely the same way as Certificates granted by the Board of Trade under the Merchant Shipping Acts, and by the same Boards, Courts, and Tribunals. The provisions of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," and "The Merchant Shipping Aet Amendment Act, 1862," as to Courts of Inquiry will therefore be applicable to the Colo- nial Certificates in question, with the exception of the provisions specified in the Order in Council.
Attention is further directed to the provision inserted in Regulation 7 attached to the Order in Council, under which the Governor or person administering the Government of the British Possession in which a Certificate has been cancelled or suspended is, in certain circumstances, empowered to return Certificates cancelled or suspended by an official Court of Inquiry, or to shorten the time for which they are suspended, or to issue other Certificates in their place.
It will be noticed that Regulation 9 attached to the Order in Council provides that the cancella- tion or suspension of a Certificate shall involve cancellation or suspension of all the other Certificates (if any) possessed by its owner. With the view of carrying this Regulation strictly into effect, it will be desirable that the Court should endeavour to ascertain and should specify in their decision the particulars of all the Certificates possessed by any person whose conduct is the subject of an investi- gation by them.
In cases of cancellation or suspension of such Colonial Certificates, copies of the report of the Court and of the evidence, together with the respective Certificates, should be sent to the Governments of the British Possessions by whom the several Certificates possessed by the offender were originally granted. A full report upon the case and the Evidence should, at the same time, be sent to the Board of Trade, as required by the Act, and the sentence giving the number of each Certificate dealt with and the Possession in which it was granted, should be mentioned in it.
The holders of Colonial Certificates which are cancelled or suspended should be referred to the Government of the Possession by which the Certificate was originally granted, instead of to this Board, if they desire to appeal from the sentence or to apply for a mitigation of it.
These instructions must be understood as having reference only to the Certificate referred to in the said Order in Council.
HENRY G. CALCRAFT, Secretary.
GEORGE J. SWANSTON,
: Assistant Secretary.
AT THE COURT AT WINDSOR,
The 9th day of May, 1891.
PRESENT,
THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY,
· LORD. PRESIDENT.
LORD STEWARD.
EARL OF COVENTRY.
WHEREAS by the "Merchant Shipping (Colonial) Act, 1869," it is (amongst other things) enacted, that where the Legislature of any British Possession provides for the examination of, and grant of Certificates of Competency to, persons intending to act as Masters, Mates, or Engineers on board British ships, and the Board of Trade reports to Her Majesty that they are satisfied that the examinations are so conducted as to be equally efficient as the examinations for the same purpose in the United Kingdom under the Acts relating to Merchant Shipping, and that the Certificates are granted on such principles as to show the like qualification and competency as those granted under the said Acts, and are liable'