267
MARINE COURTS UNDER SECTION 13 OF ORDINANCE No. 8 OF 1879.
19. The following Court has been held during the year :---
1. On the 9th April, 1891, inquiry as to the stranding and loss of the British steam-ship Nanzing, Official No. 60,462 of Shanghai, on the South side of Ye Chow Island, China Sea, on the morning of the 20th March. The Master's (JOSEPH HOGG) certificate of competency was returned to him.
THE SUNDAY CARGO-WORKING ORDINANCE, 1891.
20. Ordinance No. 6 of 1891 prohibiting the working of cargo in connection with vessels of European construction or design within the waters of the Colony came into force on the 1st August last, and has proved a boon to the classes whose condition it was intended to ameliorate.
21. The total of fees collected for "Sunday Permits" to 31st December last, amounted to $2,150 representing 11 exemptions.
22. A flaw was found in the Ordinance on the 30th October last, when the Police Magistrate ruled in the case of a ship that had coaled on a Sunday without a permit that "coal, water, provi- sions, stores and equipment" were not cargo and, therefore, not within the letter of the Ordinance. Since that date two vessels have availed themselves of this technicality to evade the Ordinance.
SEAMEN.
23. 11,782 seamen were shipped and 12,099 discharged at the Shipping Office and on board ships during the year, this discrepancy is owing to the number of seamen shipped at the various Consulates of which we have no record.
24. 295 distressed seamen were received during the year, of these 69 were sent to the United Kingdom, 10 elsewhere, 3 died, and 199 obtained employment. On the 31st December, 1891, 13 were in the Government Civil Hospital, and 1 in the Lunatic Asylum. $4,367.64 were expended by the Board of Trade in the relief of these men, and $17.25 by the Colony.
MARINE SURVEYOR'S SUB-DEPARTMENT.
25. Return No. XXIII shows the work performed in this branch of the Harbour Department.
LIGHTHOUSES.
26. The amount of dues collected was as follows:-
Class of Vessel.
Rate.
No. Tonnage.
Total Fees Collected.
Ocean Vessels paying full dues,
Perseverance and Wing Un,
Launches,
2 ceuts per ton.
2,895 | 3,403,466 | 85,086.62
352
19
15,916
897.90
River Steamers (Night Boats),.
Do. (Day Boats),...)
ceut per ton.
691 625,526
4,172.17
Free.
758 1,112,992
Total........
4,696 5,158,200 | 89,656.69
27. The three Lighthouse Stations have been maintained as usual during the year.
The principal light-keeper and engineer's services being required at the Gap Rock Lighthouse, for the light now approaching completion there, the second light-keeper was transferred to Cape D'Aguilar Lighthouse, the third to Green Island, and a temporary third light-keeper employed whose salary is debited to the cost of the erection of the Gap Rock Lighthouse.
28. The second lighthouse keeper died on 15th January last; the post has since been satisfactorily filled by the Officer now in charge at D'Aguilar.
29. The third light-keeper on probation on 31st December last, resigned on the 9th January, and his successor resigned on 31st May. The Officer now in charge of Green Island Light has been confirmed in the appointment of third light-keeper.