1664
Owner, charterer,
etc., liable in certain cases for
expenses
incurred by the Colony on account of lunatics
becoming a charge on the public.
*
Master to
detain person on
board in
certain cases.
Certificate of refusal of
permission to land.
No action for anything done in execution of Ordinance.
Exceptions.
No. 1 of 1904. IMBECILE PERSONS INTRODUCTION.
Person means any passenger by any vessel, and also any member of the crew of any vessel, and includes all other persons on board and belonging in any capacity to any vessel:
"Vessel" includes any ship or boat, or any other description of vessel used in navigation, British or foreign.
3.—(1) The owner, charterer, agent, consignee, and master of every vessel from which is landed without permission from the Principal Civil Medical Officer or Health Officer any person not ordinarily resident in the Colony who, being at the time of landing, lunatic, idiotic, or imbecile, shall become within a period of 3 months from the date of landing a charge upon the public or upon any public institution, shall be liable to repay to the Government any expense on account of such person by reason of his care, maintenance, or repatriation, unless such owner, charterer, agent, consignee, or master can prove that such person became lunatic, idiotic, or imbecile, after embarkation at the port or place from which he shipped: Provided that such expense shall in no case exceed the sum of $5,000 in the aggregate.
(2) In every case where permission to land any person from any vessel is refused, every such person shall be detained by the master on board such vessel and shall be prevented, by force if need be, from landing.
(3) In every case in which permission to land from any vessel is refused, the officer refusing shall give a certificate of such refusal to the master of such vessel if so required by him.
(4) No action shall lie against the master of any vessel or any person whomsoever for anything done in execution of the provisions of this Ordinance.
4. The provisions of this Ordinance shall not apply to shipwrecked mariners or other shipwrecked persons brought to the Colony without charge by the master of a ship other than that in which they were wrecked, nor to His Majesty's land and sea forces, nor to distressed British seamen, nor to natives of the Colony, nor to persons of Chinese nationality, nor to persons deported from China under the provisions of the Orders in Council applicable to China.
* As amended by No. 12 of 1912, No. 13 of 1912, No. 21 of 1912, and No. 43 of 1912 Supp. Sched.
As amended by No. 15 of 1904 and No. 18 of 1912.