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"Commander" and "Master" of Sea-going Vessels; the Terms "Commander" and "Master" of a Ship shall include any Person for the Time being in command or charge of the same; the Term "Emigration Officer" shall include every Person lawfully acting as Emigration Officer, Immigration Agent or Protector of Emigrants, and every Person authorized by the Governor of any British Colony to carry out the Provisions of this Act; and the Term "British Consul" shall include every Person lawfully exercising Consular Authority on behalf of Her Majesty in any Foreign Port.
Passengers and Chinese Passenger Ships.
Legislative of Hong Kong to enact regulations:
Governor of Hong Kong "I declare length of voyages.
No Chinese Passenger Ship to clear out on voyage of more than 2 days without Emigration Officer's certificate and every regulation until bond be given to Care.
Penalty of bond when recoverable.
I. The Passengers Act of 1855 shall not apply to Chinese Passenger Ships.
II. It shall be lawful for the Legislature of Hong Kong to enact Regulations respecting Chinese Passenger Ships, and respecting the Treatment of the Passengers therein while at Sea, and until such Enactment the Regulations contained in Schedule (A) to this Act annexed shall be in force.
III. It shall be lawful for the Governor of Hong Kong to declare, by Proclamation, for the Purposes of this Act and of the said Regulations, what shall be deemed to be the Duration of the Voyage of any Chinese Passenger Ship.
IV. No Chinese Passenger Ship shall clear out or proceed to Sea on any Voyage of more than Three Days Duration until the Master thereof shall have received from an Emigration Officer a Copy of the aforesaid Regulations, and a Certificate in the Form contained in Schedule B to this Act annexed, or in such other Form as may be prescribed by the said Legislature, which Copy and Certificate (herein-after designated as Emigration Papers) shall be signed by the said Emigration Officer, nor until the Master shall, with Two sufficient Sureties to be approved by the said Emigration Officer, have entered into a joint and several Bond in the Sum of One thousand Pounds to Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, in the Form contained in Schedule D to this Act annexed, or in such other Form as shall be prescribed by the said Legislature; and in the Case of any Foreign Ship one of the Conditions of the said Bond shall be that the Master thereof shall conform to the Provisions of this Act and of the Regulations aforesaid, in like Manner as if the said Master were a British Subject, or the Ship were a British Ship.
V. The said penal Sum of One thousand Pounds shall be due and recoverable notwithstanding any Penalty or Forfeiture imposed by this Act or by the aforesaid Regulations, and whether such Penalties or Forfeitures shall have been sued for and recovered or not.
VI. If any Chinese Passenger Ship shall clear out or proceed to Sea on any such Voyage as aforesaid without such Emigration Papers, or before the Master shall have entered into such Bond as aforesaid, such Ship shall be forfeited to the Use of Her Majesty.
VII. No Chinese Passenger Ship shall clear out or proceed to Sea on any Voyage of less than Three Days Duration without a written Authority from an Emigration Officer in the Form contained in Schedule C to this Act annexed, or in such other Form as may be prescribed by the said Legislature; and any such Ship which shall clear out or proceed to Sea on any such Voyage without the said written Authority shall be forfeited to the Use of Her Majesty.
VIII. It shall be lawful for the Commander of any of Her Majesty's Ships of War, or for any Emigration Officer, Custom House Officer, or British Consul, to detain, enter, and search any Chinese Passenger Ship (being a British Vessel or within British Jurisdiction) so long as such Ship shall have any Passengers on board, and for Forty-eight Hours afterwards, and to require the Production of the Emigration Papers of such Ship or the written Authority aforesaid, and to examine all Persons on board of the same in order to ascertain whether the Provisions of this Act and of the Regulations aforesaid have been complied with.
IX. If the Master of any Chinese Passenger Ship (being a British Ship or within British Jurisdiction) shall obstruct, avoid, or refuse to allow of such Entry, Search, or Examination, or, being so required as aforesaid, shall fail to produce his Emigration Papers, or, being on a Voyage of less than Three Days, such written Authority as aforesaid, or if in any such Ship any Fraud shall have been practised in respect of or in connexion with such Papers or Authority (of which any Alteration or Erasure in them shall be primâ facie Evidence), or the Provisions of this Act or of the Regulations aforesaid shall not have been complied with, the Ship shall be forfeited to the Use of Her Majesty: Provided, that for the Purposes of this Section every Ship provisioned for more than Ten Days shall be deemed to be engaged on a Voyage of more than Three Days Duration, unless such provisioning shall be mentioned in the written Authority aforesaid.
X. Every Person concerned in any Act or Default by which any Chinese Passenger Ship may have become liable to Forfeiture shall be liable to a Penalty not exceeding One hundred Pounds for each Offence.
(O.89.)
XI. Any...