No seaman shall, except with "the Harbour Master's sanction on board, do duty or be shipped to do any duty on board any merchant ship whatever elsewhere than at the office of "the Harbour Master, who shall charge a fee of one dollar for every seaman shipped, such fee to "be paid in the first instance by the Master of "the ship shipping "such seaman"; and such Master "shall deduct the same from "the wages of the seaman shipped.
The above-mentioned fee "shall be accounted for by "the Harbour Master to the Treasury.
In case of any interpretation being required as to the words underlined, reference to the repealed Ordinance will make the matter clear. In section 5 of Ordinance 6 of 1852, the words used as to shipping seamen are: "and no seaman shall be shipped either for an English or a Foreign ship elsewhere than at the office of the Harbour Master, who shall charge for every seaman shipped a fee of one dollar, to"...
This wording leaves little doubt as to the intention of "the Ordinance.
The Consul writes that the use of the word "fee" in "the Ordinance is hardly compatible with the intention to levy a tax.
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