Section 2 of this Ordinance effects rather an important amendment in Ordinance 25 of 1897 by enacting a new clause for clause C of section 21 of the latter Ordinance. As clause C of that Ordinance originally stood, the shipmaster would be liable for the costs and charges of a sailor other than a Chinese who was discharged from a ship in this Colony if such person became a Vagrant within a period of six months from the date of his arrival in the Colony, altogether irrespective of the fact whether the shipmaster had properly discharged that sailor with the sanction of the Superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office or his Deputy, and also altogether irrespective of the fact whether the shipmaster had made reasonable provision for the subsistence of that discharged sailor. It was considered by shipowners that that was rather a hardship upon masters of ships, and accordingly the Board of Trade reported the matter to the Secretary of State with the result that the Secretary of State directed that a new clause should be substituted in section 21 of Ordinance 25 of 1897, and that such new clause should be worded in the manner set forth in Section 2 of this Ordinance.
By the same section of this Ordinance, the term "seaman" is substituted for the term "sailor". The object of that amendment is to include any person employed or engaged in any capacity on board a ship (except masters, pilots, and apprentices) and not merely persons engaged in the navigation of the ship.
The first amendment made by Section 3 of the Ordinance has been introduced in order to make it clear that the provisions of section 25(1) of Ordinance 28 of 1852 are intended to be applied in the case of a shipwrecked person. The second amendment introduced by this section has been made in consequence of it having been represented to the Secretary of State by the Board of Trade that it was not reasonable to hold a shipmaster responsible for the solvency of a person landed by him during a period of six months after he had landed that person.
26.5.05, Portaal
Acting Attorney General.