20862
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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C.O.
Reference:-
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16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
No. 108A.
(JAMAICA: GENERAL.)
QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY THE BOARD OF TRADE. MERCHANT SHIPPING Acts, 1894 to 1898.
'GENERAL LIGHTHOUSE FUND, COLONIAL LIghts.
The Law Officers and Mr. Rowlatt are requested to advise :---
(1) Whether the cost of constructing a new Colonial Light, such as Matanilla, being for the benefit of navigation generally, which may be said to be an extension of an existing system which is maintainable by the Board of Trade out of the General Lighthouse Fund, can be provided out of that Fund! (2) Whether a contribution can be made out of the General Lighthouse Fund towards the construction or improvement of a Colonial Light, such as Perim, which is not maintained, or is not to be maintained, by the Board of Trade out of the General Lighthouse Fund? (3) Whether the cost of construction of a new light in a Colony, being a light not for the benefit of a Colony but for the general interests of navi gation other than such an extension of an existing system, can be so provided?
OPINION OF THE LAW OFFicers of the CROWN AND MR. S. A. T. ROWLATT.
1 and 3. We think that if lights of this character are erected as mentioned in Section 670 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, and if Colonial light dues are fixed in respect of them under that section, the expenses of constructing or main- taining the same may be paid out of the General Lighthouse Fund under Section 2 (3) of the Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act, 1898, or may be provided for under Section 674 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, or Sections 861, 662, and 663 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, as applied by Section 2 (4) of the Act of 1898. We find, however, no power to the Board of Trade to initiate a new light of this description. By Section 638 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, erect or place" any lighthouse; a General Lighthouse Authority is authorised to
&c., within its area, and Section 670 refers to lighthouses erected or placed by or We do not think the words "construct with the consent of Colonial Legislatures.
or maintain" in the financial sections referred to above authorise the Board of Trade mero motu to "erect or place" any new lights.
With regard to the expenses of such new lights when erected or placed, we think the result of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, as amended by the intricate provisions of the Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act, 1898, stands
as follows:-
By Sections 638, 643, and 648 of the former Act the General Lighthouse Autho- rities in England, Scotland, and Ireland might erect lighthouses within their areas and levy light dues, which were to be carried to the Mercantile Marine Fund, and by Sections 658, 661, and 662, the Mercantile Marine Fund might be used for the expenses of those authorities and money advanced against that Fund for those purposes. An entirely different system was adopted for Colonial Lights, and is to The Colonial light dues did be found in Section 670 and the following sections. not go to the General Lighthouse Authority or into the Mercantile Marine Fund, but were applicable to the expenses of particular lights. The system introduced by Section 5 (1) of the Act of 1898, providing for the levy of light dues by voyages or periodical payments, only applies to the light dues levied by the General Lighthouse Authorities and not to Colonial light dues. There is no definition in the Act of 1898 of "light dues" or "Colonial light dues," but we are remitted by Section 7 to the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, for the meaning of those words. They are found, respectively, in Sections 643 and 670. This being so, the words "Colonial light dues in Section 2 (1) and (2) refer to Colonial light dues levied according to the old system under Section 670 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, and must include, we think, dues levied in respect of any light which might be erected under Section Such dues will pass, since 1898, into 670 after the passing of the Act of 1898.
(13712-2.) Wt. 96-339. 25. 7;09. D & 8.