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12961/06

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

·│ ?། ] www.imC.O. 885

No. 144A.

(GENERAL.)

LAW OFFICERS to BOARD OF TRADE.

THE MERCHANT SHIPPING ACTS, 1894 TO 1898 GENERAL LIGHTHOUSE FUND; COLONIAL LIGHTS.

Questions.

1. Whether the Board of Trade can utilize the General Lighthouse Fund for structing, maintaining, and improving Colonial lighthouses (including therein the three lights on Perim Island, and the fog signals on the coast of Newfoundland) on or near the coasts of any British possession where, as in the cases mentioned, there has up to the present time been no lighthouse maintained out of Colonial light dues under the management of the Board of Trade, and whether the fund in question can be utilized for the new light at Kumarie as being an extension of an existing system of lights (Basses) maintained out of the General Lighthouse Fund under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping (M. M. Fund) Act, 1898?

2. Whether, if the General Lighthouse Fund is not available, or if it be that there is not sufficient money available, it is open to the Board of Trade to proceed under Section 674 for the purpose of raising money, and whether, if both courses are available, the Board of Trade can take either?

3. Whether, in the event of Counsel advising that the Fund can be utilized for the construction and maintenance and improvement of lighthouses referred to, dues could be fixed by Order-in-Council to be paid in respect of such lighthouses, &c., under the procedure laid down in Section 670 of the Act of 1894?

4. If Counsel be of opinion that the Fund cannot be utilized for any of the purposes above referred to, what interpretation should be put upon Section 2 (3) of the Act of 1898 so far as it refers to constructing" Colonial lights!

5. Generally upon the case.

We are of opinion that :-

Opinion.

(1) Upon the true construction of Sections 2 (3) and 7 of the Act of 1898 the Board can utilize the General Lighthouse Fund for the construction, maintenance, or improvement of any new lighthouse, buoy, or beacon, hear the coast of a British possession.

The fund may therefore be resorted to for the construction, &c., of the three lights on Perim Island, the fog signals on the coast of Newfoundland, and the new light at Kumarie.

The consent of the Legislature of the particular possession to the erecting or placing of the lighthouses, buoys, or beacons should be first obtained; see Section 670 of the Act of 1894.

(2) By Section 2 (4) of the Act of 1898 Sections 181-3 of the Act of 1894 apply in the case of Colonial lights, and these sections are now to be read as if "The General Lighthouse Fund were substituted for "The Mercantile Marine Fund" therein mentioned. See Section 1 (e) of the Act of 1898.

The Board may, therefore, for any of the above purposes, borrow on the security of the General Lighthouse Fund, if they think that is the more expedient course to adopt.

3. If the conditions of Section 670 (1) are complied with, an Order-in-Council can be issued fixing the dues to be paid in respect of the lighthouses referred to.

R. B. FINLAY. EDWARD CARSON. HENRY SUTTON.

Royal Courts of Justice,

April 19, 1902.

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