To
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
7945
25 FEB 12
119
JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN
HIS MAJESTY'S SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES.
THE HUMBLE PETITION of the undersigned Ship-owners and Merchants in the Colony of Hongkong.
MOST RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH :-
1. By the Merchant Shipping Consolidation Ordinance 1891, certain Quarantine Regulations were applied to this Colony, and under Section 25 of the said Ordinance, the Governor has from time to time substituted new Regulations.
2. By the original Regulations, contained in Table L of the Schedule to the said Ordinance, the costs and expenses of the medical attendance and maintenance of any person removed to the Hygeia or any other hospital or place under the said Regulations had to be borne by the Government and were not recoverable from the owners or agents of vessels.
3. By the substituted Regulations of the 3rd day of May 1892, it was provided that the costs incurred by the Government in the maintenance of any such person should be repaid by the agents of the vessel, and by the substituted Regulations of the 17th day of July 1896 and the 18th day of March 1897, it was provided that the costs charged or incurred by the Government for the medical attendance and maintenance of any such person, whether on the ship's articles or not, should be paid to the Government by the agents of the vessel.
4. The owners and agents of vessels in this Colony, while not objecting to pay the reasonable costs charged or incurred by the Government for the medical attendance and maintenance of any such person on the ship's articles, have protested against being charged by the Government with the costs of the medical attendance and maintenance of any such person not on the ship's articles, on the ground that under Section 25 of the said Ordinance of 1891 the Governor in Council has no power to make any Regulations as to how such costs are to be borne, and also on the ground that it is unjust to owners and agents of vessels to oblige them to pay such costs in respect of persons not on the ship's articles. Whenever such protest has been made, the Government has not persisted in nor enforced their claim, thus admitting apparently that, under the said Ordinance of 1891, they have no legal right to enforce payment by the owners or agents of vessels of any such costs.
5. The said Ordinance of 1891 and the Regulations made thereunder (so far as they are not ultra vires) are still in force, but it is proposed by the Merchant Shipping Consolidation Ordinance, 1899, (which has not yet come into operation) and by an Amending Ordinance (which was passed on the 21st day of October
To
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
7945
25 FEB 12
119
JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN
HIS MAJESTY'S SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES.
THE HUMBLE PETITION of the undersigned Ship- owners and Merchants in the Colony of Hongkong.
MOST RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH :-
1. By the Merchant Shipping Consolidation Ordinance 1891, certain Quaran- tine Regulations were applied to this Colony, and under Section 25 of the said Ordinance, the Governor has from time to tine substituted new Regulations.
2. By the original Regulations, contained in Table L of the Schedule to the said Ordinance, the costs and expenses of the medical attendance and maintenance of any person removed to the Hygeia or any other hospital or place under the said Regulations had to be borne by the Government and were not recoverable from the owners or agents of vessels.
3. By the substituted Regulations of the 3rd day of May 1892, it was provided that the costs incurred by the Government in the maintenance of any such person should be repaid by the agents of the vessel, and by the substituted Regulations of the 17th day of July 1896 and the 18th day of March 1897, it was provided that the costs charged or incurred by the Government for the medical attendance and maintenance of any such person, whether on the ship's articles or not, should be paid to the Government by the agents of the vessel.
4. The owners and agents of vessels in this Colony, while not objecting to pay the reasonable costs charged or incurred by the Government for the medical attendance and maintenance of any such person on the ship's articles, have pro- tested against being charged by the Government with the costs of the inedical attend- ance and maintenance of any such person not on the ship's articles, on the ground that under Section 25 of the said Ordinance of 1891 the Governor in Council has no power to make any Regulations as to how such costs are to be borne, and also on the ground that it is unjust to owners and agents of vessels to oblige them to pay such costs in respect of persons not on the ship's articles. Whenever such protest has been made, the Government has not persisted in nor enforced their claim, thus admitting apparently that, under the said Ordinance of 1891, they have no legal right to enforce payment by the owners or agents of vessels of any such
costs.
5. The said Ordinance of 1891 and the Regulations made thereunder (so far as they are not ultra vires) are still in force, but it is proposed by the Merchant Shipping Consolidation Ordinance, 1899, (which has not yet come into operation) and by an Amending Ordinance (which was passed on the 21st day of October
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