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CHINESE PASSENGERS' ACT.

231

XII.--It shall be lawful for the court before which any ship liable to forfeiture under this act is proceeded against, to impose such a pecuniary penalty as to the same court shall seem fit, in lieu of condemning the ship, and in such case to cause the ship to be detained until the penalty is paid, and to cause any penalty so imposed to be applied in the same manner in which the proceeds of the said ship, if condemned and sold by order of the court, would have been applicable.

XIII.-All misdemeanors and other criminal offences punishable under this Act shall be dealt with, tried, and judged of in the same manner as misdemeanors and other offences punishable under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, and all the rules of law, practice, or evidence applicable to the last mentioned misdemeanors and offences shall be applicable to misdemeanors and other offences under this act.

XV-Any court, justice, or magistrate imposing any penalty under this Act for which no specific application is herein provided, may, if it or he thinks fit, direct the whole or any part thereof to be applied in compensating any person for any wrong or damage which he may have sustained by the act or default in respect of which such penalty is imposed, or in or towards payment of the expense of the proceedings; and subject to such directions or specific application as aforesaid, all penalties recovered in the United Kingdom shall be paid into the receipt of Her Majesty's Exchequer in sich manner as the Treasury may direct, and shall be carried to and form part of the consolidated fund of the United Kingdom; and all penalties recovered in any British possession shall be paid over into the public treasury of such possession, and form part of the public revenue thereof.

XV.-In any legal proceedings taken under this Act, or in respect of the bond herein-before required, any document purporting to be the written declaration of any British Consul, or of the commander of any of Her Majesty's ships of war, or to be a copy of the proceedings of any court of justice, shall without any proof of signature be received in evidence, in case it shall appear that such copy or declaration, if pro- duced in the United Kingdom, was officially transmitted to one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, or if produced in any colony, was officially transmitted to the Governor thereof. Provided always, that no person making such written de- claration as aforesaid shall be capable of receiving a share of any penalty or forfeiture which shall be procured by such written declaration.

XVI-This Act may he cited for any purpose whatever under the name of the “Chinese Passengers Act, 1855."

XVII-This Act shall come into operation as soon as it shall have been pro- claimed in Hongkong by the Governor thereof, or if not so proclaimed, on the first day of January next ensuing.

SCHEDULE (A)

Regulations res, ecting Chinese Passenger Ships.

* Note.--The wilful and fraudulent breach of any of these regulations by the person in charge of any Chinese passenger ship is punishable by forfeiture of the ship, and every person concerned in such breach is liable to a tine of one hundred pounds

for each offence.

of

I.- No Chinese passenger ship shall clear out or proceed to sea on any voyage more than seven days' duration without a certificate from an emigration officer, and such certificate shall be in the form provided by the Chinese Passengers Act, 1855.

II.--No emigration officer shall be bound to give such certificate in respect of any Chinese passenger ship till seven days after receiving notice that the ship is to carry passengers, and of her destination, and of her proposed day of sailing, nor unless there are on board a surgeon and interpreter approved by such emigration officer.

III.---After receiving such notice, the emigration officer shall be at liberty at all times to enter and inspect the ship, and the fittings, provisions, and stores therein, and

See Proclamation 18, 4th February, 1856.

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