653800-1891-Mail-Ships-Act-1891 — Page 5

THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 10TH OCTOBER, 1891.

Provided that before it is applied to any British Possession named in the schedule to this Act the Government of such possession shall have adhered to the Convention.

(2.) Where this Act applies to a British possession, it shall not be necessary for the owner of any mail ship to give security in any court in that possession, and the provisions of this Act with respect to the jurisdiction of any court of the United Kingdom, other than any jurisdiction relating to the application of the security, shall apply as if a court in the British Possession were substituted for a court of the United Kingdom.

(3.) It shall be lawful for Her Majesty in Council to make rules for carrying into effect, as respects British Possessions, the provisions of this Act with respect to the security given by mail ships, and in particular with respect to the commencement of a legal proceeding by service of a writ or process in the Possession, and to the notices to be given to arresting authorities in the Possession, and the evidence to be receivable by such authorities of the security having been given or withdrawn, and the application of the security in discharge of any damages, fine, debt, claim, sum, or forfeiture, where the same are or is recovered or payable either in the British Possession, or under proceedings pending concurrently in that British Possession and in any other British Possession or the United Kingdom.

(4.) If by any law made either before or after the passing of this Act by the Legislature of any British Possession provision is made for carrying into effect within such Possession any convention to which this Act applies, Her Majesty in Council may suspend the operation within such Possession of this Act or of any part thereof so fur as it relates to such convention, and so long as such law continues in force there, or direct that such law or any part thereof shall have effect in such British Possession with or without modifications and alterations as if it were part of this Act.

9. In this Act-

The expression "mail bag" means a mail of letters, or a box, or parcel, or any other envelope in which post letters within the meaning of the Acts relating to the Post Office, are conveyed ;

The expression "subsidy" includes a payment for the performance of a

contract;

The expression "master of a ship" includes any person in charge of a ship,

whether commander, mate, or any other person;

The expression "ship of a Foreign State" means a ship entitled to sail under

the flag of a Foreign State;

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The expression "arresting authority" means any court, authority, or officer having power to arrest or detain a ship, or to arrest a person on board ship, or to order such arrest or detention, or to order the execution of any process, civil or criminal, for the arrest of a person on board any ship;

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The expression "postal officer" means any person employed in the business of the Post Office of the United Kingdom or a British Possession or Foreign State, as the case may be, whether employed by the Postmaster General, or the chief of the Post Office of the British Possession, or the chief of the Post Office of the Foreign State, or by any person under him, or on behalf of any such Post Office.

10. This Act may be cited as the Mail Ships Act, 1891.

881

A.D. 1891.

Definitions.

Short title.

SCHEDULE.

BRITISH POSSESSIONS TO WHICH ACT IS APPLICABLE ONLY UPON

THE GOVERNMENT ADHERING TO CONVENTION.

British India.

Dominion of Canada.

Newfoundland.

New South Wales.

Victoria.

South Australia.

Western Australia. Queensland.

Tasmania. New Zealand. Cape of Good Hope. Natal.

Section S.