654343-1891-Ordinances-25-and-26-of-1891-Assented-to — Page 23

1128 THE HONGKONG GOVT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY, 9TH DEC., 1891.-

Seamen to be discharged

only by per- mission of Harbour Mas- ter, or CouBUL or Vice-Consul (flid, sab-8. 8.)

Forcing or leaving sea- men on shore,

As to the

establishment and regulation of boarding. honses.

(No. 8 of 1879, sce. 17)

Penalty for keeping an unlicensed boarding- house. {ībit, sub-n. 2.

(12.) No 'master of any ship shall discharge in this Colony, under a penalty not exceeding twenty-five dollars, any scanian shipped on board thereof, unless on a certificate from the Superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office or his deputy, or from the Consul or Vice-Consul, if any, representing the nation to which the ship belongs; and the Superintendent or his deputy, and the Consul or Vice- Consul are empowered to withhold or grant his certificate upon such conditions for the subsistence of the seaman as he shall think fit, and if any seaman, being part of the crew of any ship, shall wilfully or negligently remain in the Colony after the departure of the said ship such sea- mau shall, on conviction, be liable to a penalty not ex- ceeding twenty-five dollars, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month with or without hard labour.

(13.) If the master or any other person belonging to any British ship wrongfully forces on shore and leaves behind or otherwise wilfully and wrongfully leaves behind in this Colony any seaman or apprentice belonging to such ship before the completion of the voyage for which such person was engaged be shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars or to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding six mouths.

CHAPTER VI.

BOARDING-HOUSES FOR SEAMEN.

17. (1.) The Harbour Master shall, with the consent of any Police Magistrate, have power to license a sufficient number of fit and proper persons to keep boarding-houses for seamen, and every such licence shall be countersigned by the Colonial Secretary, and shall be granted for such period not exceeding one year, and upon such terms and security, and shall be renewable upon such conditions, as the Colonial Secretary may appoint; and it shall be law- ful for the Colonial Secretary to demand for every such licence an annual fee of twenty-five dollars, or at the rate thereof according to the term of such licence; and every such house shall be for the reception of such number of scamen only as shall be expressed in the licence under a penalty of twenty-five dollars, for each seaman lodged at one time in excess of such number and shall not be granted until there have been constructed in the house to be licensed suitable rooms to be approved by the Harbour Master; and no such boarding-house shall be a house licensed for the sale of spirituous or fermented liquors, nor shall any charge for spirituous or fermented liquor be allowed in any account for the amount of which any seaman inay be indebted, or stated to be indebted, to any person, and such boarding- house shall not be a part of a house, and shall be separated by at least one-intervening house on either side of it from any house licensed for such sale as aforesaid; and every such boarding-house shall be open at all times to the visit of any Justice of the Peace, or of the Harbour Master, or of any Inspector of Police. And the Harbour Master 'may refuse to grant any such licence, and may limit the number and description of seamen to be boarded in each house, and may make rescind and vary rules subject to the approval by the Governor and to publication thereof in the Gazette for the government of such houses, and regulate the charge to be made for board and lodging; and a copy of such rules shall be hung up in cach house for the inspection of the inmates; and for any infraction of any one of such rules the offender in every instance shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty-five dollars, and for a second offence may be deprived if the keeper of such house, of his licence as an additional punishment.

Provided that unless and until such rules are made rescinded or varied the rules in Table K of the schedule to this Ordinance shall apply.

(2.) If any person not having obtained a licence for keeping a boarding-honse for seamen shall keep one, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding the sum of one hundred dollars; and the fact of more than one seaman boarding or lodging in the house of any person, shall be primâ facie proof of the keeping of a boarding-house for seamen by such person; but nothing in this Ordinance contained shall be construed to prevent any seaman from having the whole or any part of any unfurnished house for the residence of himself, or his family, and boarding himself therein,

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