655741-1890-Instructions-to-Superintendents-of-Mercantile-Marine-Offices-re-Certificate-of-Competency — Page 1

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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 14TH JUNE, 1890.

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.—No. 248.

The following is published for general information.

By Command,

Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 14th June, 1890.

W. M. DEANE,

Acting Colonial Secretary.

BOARD OF TRADE,

Marine Department,

October 1889.

INSTRUCTIONS

ΤΟ

SUPERINTENDENTS OF MERCANTILE MARINE OFFICES.

"Merchant Shipping (Colonial) Act, 1869."

The annexed Order in Council, dated the 19th day of August, 1889, revokes all Orders previously issued relating to Colonial Certificates of Competency, and further amends and consolidates all the regulations now in force relating to their use, issue, delivery, cancellation, and suspension.

It will be necessary for the Superintendent to bear in mind that every Certificate to which the Order in Council refers--

1. Will be on parchment.

2. Will be as nearly as possible similar in shape and form to the Imperial Certificates of Compe-

tency.

3. Will have the name of the Possession in which it is granted inserted prominently both on its

back and face.

4. Will bear the number accorded to it in the consecutive order in which it was granted in the

Possession.

The Registrar General of Seamen will furnish the Superintendents with Lists of such Certificates granted from time to time in the various Possessions, as well as of those suspended, cancelled, and improperly granted.

The genuineness of a Certificate not mentioned in the Registrar General of Seamen's List of Certificates granted, or not showing upon its face a compliance with the above conditions, may be questioned.

Colonial Certificates will have to be used, produced, and delivered at the times and on the occasions at and on which Imperial Certificates of Competency would have to be used, produced, and delivered. Upon first presentation of a Colonial Certificate in the United Kingdom the Superintendent will stamp it with his Office stamp, and report its number, date, grade, owner's name, and the Colony, to the Registrar of Seamen.

A Colonial Certificate once stamped in the United Kingdom is not to be again stamped at the same or any other Mercantile Marine Office, but no notice need be taken of any Colonial Stamp which may be found upon it.

As the Colonial Certificates of Competency referred to in the said Order in Council are to have the same force as the similar Certificates granted by the Board of Trade, such a Colonial Certificate must be accepted as occupying in every respect the place of one of the latter, and as entitling its bonâ fide holder to act in the capacity stated in it, or any inferior (but not a superior) capacity, in any British ship all over the world without the possession of a Board of Trade Certificate.

The Superintendent will, regarding the Colonial Certificate in this light, be careful to see that the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Acts of 1854 and 1862 are strictly complied with.

When it appears from a Certificate (Imperial or Colonial) officially produced to the Superintendent that its owner possesses other Certificates, their production also should be required, and if they are not produced, their owner's explanation in writing should be demanded, and forwarded to the Registrar General of Seamen with the least possible delay.

Superintendents are empowered, by Regulation 10 attached to the Order in Council, to demand, and if necessary detain, any such Colonial Certificate which they have reason to believe has been im- properly issued, or has been forged, altered, cancelled, suspended, or to which the person using it is not justly entitled.

Whenever this power is exercised, a report of the facts and circumstances, together with the Certificate itself, must be sent by the Superintendent to the Registrar General of Seamen with the least possible delay.