683332-1880-Ordinance-No-8-of-1879-Publishes- — Page 13

THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 14TH JANUARY, 1880.

(b.) Whenever any ship is lost, abandoned, stranded, or materially damaged on or near the coasts of the Colony;

(c.) Whenever any ship causes loss or material damage

to any other ship, on or near such coasts; (d.) Whenever by reason of any casualty happening to, or on board of any ship, on or near such coasts, loss of life ensues;

(e.) Whenever any such loss, abandonment, stranding, damage, or casualty happens elsewhere, and any competent witness thereof, arrive at, or be found at, any place in the said Colony;

(f.) Whenever a British ship has been lost, or is sup- posed to be lost, and any evidence can be obtained in the Colony as to the circumstances under which she proceeded to sea or was last heard of;

It shall be lawful for the Court to hear and inquire into any such charge of incompetency or misconduct, and to make inquiry respecting such loss, abandonment, stranding, da- mage, or casualty, and for such purposes, it shall have the powers given by the first part of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," to Inspectors appointed by the Board of Trade, and the powers given by soction XXIII of "The Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1862," and the Court shall be governed by the rules of the said last mentioned section, subject to the further requirements of this Ordinance, or of any Imperial Act or local Ordinance which may be from time to time, enacted.

4. The Court may also exercise the following further powers:-

(a.) It

may, if unanimous that the safety of the ship or crew, or the interest of the owner, absolutely re- quires it, supersede the master of any British ship then being within the waters of the Colony, and may appoint another person to act in his stead; but no such appointment shall be made without the consent of the consignce of the ship if within the Colony;

(b.) It may discharge any mate, engineer, or seaman

from his ship;

(c.) It may order the wages of any mate or engineer so discharged, or any part of such wages to be forfeited, and may direct the same to be retained by way of compensation to the owner,

5. Each member of the Court shall either sign the re- port made on any investigation under this section, or report to the Governor his reasons for dissent therefrom.

6. Every master or mate or engineer whose certificate is suspended or cancelled in pursuance of this Ordinance shall, upon demand of the Court, deliver his certificate. to the Court, or if it is not demanded by the Court, deliver it to the Governor or as he directs, and in default shall, for each offence, incur a penalty not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars,--but no certificate shall be sus- pended or cancelled until such suspension or cancellation shall have been approved by the Governor.

7. Where an investigation into the conduct of a master, mate, engineer, or into a shipping casualty, has been held under this Ordinance, or any Ordinance amending the same, the Governor may, in any case, and shall, if new and important evidence which could not be produced at the investigation has been discovered, or if for any other reason there has in his opinion been ground for suspecting a miscarriage of justice, order that the case be re-heard, either generally or as to any part thereof, and either by the Court by whom it was heard in the first instance, or by the Judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court of this Colony, and the case shall be so re-heard accordingly.

8. The Governor in Council may, from time to time, make and when made revoke, alter and add to general rules for carrying into effect the enactments relating to forinal investigation into shipping casualties and in particular with respect to the procedure, the parties, the persons allowed to appear, the notice to such parties and persons, or to persons affected, and the amount and application of fees: And all such rules while in force shall have effect as if enacted by this Ordinance.

9. Every formal investigation in a shipping casualty shall be conducted in such a manuer that if a charge is made against any person that person shall have an opportunity of

• making a defence.

Powers of Court.

Further powers of Court. [See M. S. A.. 1954, Bec. 203.]

[M. S. A. 1963, Sec. 24.]

[42 and 43 Vic, C. 72, sec. III, sub-sec. 4.)

[42 and 43 Vic.,

c. 72, sec. II, sub-sec. 1.]

Rules as to procedure, fres, &c. [M. S. A. 1876, Bec. 30.]

31