691603-1876-Merchant-Shipping-Act-1875- — Page 4

THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 8TH JANUARY, 1876.

mark upon each of her sides amidships, or as near thereto as is practicable, in white or yellow on a dark ground, or in black on a light ground, a circular disc, twelve inches in diameter, with a horizontal line eighteen inches in length, drawn through its centre:

(2.) The centre of this disc shall indicate the maximum load-line in salt water to

which the owner intends to load the ship for that voyage:

(3.) He shall also, upon so entering her, insert in the form of entry delivered to the collector or other principal officer of customs, a statement in writing of the distance in feet and inches between the centre of this disc and the upper edge of each of the lines indicating the position of the ship's decks which is above that centre:

(4.) If default is made in delivering this statement in the case of any ship, any

officer of customs may refuse to enter the ship outwards:

(5.) The master of the ship shall enter a copy of this statement in the agreement with the crew before it is signed by any member of the crew, and no superintendent of any mercantile marine office shall proceed with the engagement of the crew until this entry is made:

(6.) The master of the ship shall also enter a copy of this statement in the official

log book:

(7.) When a ship has been marked as by this section required, she shall be kept

on ships.

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so marked until her next return to a port of discharge in the United Kingdom. 7. Any owner or master of a British ship who neglects to cause his ship to be Penalty for offences marked as by this Act required, or to keep her so marked, and any person who in relation to marks conceals, removes, alters, defaces, or obliterates, or suffers any person under his control to conceal, remove, alter, deface, or obliterate any of the said marks, except in the event of the particulars thereby denoted being lawfully altered, or except for the purpose of escaping capture by an enemy, shall for each offence incur a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds.

If any of the marks required by this Act is in any respect inaccurate, so as to be likely to mislead, the owner of the ship shall incur a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds.

taken against the

owner to crew.

8. Where a claim of compensation under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1873, is Proceedings may be made against the Board of Trade, and liability to pay compensation, or the amount Board of Trade by thereof is in dispute, proceedings may be taken against the Board of Trade by action action against the

principal secretary. against the principal secretary thereof as nominal defendant.

9. In every contract of service, express or implied, between the owner of a ship Liability of ship- and the master or any seaman thereof, and in every instrument of apprenticeship' whereby any person is bound to serve as an apprentice on board any ship, there shall be implied, notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, an obligation on the part of the owner of the ship to the master, seaman, or apprentice, that the owner of the ship, his agents and servants, shall use all reasonable efforts to insure the seaworthiness. of the ship for the voyage at the commencement thereof, and to keep her in a seaworthy condition during the voyage.

Provided that nothing in this section shall make the owner of a ship liable for the death of or any injury to a master, seaman, or apprentice belonging to any ship when caused by the wrongful act, neglect, or default of a seaman or apprentice belonging to the same ship, in any case where he would not otherwise be so liable.

10. This Act may be cited as the Merchant Shipping Act, 1875, and shall be construed as one with the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, and the Acts amending the same, and the said Acts and this Act may be cited collectively as the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1875.

Short title.

11. This Act shall continue in force until the first day of October one thousand Duration of Act. eight hundred and seventy-six.

No. 6.

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.

The following Schedule, received from Mr. STEWART, Inspector of Schools, of the results of examinations conducted according to the scheme for Grants-in-aid, as notified in Government Notification No. 71 of the 26th April, 1873, is published for general information.

By Command,

Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 8th January, 1876.

J. GARDINER AUSTIN, Colonial Secretary,