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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 16TH DECEMBER, 1876.
(5.) Where a ship has been provisionally detained, the owner or master of the ship, at any time before the person appointed under this section to survey the ship makes such survey, may require that he shall be accompanied by such person as the owner or master may select out of the list of assessors for the court of survey (nominated as hereinafter mentioned), and in such case if the surveyor and assessor agree, the Board of Trade shall cause the ship to be detained or released accordingly, but if they differ, the Board of Trade may act as if the requisition had not been made, and the owner and master shall have the like appeal touching the report of the surveyor as is before provided by this section.
(6.) Where a ship has been provisionally detained, the Board of Trade may at any time, if they think it expedient, refer the matter to the court of survey for the port or district where the ship is detained.
(7.) The Board of Trade may at any time, if satisfied that a ship detained under this Act is not unsafe,
order her to be released either upon or without any conditions.
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(8.) For the better execution of this section, the Board of Trade, with the consent of the Treasury, may
from time to time appoint a sufficient number of fit officers, and may remove any of them. (9.) Any officer so appointed (in this Act referred to as a detaining officer) shall have the same power as the Board of Trade have under this section of provisionally ordering the detention of a ship for the purpose of being surveyed, and of appointing a person or persons to survey her; and if he thinks that a ship so detained by him is not unsafe may order her to be released.
(10.) A detaining officer shall forthwith report to the Board of Trade any order made by him for the
detention or release of a ship.
7. A court of survey for a port or district shall consist of a judge sitting with two assessors.
561
A.D. 1876.
Constitution of court
The judge shall be such person as may be summoned for the case in accordance with the rules made of survey for appeals. under this Act out of a list (from time to time approved for the port or district by one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, in this Act referred to as a Secretary of State,) of wreck commissioners appointed under this Act, stipendiary or metropolitan police magistrates, judges of county courts, and other fit persons; but in any special case in which the Board of Trade think it expedient to appoint a wreck commissioner, the judge shall be such wreck commissioner.
The assessors shall be persons of nautical engineering or other special skill and experience; one of them shall be appointed by the Board of Trade, either generally or in each case, and the other shall be summoned in accordance with the rules under this Act by the registrar of the court, out of a list of persons periodically nominated for the purpose by the local marine board of the port, or, if there is no such board, by a body of local shipowners or merchants approved for the purpose by a Secretary of State, or, if there is no such list, shall be appointed by the judge; if a Secretary of State thinks fit at any time, on the recommendation of the government of any British possession or any foreign state, to add any person or persons to any such list, such person or persons shall, until otherwise directed by the Secretary of State, be added to sucli list, and if there is no such list shall form such list.
The county court registrar or such other fit person as a Secretary of State may from time to time appoint shall be the registrar of the court, and shall, on receiving notice of au appeal or a reference from the Board of Trade, immediately summon the court in the prescribed manner to meet forthwith.
The name of the registrar and his office, together with the rules made under this Act relating to the court of survey, shall be published in the prescribed manner.
8. With respect to the court of survey the following provisions shall have effect: (1.) The case shall be heard in open court;
(2.) The judge and each assessor may survey the ship, and shall have for the purposes of this Act all the powers of an inspector appointed by the Board of Trade under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854;
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(3.) The judge may appoint any competent person or persons to survey the ship and report thereon to
the court; (4.) The judge shall have the same power as the Board of Trade have to order the ship to be released or finally detained, but unless one of the assessors concurs in an order for the detention of the ship, the ship shall be released;
(5.) The owner and master of the ship and any person appointed by the owner or master, and also any person appointed by the Board of Trade, may attend at any inspection or survey made in pursuance of this section:
(6.) The judge shall send to the Board of Trade the prescribed report, and each assessor shall either
sign the report or report to the Board of Trade the reasons for his dissent.
Power and procedure of court of survey.
9. The Lord Chancellor of Great Britain may from time to time (with the consent of the Treasury so Rules for procedure of far as relates to fees) make, and when made revoke, alter, and add to general rules to carry into effect the court of survey, &c. provisions of this Act with respect to a court of survey, and in particular with respect to the summoning of and procedure before the court, the requiring on an appeal security for costs and damages, the amount and application of fees and the publication of the rules.
All such rules while in force shall have effect as if enacted in this Act, and the expression "prescribed"
in the provisions of this Act relating to the detention of ships or court of survey means prescribed by such rules.
10. If it appears that there was not reasonable and probable cause, by reason of the condition of the Liability of Board of ship or the act or default of the owner, for the provisional detention of the ship, the Board of Trade shall Trade and shipowner
for costs and damages. be liable to pay to the owner of the ship his costs of and incidental to the detention and survey of the ship, and also compensation for any loss or damage sustained by him by reason of the detention or survey.
If a ship is finally detained under this Act, or if it appears that a ship provisionally detained was, at the time of such detention, unsafe within the meaning of this Act, the owner of the ship shall be liable to pay to the Board of Trade their costs of and incidental to the detention and survey of the ship, and those costs shall, without prejudice to any other remedy, be recoverable as salvage is recoverable.
For the purposes of this Act the costs of and incidental to any proceeding before a court of survey, and a reasonable amount in respect of the remuneration of the surveyor or officer of the Board of Trade, shall be deemed to be part of the costs of the detention and survey of the ship, and any dispute as to the amount of costs under this Act may be referred to one of the masters or registrars of the Supreme Court of Judicature, who, on request made to him for that purpose by the Board of Trade, shall ascertain and certify the proper
amount of such costs.
An action for any costs or compensation payable by the Board of Trade under this section may be brought against the secretary thereor by his official title as if he were a corporation sole; and if the cause of action arises in Ireland, it shall be lawful for any of the superior courts of common law in Ireland in which such action may be commenced to order that the summons or writ may be served on the Crown and
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