693418-1876-Merchant-Shipping-Act-1876- — Page 7

566

A.D. 1876.

THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 16TH DEGÈMBER, 1876.

Power for wreck com-

examination with

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

31. A wreck commissioner may at the request of the Board of Trade, by himself, or by some deputy missioner to institute approved by the Board of Trade, institute the same examination as a receiver of wreck under section four hundred and forty-eight of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, and shall for that purpose have the powers distress under 17 & 18 by that section conferred on a receiver of wreck.

respect to ships in

Vict. c. 104. s. 448.

Power to hold in-

quiries or formal in-

vestigations as to

stranded and missing ships.

Place of investigation.

Enforcing detention of ship.

Service of order on ruaster, &c.

Ship's managing

be registered.

32. In the following cases-

(1.) Whenever any ship on or near the coasts of the United Kingdom or any British ship elsewhere has been stranded or damaged, and any witness is found at any place in the United Kingdom, or

(2.) Whenever a British ship has been lost or is supposed to have been lost, and any evidence can be obtained in the United Kingdom as to the circumstances under which she proceeded to sea or was last heard of,

the Board of Trade (without prejudice to any other powers) may, if they think fit, cause an inquiry to be made or formal investigation to be held, and all the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1876, shall apply to any such inquiry or investigation as if it had been made or held under the eighth part of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854.

33. A formal investigation into a shipping casualty may be held at any place appointed in that behalf by the Board of Trade, and all enactments relating to the authority holding the investigation shall, for the purpose of the investigation, have effect as if the place so appointed were a place appointed for the exercise of the orninary jurisdiction of that authority.

Miscellaneous.

34. Where under the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1876, or any of then, a ship is authorised or ordered to be detained, any commissioned officer on full pay in the naval or military service of Her Majesty, or any officer of the Board of Trade or Customs, or any British consular officer may detain the ship, and if the ship after such detention or after service on the master of any notice of or order for such detention pro- ceeds to sea before it is released by competent authority, the master of the ship, and also the owner, and any person who sends the ship to sea, if such owner or person be party or privy to the offence, shall forfeit and pay to Her Majesty a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds.

Where a ship so proceeding to sea takes to sea when on board thereof in the execution of his duty any officer authorised to detain the ship, or any surveyor or officer of the Board of Trade or Customs, the owner. and master of the ship shall each be liable to pay all expenses of and incidental to the officer or surveyor being so taken to sea, and also a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds, or, if the offence is not pro- secuted in a summary manner, not exceeding ten pounds for every day until the officer or surveyor returns, or until such time as would enable him after leaving the ship to return to the port from which he is taken, and such expenses may be recovered in like manner as the penalty.

35. Where any order, notice, statement, or document requires, for the purpose of any provisions of this Act, to be served on the master of a ship, the same shall be served, where there is no master, and the ship is in the United Kingdom, on the managing owner of the ship, or if there is no managing owner, on some agent of the owner residing in the United Kingdom, or where no such agent is known or can be found, by affixing a copy thereof to the mast of the ship.

Any such order, notice, statement, or document may be served by delivering a copy thereof personally to the person to be served, or by leaving the same at his last place of abode, or in the case of a master by leaving it for him on board the ship with the person being or appearing to be in command or charge of such ship.

Any person who obstructs the service of any order, notice, statement, or document on the master of a ship shall incur a penalty not exceeding ten pounds, and if the owner or master of the ship is party or privy to such obstruction he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

36. The name and address of the managing owner for the time being of every British ship registered owner or manager to at any port or place in the United Kingdom shall be registered at the custom house of the ship's port of

registry.

Power for Her Ma- jesty by Order in

Council to apply cer- tain provisions of

Merchant Shipping

Where there is not a managing owner there shall be so registered the name of the ship's husband or other person to whom the management of the ship is entrusted by or on behalf of the owner; and any person whose name is so registered shall, for the purposes of the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1876, be under the same obligations, and subject to the same liabilities, as if he were the managing owner.

If default is made in complying with this section the owner shall be liable, or if there be more owners than one each owner shall be liable in proportion to his interest in the ship, to a penalty not exceeding in the whole one hundred pounds each time the ship leaves any port in the United Kingdom.

37. Whenever it has been made to appear to Her Majesty that the Government of any Foreign State is desirous that any of the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1876, or of any Act hereafter to be passed amending the same, shall apply to the ships of such State, Her Majesty may by Order in Council declare that such of the said provisions as are in such Order specified shall (subject to the limitations, Acts to foreign ships. if any, contained in the Order) apply, and thereupon, so long as the Order remains in force, such provisions shall apply (subject to the said limitations) to the ships of such State, and to the owners, masters, seamen, and apprentices of such ships, when not locally within the jurisdiction of such State, in the same manner in all respects as if such ships were British ships.

Provision as to Order in Council.

Fees, salaries, and

costs.

38. Where Her Majesty has power under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1851, or any Act passed or hereafter to be passed amending the same, to make an Order in Council, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty from time to time to make such Order in Council, and by Order in Council to revoke, alter, or add to any Order so made.

Every such Order in Council shall be published in the London Gazette, and shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament within one month after it is made, if Parliament be then sitting, or if not, within one month after the then next meeting of Parliament.

Upon the publication of any such Order in the London Gazette, the Order shall, after the date of such publication, or any later date mentioned in the Order, take effect as if it were enacted by Parliament.

39. On and after the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven all fees pay- able in respect of the survey or measurement of ships under the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1876, or in respect of any services performed by any person employed under the authority of the Passengers Act, 1855, shali continue to be paid to the superintendent of a mercantile rárine office at such times and in such manner as the Board of Trade from time to time direct, but shall be paid into the receipt of Her Majesty's Exchequer in such manner as the Treasury from time to time direct, and shall be carried to and form part of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom.