695707-1874-International-Code-of-Signals-Alterations-and-Additions-to-Merchant-Shipping-Act-1873- — Page 7

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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 14TH FEBRUARY, 1874.

Penalty for misdescri

hundred pounds: Provided that if such person show that he was merely an agent in the shipment of any such goods as aforesaid, and was not aware and did not suspect and had no reason to suspect that the goods shipped by him were of a dangerous nature, the penalty which he incurs shall not exceed ten pounds.

24. If any person knowingly sends or attempts to send by, or carries or attempts to carry in any tion of dangerous goods vessel, British or foreign, any dangerous goods or goods of a dangerous nature, under a false description, or falsely describes the sender or carrier thereof, he shall incur a penalty not exceeding five hundred pounds. 25. The master or owner of any vessel, British or foreign, may refuse to take on board any package or parcel which he suspects to contain goods of a dangerous nature, and may require it to be opened to ascertain the fact.

Power to refuse to carry goods suspected of being dangerous.

Power to throw over- board dangerous goods,

26. Where any dangerous goods as defined in this Act, or any goods which, in the judgment of the master or owner of the vessel, are of a dangerous nature, have been sent or brought aboard any vessel, British or foreign, without being marked as aforesaid, or without such notice having been given as aforesaid, the master or owner of the vessel may cause such goods to be thrown overboard, together with any package or receptacle in which they are contained; and neither the master nor the owner of the vessel shall, in respect of such throwing overboard, be subject to any liability, civil or criminal, in any court.

27. Where any dangerous goods have been sent or carried, or attempted to be sent or carried, on goods improperly sent. board any vessel, British or foreign, without being marked as aforesaid, or without such notice having been given as aforesaid, and where any such goods have been sent or carried or attempted to be sent or carried, under a false description, or the sender or carrier thereof has been falsely described, it shall be lawful for any court having Admiralty jurisdiction to declare such goods, and any package or receptacle in which they are contained, to be and they shall thereupon be forfeited, and when forfeited shall be disposed of as the court directs.

Forfeiture of dangerous

Saving as to Dangerous Goods Acts.

Her Mrjesty may, by Order in Council, declare certain foreign ports of registry.

Fees in respect of surveys, &c.

*

Board of Trade may sue in name of its officers.

Certain sections not to come into force until 1st November 1873.

Repeal of certain sections of the Mer-

chant Shipping Acts, 1862 aud 1871, and of certain other sections of Merchant Shipping

Acts, 1854, 1862, and 1871.

The court shall have and may exercise the aforesaid powers of forfeiture and disposal notwithstanding that the owner of the goods have not committed any offence under the provisions of this Act relating to dangerous goods, and be not before the court, and have not notice of the proceedings, and notwithstanding that there be no evidence to show to whom the goods belong; nevertheless the court may, in its discretion, require such notice as it may direct to be given to the owner or shipper of the goods before the same are forfeited.

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28. The provisions of this Act relating to the carriage of dangerous goods shall be deemed to be in addition to and not in substitution for or in restraint of any other enactment for the like object, so never- theless that nothing in the said provisions shall be deemed to authorise that any person be sued or pro- secuted twice in the same matter.

Miscellaneous and Repeal.

29. Where, in accordance with the Foreing Jurisdiction Acts, Her Majesty exercises jurisdiction within any port out of Her Majesty's dominions, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by Order in Council, to declare such port a port of registry (in this Act referred to as a foreign port of registry), and by the same or any subsequent Order in Council to declare the description of persons who are to be the registrars of British ships at such foreign port of registry, and to make regulations with respect to the registry of British ships thereat.

Upon such Order coming into operation it shall have effect as if it were enacted in the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1873, and shall, subject to any exceptions and regulations contained in the Order, apply in the same manner, as near as may be, as if the port mentioned in the Order were an ordinary port of registry.

30. There shall be paid in respect of the several measurements, inspections, and surveys mentioned in the third schedule hereto such fees, not exceeding those specified in that behalf in the said schedule, as the Board of Trade may from time to time determine.

31. In any legal proceedings under the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1873, the Board of Trade may take proceedings in the name of any of their officers.

32. The following sections of this Act, that is to say, sections sixteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, shall not come into operation until the first day of November one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three. 33. Section twenty-nine of the Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1862, and sections four and ten of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1871, are hereby repealed; and on and after the first day of November one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, sections three hundred and twenty-seven and three hundred and twenty-nine of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, sections thirty-three and thirty-eight of the Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1862, and section nine of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1871, shall be re- pealed; but this repeal shall not affect---

(1.) Anything duly done before this Act comes into operation;

(2.) Any right acquired or liability accrued before this Act comes into operation;

(3.) Any penalty, forfeiture, or other punishment incurred or to be incurred in respect of any

offence committed before this Act comes into operation; or,

(4.) The institution of any legal proceeding or any other remedy for ascertaining, enforcing, or

recovering any such liability, penalty, forfeiture, or punishment as aforesaid.

SCHEDULES.

· SCHEDULE I.

SIGNALS OF DISTRESS.

In the daytime. The following signals, numbered 1, 2, and 3, when used or displayed together or separately, shall be deemed to be signals of distress in the daytime:-

1. A gun fired at intervals of about a minute;

2. The International Code signal of distress indicated by N C;

3. The distant signal, consisting of a square flag having either above or below it a ball, or anything resembling

a ball.

At night. The following signals, numbered 1, 2, 3, when used or displayed together or separately, shall be deemed to be signals of distress at night:-

1. A gun fired at intervals of about a minute;

2. Flames on the ship (as from a burning tar barrel, oil barrel, &c.);

3. Rockets or shells, of any colour or description, fired one at a time, at short intervals.