1890_DESERTION_OF_SEAMEN_ORDINANCE — Page 3

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As to the establishment and regulation of boarding- houses.

[* Ord. No. 6 of 1862.1

Penalty for keeping an unlicensed boarding-house.

Duties of board- ing-house keepers with respect to lists,

returns, &c., &c,

of their inmates.

ORDINANCE No. 6 OF 1852.

Desertion of Seamen.

6. That the Harbour Master having obtained the sanction of the *Chief Magistrate of Police, in every case shall have power to license a sufficient number of fit and pro- per persons to keep boarding-houses for seamen, and every such licence shall be coun- tersigned by the Colonial Secretary, and shall be granted for such period not exceed- ing one year, and upon such terms and security, and shall be renewable upon such conditions, as the said Colonial Secretary may appoint; and it shall be lawful for the said Colonial Secretary to demand for every such licence an annual fee of five pounds.

and sterling, or at the rate thereof according to the term of such licence;

such every house shall be for the reception of such number of seamen only as shall be expressed in the licence, and shall not be granted until there have been constructed in the house to be licensed a suitable room or cabin for each boarder, and a general room of suffi cient size wherein the boarders may dine and sit; and no such boarding-house shall be a house licensed for the sale of spirituous or fermented liquors, nor shall any charge for spirituous or fermented liquor be allowed in any account for the amount of which any seaman may be indebted or stated to be indebted to any person, and such board- ing-house shall be separated by at least one intervening house on either side of it from any house licensed for such sale as aforesaid, and every such boarding-house shall be open at all times to the visit of any Magistrate, or of the Harbour Master, or of any constable specially appointed for the general service of visiting such houses. And the Harbour Master may refuse to grant any such licence, and may limit the number and description of seamen to be boarded in each house, and may make rules (subject however as to this and all other powers vested in him by this Ordinance, to the control of the Governor) for the government of such houses, and regulate the charge to be made for board and lodging; and a copy of such rules in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindostanee, and Chinese, shall be hung up in each house for the inspection of the inmates; and the infraction of any one of such rules shall subject the offender in every instance to a penalty not exceeding five pounds sterling, and for a second offence may deprive the offender, if the keeper of such house, of his licence as an additional punish-

ment.

7. And that if any person not having obtained a licence for keeping a boarding- house for seamen shall keep one, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding the sum of twenty pounds; and that the fact of more than one seaman boarding or lodging in the house of any person, shall be prima facie proof of the keeping of a boarding-house for seamen by such person. But nothing in this Ordinance contained shall be construed to prevent any seaman from having the whole or any part of any unfurnished house for the residence of himself or his family, and boarding himself therein; and nothing herein contained with reference to boarding-houses shall apply to licensed retailers of spirituous or fermented liquors until the time of their present licences shall have expired.

8. That every keeper of a boarding-house for seamen shall cause daily to be entered in a book in English, the name and description of each additional seaman who

has on that day come to board or lodge at his house, and the name of each seaman who has.