Deck Cargoes.-Section 23. Space occupied by deck cargo made liable to dues. Tonnage thereof to be ascertained and entered in official log by an officer of Board of Trade or Customs. Penalties for carrying deck loads of timber in winter (arriving between October 31, and April 16) provided.

Deck and Load-Lines. —Sections 25 to 28. Deck lines to be marked on British ships (except under 80 tons register employed solely in coasting trade, ships employed solely in fishing and pleasure yachts). Description of lines. British vessels (with similar exceptions) to be marked with load-line circular discs as defined, the centre of which indicates the maximum load-line in salt water. Disc to be recorded on clearing outwards at Custom House, and in articles of agreement and in official log. Load-line to be marked on coasting vessels of over 80 tons register. Penalty of £100 provided for offences in relation to marks on ships.

Investigations into Shipping Casualties.-Sections 29 to 33. Appointment of Wreck Commissioner by Lord Chancellor provided. Assistance of assessors provided when cancellation or suspension of officers' certificates involved. Power of Wreck Commissioner to investigate cases of distress, stranding and missing ships. Board of Trade fix places of investigation.

Detention.-Section 34. Enforcement of detention and penalty for illegally proceeding to sea with detaining officers on board.

Managing Owner.-Section 36. Name of managing owner or ships' husband to be duly registered at Custom House of port of registry who is under all obligations and liabilities of Merchant Shipping Acts.

Foreign Ships.-Section 37. With consent of foreign States provisions of any portion of Merchant Shipping Acts may be applied by Order in Council to ships of those States when out of their own jurisdiction.

SHIPPING CASUALTIES INVESTIGATION ACT, 1879.

Section 2. Rehearing of and appeal against investigation into shipping casualty or misconduct of officers provided.

Section 3. Rules as to investigations into shipping casualties and misconduct of officers. List of assessors to be in force for three years only, and to be appointed under Section 30 Merchant Shipping Act, 1876. Certificates of Officers.-Where cancellation or suspension likely to be involved, two assessors to assist in hearing. Investigations into casualties. Where to be held.

MERCHANT SHIPPING (CARRIAGE OF GRAIN) ACT, 1880. Section 3. General obligation to prevent cargo shifting. Section 4. Precautions against shifting of grain laden in Mediterranean or Black Sea or North America. Carriage between decks prevented except for quantity for feeding cargo in hold. Exemption where feeders are provided. Where grain carried in bulk without feeders one-fourth to be in bags laid upon grain in bulk. Oats or cotton seed not included in this provision, nor ships of less than 400 reg. tons not engaged in Atlantic trade; nor ships laden in Mediterranean or Black Seas provided with compartments in holds and with longitudinal bulkheads or shifting boards; nor to ships in which grain does not exceed one-half of whole cargo, and the rest wool, flax, or flour, or other suitable cargo properly stowed. General provisions for proper bulkheads or shifting boards and safe stowage.

Section 5. Ships laden in accordance with regulations of Board of Trade are exempted from penalties provided by Act.

Section 6. Notice by master of kind and quantity of grain cargo to be given to British Consular Officer or Officer of Customs abroad. Sections 8 and 9. Board of Trade has power to enforce Act. Mode of prosecution and recovery of penalties, &c.

MERCHANT SEAMEN (PAYMENT OF WAGES AND RATING) ACT, 1880.

Advance Notes.-Section 2. Advance notes made illegal, and when beyond one month's wages. (See Merchant Shipping Act, 1889, Chapter 46, Section 2.)

Allotments.-Section 3. Seamen may leave half their wages under allotments to relatives mentioned in Section 169 of M.S. Act, 1854, or may leave allotment payable to Seamen's Saving Bank.

Payment of Wages.-Section 4. Seaman entitled on leaving ship at end of engagement to £2, or one-fourth of balance due himwhichever is least; remainder to be paid within two clear days (exclusive of any Sunday or Bank Holiday) after leaving ship. Delivery of wages account at Mercantile Marine Office instead of to seaman himself at master's option (see Section 171,M.S. Act, 1854). Final settlement of wages may be left to superintendent if seaman consents. Wages in case of non-payment within required period run on until final settlement. In cases of dispute where sum does not exceed £5 superintendent may arbitrate.

Section 5. Penalty provided against persons being on board without permission before seamen leave, £20 (see Section 237, M.S. Act, 1854). This provision may be applied to foreign-going ships by order in Council.

Rating of Seamen.-Section 7. Seamen entitled to be rated A.B.s on proof of certain sea-service.

Section 8. Power of Court to rescind contracts between master or owner and seaman or apprentice.

Seamen's Lodging-houses.-Section 9. Board of Trade may license and approve of bye-laws and regulations made by Sanitary Authority at ports.

Desertion.-Section 10. Imprisonment for desertion abolished, but power of arrest and conveyance on board provided. (See also Merchant Shipping Act, 1889, Section 3.)

Section II. Benefits of Employers' and Workmen's Act, 1875, extended to seamen.

MERCHANT SHIPPING (FISHING BOATS) ACT, 1883. Sections 3 to 12. Application of Act. Apprenticeship to the sea-fishing service, and agreements with boys under sixteen.

Articles of agreement to be made with seamen

Sections 13 to 23. in fishing service. Sections 24 to 27. and the duties of skippers. Sections 28 to 35.

Deals with the wages and discharge of seamen,

Provisions as to discipline, amenities, and

penalties in the sea-fishing service.

Sections 36 to 42. Issue of certificates of competency to skippers and second hands by Board of Trade.

Sections 43 to 47. Enactments relating to deaths, injuries, punishments, ill-treatment, and casualties. Disputes between skippers or owners and seamen.

Sections 48 to 55. Miscellaneous.

THE MERCHANT SHIPPING (MISCELLANEOUS) ACT, 1887. The provisions of this Act, passed in the 1886 session of Parliament, amending in certain minor particulars some of the enactments relating to merchant shipping and seamen, may be learned in the following summary :

Section I gives the title of the Act as above, and recites that it may be construed as one with the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, and amending Acts, and that this Act and those Acts may be cited collectively as the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1887.

Fees on Examinations of Engineers.-Section 2 recites that by Section 7 of the Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1862, it is provided that fees payable by applicants for certificates of competency as engineers shall be carried to the account of the Mercantile Marine Fund, and that at the time of the passing of that Act the salaries of the surveyors who conduct the examinations were paid out of that fund.

And, further, that by Section 39 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1876, it was provided that the salaries of the said surveyors should be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament; and by Section 4 of the Merchant Shipping (Fees and Expenses) Act, 1880, it was provided that the fees paid by the applicants for engineers' certificates of competency should be paid into the exchequer.

And it further recites that under Section 3 of the Merchant Shipping (Expenses) Act, 1882, the salaries of the said surveyors are charged on and paid out of the Mercantile Marine Fund, and it is expedient that the fees paid by the applicants for examination should be carried to the account of the Mercantile Marine Fund. It is, therefore, enacted that the fees payable in pursuance of Section 7 of the Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1862, shall cease to be payable into the exchequer; and all such of those fees as have been levied since April 1, 1883, or are hereafter levied, shall be carried to the account of the Mercantile Marine Fund.

Powers of Colonial Governors re Measurement and Registry of Ships.-Section 3 recites that doubts have been expressed as to the extent of the powers conferred on certain Colonial authorities by Section 31 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, and it is therefore enacted that the powers conferred by that section on the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or other person administering the Government in a British possession, shall be deemed to include the following powers :

(a) Power to approve a port or place within the possession for the registry of ships; and (b) power to appoint surveyors within the limits of the possession to survey and measure ships for registry or re-registry as British ships, in accordance with the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1887.

Public Records in Custody of Registrar-General of Seamen.Section 4 enacts that all documents which, under Section 277 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, or enactments amending same, are required to be recorded and preserved by the Registrar-General of Seamen, shall be deemed to be public records and documents within the meaning of the Public Record Offices Acts, 1838 to 1887, and those Acts shall, where applicable, apply to such documents in all respects as if they had been specifically referred to in the said Acts. Explanation of Meaning of Lighthouses.-Section 5 enacts that in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, and amending Acts, the expres

sion "lighthouses" shall, in addition to the meaning therein assigned to it, include sirens and all other descriptions of fog signals; and the expression "new lighthouse " shall include the addition to any existing lighthouse of any approved light, or any siren, or any description of fog signal.

Repeals.-Section 6 is the last in the Act, and merely repeals Section 48 of the Seamen's Fund Winding-up Act, 1851, and Section 4 of the Merchant Shipping (Fees and Expenses) Act, 1880.

MERCHANT SHIPPING (LIFE SAVING AND APPLIANCES)
Аст, 1888.

Section 1. Obligation of owners and masters to carry boats and other appliances in British merchant ships for saving life.

Section 2. Authority of Board of Trade to appoint a consultative committee for framing rules under Act. Tenure of office, &c. Sections 3 and 4. Power to make rules as to life-saving appliances, and penalties provided for breach of rules.

Sections 5, 6, and 7. Power of Board of Trade to inspect and enforce rules. Rules not to apply to sea-fishing boats. vided to proceed for breach of other Acts.

Power pro

Sections 8, 9, and 10. Repeals after first publication of rules, sections 292, 293, and 294 M. S. A., 1854, as to boats to be carried, except so far as they relate to sea-fishing boats, registered under Sea Fisheries Act, 1868. Repeals section 27 of Passengers Act, 1855, from the beginning to words "immediate use at sea;" and repeals section 15 M. S. A., 1873.

Sections 9 and 10. Construction and short title of Act.

Schedule I of Act specifies constitution of committee and number of representatives from Chamber of Shipping, Liverpool and Glasgow Associations, Council of Naval Architects, Shipmasters' Societies, Seamen's Societies, Lloyd's Committee, Lloyd's Register Society, and Committee of London Underwriters.

Schedule 2. Matters for which rules are to provide, including arrangement of British ships into classes; boats, buoys, and other apparatus and appliances to be carried.

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT, 1889.

CHAPTER 46.-Amendment of Shipping Act, 1854, and Acts amending same.

Section I. Masters of ships to have same remedies for recovery of disbursements and for liabilities incurred on account of ships as for recovery of wages, and power given to Court adjudicating to investigate accounts, set offs, and counterclaims.

Section 2. Advance Notes legalised to the extent of one month's wages, and Section 2 of the Merchant Seamen (Payment of Wages and Rating) Act, 1880, repealed.

Section 3. Deserters.-Register of seamen who have deserted or failed to join their ships after signing Agreement to be kept at Mercantile Marine Office for inspection of masters.

Section 4. Payment of Wages to British Seamen in foreign money to be made at rate of exchange current at place of payment, notwithstanding anything to contrary in Agreement.

Section 5. Provisions of Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, and Amending Acts shall apply to ships propelled by electricity or other mechanical power.

Section 6. This Act to be cited as "Merchant Shipping Act, 1889," and to be construed as one with Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, and subsequent Acts amending the same.

MERCHANT SHIPPING (TONNAGE) ACT, 1889.

Section I. In ascertaining register-tonnage no deduction shall be allowed in respect of any space which has not been first included in measurement of ship's tonnage. Repeals in Section 21, paragraph 4, Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, the words “First, that nothing shall be added for a closed-in space solely appropriated to the berthing of the crew, unless such space exceeds one-twentieth of the remaining tonnage of the ship, and in case of such excess, the excess only shall be added." And, secondly, and in Section 22, paragraph 2, of the same Act, the words "Subject to the deduction for a closed-in space appropriated to the crew as mentioned in Rule I.," shall be repealed. This Section is not to apply until after the expiration of five years from the passing of this Act to ships where deductions prohibited have been made before the 10th March, 1889, or to ships the building of which was commenced before that date, and which are registered between that date and the end of 1889, unless in either case before the expiration of the said five years the vessels are measured or re-measured in accordance with the provisions of this Act; but this exemption is not to extend to any ship in which the allowance for propelling-power space exceeds 50 per cent. of the gross tonnage.

Section 2. Allowance for engine-room in Steamers.-Space or spaces above crown of engine-room, and above the upper deck framed in and for the machinery or for admission of light and air, shall not be included in propelling-power space, except owner requests the Board of Trade in writing, and shall not be included in pursuance of such request, unless

(a) That portion is first included in measurement of grosstonnage; and

(b) A surveyor appointed under Fourth Part of Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, certifies that it is duly constructed, safe, and seaworthy, and cannot be used for any other purpose. Section 3. Deductions for Navigation Spaces.-The following deductions shall be made in ascertaining register-tonnage in measuring or re-measuring a ship, viz.:—

In Sailing Vessels-any space set apart and used exclusively for storage of sails.

In the case of any Ship

(1) Any space used exclusively for accommodation of

master.

(2) Any space used exclusively for working of the helm, the capstan, and anchor gear, or for keepihg charts, signals, and other instruments of navigation, and boatswain's stores; and

(3) The space occupied by donkey-engine and boiler, if connected with the main pumps of the ship. These deductions are subject to the following provisions, viz.:

That Board of Trade Surveyor certifies as to their suitability and efficiency; that there must be permanently marked over every such space the purpose to which it is to be applied; and that the deduction on acccunt of space for stowage of sails must not exceed 24 per cent. of tonnage of ship.