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PART VII.

Ships, Shipping, Harbours, &c.

CHAPTER LII.

RELIEF OF DISTRESSED SEAMEN.

(No. 3-1870.)

WHEREAS the Board of Trade under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Acts, pay certain sums on account of distressed seamen of the Colonies out of the Imperial vote for the relief of distressed British seamen; and it is reasonable that such expenses should be repaid by the Colony to which the seamen belong :

Trade of sums

1. The Governor shall from time to time, when officially called Repayment to upon by the Board of Trade so to do, repay to the said Board by Board of warrant of himself and Council for the time being, out of the paid for discolonial revenues for the current year, such amount of expenses tressed seapaid by the Board of Trade in respect of any distressed seamen men. belonging to any ship registered at any port of the Colony or Protectorate.

2. The Colonial Treasurer is hereby authorised and required Authority to from time to time, upon the warrant or order of the Governor, to Treasurer. pay the amount specified in such warrant or order out of such moneys arisen or to arise from and out of the colonial revenues without any further order or formality.

3. This Ordinance may be cited as Ordinance."

"The Distressed Seamen Short title.

The Colonial Government may defray

the expenses of rescuing

CHAPTER LIII.

SHIPS' PASSENGERS (SUCCOURING).

(No. 2-1888.)

1. If any ship shall be wrecked or otherwise rendered unfit to proceed on her intended voyage, and the passengers, or any of them, shall be taken off from such ship, or shall be picked up at sea from any boat or raft, or otherwise, it shall be lawful, if the shipwrecked port or place to which they shall be conveyed shall be within the Colony or Protectorate, for the Governor, or any person authorised by him for the purpose, to defray all or any part of the expenses thereby incurred.

passengers.

And may forward ships' passengers in certain cases to their destinations;

2. If any passenger of any ship shall, without any neglect or default of his own, find himself within any port or place within the Colony or Protectorate, other than that for which such ship was originally bound, or at which he, or any emigration commissioners or any public officer or other person on his behalf, may have contracted that he should land, it shall be lawful for the Governor, or any person authorised by him for the purpose, to forward such passenger to his intended destination, unless the master of such ship shall, within forty-eight hours of the arrival of such passenger, give to the Governor a written undertaking to forward or carry on such passenger, within six weeks thereafter, to his original destination, and unless such master shall forward or carry on such and maintain passenger accordingly; and in the meantime it shall be lawful for the Governor, or such other person as aforesaid, to maintain such passenger and provide him with necessaries.

them in the meantime.

Colonial
Government.

Expenses 3. All expenses incurred under the preceding sections of this incurred Ordinance or either of them by or by the authority of the Governor under the previous or such other person as therein respectively mentioned, including sections to be the cost of maintaining passengers until forwarded to their destinaa debt to the tion, and of all requisite medical treatment, and of all necessary bedding, provisions and stores, shall become a debt to the Colonial Government from the owner, charterer and master of such ship and shall be recoverable from them, or from any one or more of them, in a suit to be instituted in the Supreme Court by the Attorney-General or any other officer appointed by the Governor for that purpose; and a certificate in the Form in the Schedule

hereunto annexed, or as near thereto as the circumstances of the case will admit, purporting to be under the hand of the Governor and to state the total amount of such expenses, shall, in any suit or other proceeding for the recovery of such debt, be received in evidence without proof of the handwriting or of the official character of the Governor, and shall be deemed sufficient evidence of the amount of such expenses, and that the same were duly incurred, nor shall it be necessary to adduce on behalf of the Colonial Government any other evidence in support of the claim, but judgment shall pass for the Colonial Government with costs of suit, unless the defendant shall specially plead and duly prove that such certificate is false or fraudulent, or shall specially plead and prove any facts showing that such expenses were not duly incurred under the provisions of this Ordinance; provided, nevertheless, that in no case shall any larger sum be recovered by or on behalf of the Colonial Government on account of such expenses than a sum equal to twice the total amount of passage-money received or recoverable by or on account of the owner, charterer or master of such ship, or any of them, for or in respect of the whole number of passengers who may have embarked in such ship upon the particular voyage, which total amount of passage-money shall be proved by the defendant, if he will have the advantage of this limitation of the debt.

terms.

4. In this Ordinance, except where and in so far as something Meaning of in the subject or the context requires some different meaning: "Ship" means any description of sea-going vessel, whether British or foreign;

"Passengers" means all persons on board a ship other than those employed or engaged in any capacity thereon; and

"Master" includes every person (except a pilot) having command or charge of any ship.

5. This Ordinance may be cited for all purposes as "The Ships' Short Title. Passengers Ordinance."

SCHEDULE.

Form of Governor's Certificate of Expenditure in the case of succoured Ships' Passengers.

I hereby certify that, acting under the Ships' Passengers Ordinance, I have defrayed the expenses incurred in rescuing, maintaining, supplying with necessary medical treatment, bedding, provisions and stores and forwarding to their destination (a) passengers who were proceeding from in the ship

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which was [wrecked at sea, &c.] (b).

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And I further certify, for the purposes of the 3rd Section of the said Ordinance, that the total amount of such expenses is

and that such expenses were duly incurred by me under that Ordinance.

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(a) N.B.-If more passengers were rescued than forwarded, or if bedding was not supplied, and so on, alter the certificate to suit the case.

(b) State generally the nature of the disaster and when and where it occurred. But if the passengers were only left behind without any default of their own, state the fact accordingly.

CHAPTER LIV.

DESERTION FROM FOREIGN SHIPS.

(P. No. 7-1904.)

1. This Ordinance may be cited as "The Foreign Deserters Title. Ordinance."

2. Where it appears to the Governor that due facilities are or Application will be given by the Government of any foreign country for to foreign recovering and apprehending seamen who desert from British countries. merchant ships in that country the Governor may by notification stating that such facilities are or will be given declare that this Ordinance shall apply in the case of such foreign country subject to any limitations, conditions, and qualifications contained in the notification.

3. Where this Ordinance applies in the case of any foreign Arrest of country and a seaman or apprentice, not being a slave, deserts deserters when within the Colony or Protectorate from a merchant ship merchant from foreign belonging to a subject or citizen of that country, any Court, ships. Justice, or officer that would have had cognizance of the matter if the seaman or apprentice had deserted from a British ship shall, on the application of a Consular Officer of the foreign country, aid in apprehending the deserter, and for that purpose may, on information given on oath, issue a warrant for his apprehension, and, on proof of the desertion, order him to be conveyed on board his ship or delivered to the master or mate of his ship or to the owner of the ship or his agent, to be so conveyed; and any such warrant or order may be executed accordingly.

4. If any person harbours or secretes any deserter liable to be Penalty for apprehended under this section knowing or having reason to harbouring a believe that he has deserted, that person shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding 107.

deserter.

of the

5. The Governor may at any time by notification declare that Power to any notification theretofore made with respect to the application to withdraw the a foreign country of this Ordinance shall as and from a date application specified cease to have effect and this Ordinance shall as and from Ordinance. the said date cease to apply in the case of the foreign country named in that notification.

S.N.-VOL. I.

3 B

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