for the purpose of facilitating navigation, or of reducing charges on shipping. And every regulation or byelaw duly made by any pilotage authority in exercise of the powers hereby given to it, and with such consent as aforesaid, shall be valid and effectual, notwithstanding any Act of Parliament, rule, law, or custom to the contrary. be appointed, XXII. In ports, places, or districts for which no sub-commis- No new subsioners of pilotage have hitherto been appointed, no such sub-commissioners to commissioners shall hereafter be appointed without the consent of her and no pilotage Majesty in council, and no pilotage district under the jurisdiction of district to be exany sub-commissioners of pilotage shall hereafter be extended tended, without without such consent. her Majesty's consent. XXIII. So much of the said Act of the sixth year of King George Trinity House the Fourth, chapter one hundred and twenty-five, as provides that no regulations to be byelaws, rules, orders, regulations, or ordinances to be made by the approved by her Majesty in CounTrinity House as therein mentioned shall have force or effect before cil, instead of by they have been examined, sanctioned, and approved by the Chief a Chief Justice, Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench or of the Common Pleas, shall under 6 G. 4, be repealed; and all byelaws, rules, orders, regulations, or ordinances hereafter made by the Trinity House, in exercise of the powers contained in the said Act or in this Act, shall be submitted to her Majesty in council for approval, and shall, if so approved, but not otherwise, have the force and effect of law. c. 125. XXIV. Every order in council made in pursuance of the pro- All such orders visions herein-before contained shall be laid before both Houses of to be laid before Parliament as soon as possible after the making thereof. Parliament. XXV. This Act shall, so far as the context and subject matter Miscellaneous. admit, extend to all ports and districts in Great Britain or Ireland Places, &c. to or the Isle of Man, or in the rivers thereof respectively, or in the which the seas or channels adjacent thereto respectively, in which any masters Act is to extend. of vessels are compelled by law to employ pilots, or in which any persons are licensed or authorized to act as pilots by or under the authority of law, or in which the rates or prices to be demanded or received for pilotage services are fixed by law or under authority derived from law. XXVI. In the construction of this Act the following words and Interpretation of expressions in this Act shall have the meanings hereby assigned to terms. them, if not inconsistent with the context or subject matter; that is to say, The expression "Board of Trade" shall mean the committee of The word "Trinity House" shall mean the master, wardens, The expression "Pilotage Authority" shall include the said XXVII. This Act shall come into operation on the first day of Time of comOctober one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three. mencement. XXVIII. This Act may be cited as the "Pilotage Law Amend- Short title. ment Act, 1853." XXIX. No provision contained in the first section of an Act of the Proviso as to 3 & fourth year of the reign of her present Majesty, chapter sixty-eight, and 4 Vict. c. 68, s. 1. no order or certificate duly made and issued by virtue thereof, shall cease or become void by reason of the passing of this Act. Prefatory Commencement of this Act, and repeal of former Act except as to existing lia cept as to an order in council dated 16th Oct. 1852. No. IX. "THE PASSENGERS ACT, 1855." 18 & 19 VICT. C. 119. by Sea. An Act to amend the Law relating to the Carriage of Passengers [14th August, 1855.] WHEREAS it is expedient to amend "The Passengers Act, 1852" Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: I. On the 1st day of October next, when this Act shall commence and come into force, "The Passengers Act, 1852," shall be repealed, except so far as the said Act repeals any former Act or enactment; and except as to existing passage-brokers' licenses, which shall continue in force as mentioned in section sixty-eight of this Act, and except as to bilities, and ex- any ship which shall have cleared out from any colonial port under the said Act, and before this Act shall have come into operation in such colony; and except so far as may be necessary for supporting or continuing any proceeding heretofore taken or hereafter to be taken upon any bond given under the said Act, or upon any other civil process; and except as to the recovery and application of any penalty for any offence committed against the said Act before the commencement of this Act; and except also as to an order in council made by her Majesty, with the advice of her privy council, on the sixteenth day of October, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in pursuance of the powers given by the fifty-fifth section of the said Act, which said order in council shall remain in force until altered or revoked by any order in council to be made under the provisions of this Act. Short title of this Act; and in reference to sec tions of this Act II. In citing this Act in other Acts of Parliament, or in any instrulegal proceedings ment, document, or proceeding, it shall be sufficient to use the expression "The Passengers Act, 1855;" and in any process for enforcing the remedies or penalties given or imposed by this Act, it shall be sufficient, without specifying more particularly the cause of complaint or offence, to refer by number, according to the copies of the Act printed by the Queen's printer, to the section or sections under which the proceeding is taken. by number to be sufficient. Definition of terms used in this Act. III. For the purposes of this Act, the following words and expressions, whenever they occur, shall respectively have the following significations, if not inconsistent with the context or subject-matter; (that is to say,) words of one number or gender shall import both numbers and all genders respectively; the expression "Her Majesty " shall include her heirs and successors; the expression "Consular Officer" shall signify and include her Majesty's consul-general, consul, and vice-consul; the expression "United Kingdom" shall signify Great Britain and Ireland, and the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, Scilly, and Man; the expression "North America" shall signify and include the Bermudas, and all ports and places on the eastern coast of the continent of North America, or in the islands adjacent or near thereto, or in the Gulf of Mexico, north of the tropic of Cancer; the expression "West Indies" shall signify the West India islands, the Bahamas, British Guiana, and Honduras; the expression "Governor" shall signify the person who for the time being shall be lawfully administering the government of any British colony in which he may be acting; the expression "Statute Adult" shall signify any person of the age of twelve years or upwards, or two persons between the ages of one and twelve years; the expression "Passage" shall include all passages except cabin passages; the expression" Passengers" shall include all passengers except cabin passengers, and except labourers under indenture to the Hudson's Bay Company, and their families, conveyed in ships the property of or chartered by the said company, and no persons shall be deemed cabin passengers unless the space allotted to their exclusive use shall be in the proportion of at least thirty-six clear superficial feet to each statute adult, nor unless they shall be messed throughout the voyage at the same table with the master or first officer of the ship, nor unless the fare contracted to be paid by them respectively shall be in the proportion of at least thirty shillings for every week of the length of the voyage as computed under the provisions of this Act for sailing vessels proceeding from the United Kingdom to any place south of the equator, and of twenty shillings for such vessels proceeding to any place north of the equator, nor unless they shall have been furnished with a duly signed contract ticket according to the form in Schedule (K.) of this Act; the expression "Upper Passenger Deck" shall signify and include the deck immediately beneath the upper deck, or the poop or round house and deck house when the number of passengers and cabin passengers carried in such poop, round house, or deck house shall exceed one third of the total number of passengers which such ship can lawfully carry on the deck next below; the expression "Lower Passenger Deck," the deck next beneath the upper passenger deck, not being an orlop deck; the expression "Ship" shall signify any description of sea-going vessel, whether British or foreign; the expression "Passenger Ship" shall signify every description of such ship carrying upon any voyage to which the provisions of this Act shall extend more than thirty passengers, or a greater number of passengers than in the proportion of one statute adult to every fifty tons of the registered tonnage of such ship if propelled by sails, or of one statute adult to every twenty-five tons if propelled by steam; the expression "Master" shall signify the person who shall be borne on the ship's articles as master, or who, other than a pilot, shall for the time being be in charge or command of any such ship or passenger ship; and the expression "Emigrant Runner" shall signify every person other than a licensed passage-broker or his bona fide salaried clerk, who within any port or place of shipping, or within five miles of the outer boundaries thereof, for hire or reward, or the expectation thereof, shall directly or indirectly conduct, solicit, influence, or recommend any intending emigrant to or on behalf of any passage-broker, owner, charterer, or master of a ship, lodging house or tavern or shop keeper, money changer, or other dealer or chapman, for any purpose connected with the preparations or arrangements for a passage, or shall give or pretend to give to such intending emigrant any information or assistance in any way relating to emigration. and voyages this IV. This Act shall extend to every passenger ship proceeding on To what vessels any voyage from the United Kingdom to any place out of Europe, Act extends. and not being within the Mediterranean Sea, and on every colonial voyage as herein-after described, and in the particulars mentioned or referred to in sections one hundred, one hundred and one, and one hundred and two, to every ship bringing passengers into the United Kingdom from any place out of Europe, and not being within the Penalty on fraudulently altering certificates, or using frandnlent certi ficates. Commissioners of emigration to into execution. carry this Act Emigration commissioners may sue and be sued in the name of &c. Mediterranean Sea; but shall not extend to any of her Majesty's ships of war, nor to any ships in the service of the commissioners for executing the office of lord high admiral of the United Kingdom, nor to any ship of war or transport in the service of the East India Company, nor to any steam vessel regularly employed in the conveyance of the public mails under an existing contract with the government of the state or colony to which such steam vessel may belong, providing the master thereof shall, on demand, produce to the emigration officer at the port of clearance or port of departure a certificate of exemption in the form given in Schedule (A.) hereto annexed, under the hand of the postmaster-general of the United Kingdom, or of some person deputed by him for the purpose, or in the case of a colony, under the hand of the governor thereof, or in the case of a foreign state, under the hand of the postmaster-general or other competent government officer, whose signature shall be authenticated by the signature of a British consular officer in such foreign state. V. Such certificate of exemption shall be issuable at the discretion of the officer authorized to grant the same as herein-before mentioned, and shall remain in force for the period specified therein, unless sooner revoked, or unless the vessel for which it shall have been issued shall sooner cease to be employed in carrying the public mails; and if any person shall make or attempt to make any fraudulent use of any such certificate, or shall forge, counterfeit, alter, or erase the whole or any part thereof, or shall use or attempt to use any spurious or fraudulent certificate, the person so offending, and every person aiding and abetting in such offence, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five hundred pounds sterling, and the vessel for which the exemption is claimed shall not be cleared out until all the requirements of this Act have been complied with. VI. And whereas by a warrant under her Majesty's sign manual, bearing date on the twenty-seventh day of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, her Majesty was pleased to appoint certain persons therein named under the style of "The Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners," to be, during her Majesty's pleasure, commissioners in the United Kingdom for the sale of the waste lands of the Crown of Her Majesty's colonies, and for superintending the emigration of the poorer classes of Her Majesty's subjects to such colonies and whereas it is expedient that such commissioners should be empowered to carry this Act into execution: be it therefore enacted that the said commissioners, and their successors for the time being, shall, and they are hereby empowered to carry this Act into execu tion; and that for all legal and other purposes it shall be sufficient to describe such commissioners by the style of "The Emigration Commissioners." VII. The said emigration commissioners for the time being may sue and be sued in the name of their secretary, or of any one of such commissioners for the time being, and legal or equitable proceedings their secretary, taken by or against the said commissioners in the name of any one of them or of their secretary, shall not abate nor be discontinued by the death or removal of such secretary or commissioner, but the secretary for the time being, or any one of such commissioners, shall always be deemed to be the plaintiff or defendant (as the case may be) in any Commissioners, such proceedings: provided always, that the said commissioners and their secretary, and the emigration officers herein-after mentioned respectively, shall in no case be personally liable, nor shall the private estate and effects of any of them be liable, for the payment of any monies or costs or otherwise in respect of any contract made or hereafter to be made by them or any of them, or in respect of any legal or equitable proceedings taken against them or any of them, or for any act, deed, or matter done or executed by them or any of them in their or his official capacity and on the public service. &c., exempt from liability. cers and assist existing ap VIII. In the United Kingdom the said commissioners acting under Emigration offthe sanction of one of her Majesty's principal secretaries of state, and, ants to act under in her Majesty's possessions abroad the respective governors thereof the commismay from time to time appoint, and the said commissioners and sioners, &c., but governors may at pleasure from time to time remove such emigration pointments to officers and assistant emigration officers as they may respectively continue until think necessary, for the purpose of carrying this Act into execution, under the direction of the said commissioners or governors, as the case may be provided nevertheless, that all existing appointments of emigration officers or immigration agents and of their assistants, as well in the United Kingdom as in her Majesty's possessions abroad, shall continue in force under this Act until duly revoked. : revoked. gration officer IX. All powers, functions, and duties to be exercised or performed Duties of emlby any such emigration officer may be exercised and performed may be perrespectively by his assistant, or, at any port where there shall be no formed by his such emigration officer or assistant, or in their absence, by the chief assistant, or by officer of customs for the time being at such port. officer of customs. for the inspec X. The master of every ship, whether a "Passenger Ship" or other- Facilities to be wise fitting or intended for the carriage of passengers, or which shall given to the carry passengers upon any voyage to which this Act extends, shall proper officers afford to such emigration officer as aforesaid at any port or place in tion of all ships her Majesty's dominions, and, in the case of British ships, to her fitting for pasMajesty's consular officer at any foreign port or place at which such sengers. ship shall be or arrive, every facility for inspecting such ship, and for communicating with the passengers, and for ascertaining that the provisions of this Act, so far as the same may be applicable to such ships, have been duly complied with; the master of any ship who Penalty on shall omit or fail to comply with any of the requirements of this master refusing section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds. to comply, &c. cate from emi be given to the XI. No ship fitted or intended for the carriage of passengers as a Arrangements "Passenger Ship" shall clear out or proceed to sea until the master for the Ship. thereof shall have obtained from the emigration officer at the port No passenger of clearance a certificate of clearance under his hand that all the ship to clear requirements of this Act, so far as the same can be complied with, without certifi before the departure of such ship, have been duly complied with, and gration officer, that such ship is, in his opinion, seaworthy, in safe trim, and in all nor until bond respects fit for her intended voyage, and that her passengers and crew Crown. are in a fit state to proceed, nor until the master shall have joined in executing such bond to the Crown as required by the sixty-third section of this Act: provided, that if such emigration officer shall refuse to grant such certificate, and the owner or charterer of such ship shall appeal in writing to the emigration commissioners, such commissioners shall appoint any two other emigration officers, or any two competent persons, at the expense of the appellant, to examine into the matter, and if the persons so appointed shall grant a certificate under their joint hands to the purport herein-before required, such certificate shall be held to be of the same effect as if granted by the emigration officer of the port of clearance. ceeds to sea XII. If any "" Passenger Ship" shall clear out or proceed to sea Forfeiture of ship without the master's having first obtained such certificate of clearance, if master proor without his having joined in executing such bond as by this Act is without certirequired, or if such ship after having sailed shall put into any port or ficate of clearplace in the United Kingdom in a damaged state, and shall put to ance, &c. sea again without the master having first obtained such certificate of clearance as required by section fifty of this Act, such ship shall be forfeited to the use of her Majesty, and may be seized by any officer of customs, if found, within two years from the commission of the Such ship to be offence, in any port or place in her Majesty's dominions; and such dealt with as if ship shall thereupon be dealt with in the same manner as if she had seized under been seized as forfeited under any of the laws relating to the customs laws relating for an offence incurring forfeiture under those laws. to customs. |