Sea-fishing boats. The Sea Fisheries Act, 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. 45), contains numerous regulations respecting sea-fishing boats. The 5th section enacts that the term "sea-fishing boat" shall include every vessel of whatever size and in whatever way propelled which is used by any person in sea-fishing, or in carrying on the business of a sea fisherman. The 23rd section empowers the Queen by order in council to make regulations for carrying out the registry of British sea-fishing boats. The 22nd section provides that, subject to exemptions allowed in pursuance of an order in council, every British sea-fishing boat shall be lettered and numbered and have official papers, and shall be entered or registered in a register for sea-fishing boats, and declares that a British sea-fishing boat required to be registered and not registered shall not be entitled to any of the privileges, but shall be liable to all the obligations of a British sea-fishing boat; and if any British sea-fishing boat required to be registered, and not so registered, is used as a seafishing boat in the seas to which the act applies, the owner and master shall each be liable to a penalty of 207., and the boat may be seized and detained. The 26th section requires the master of a British sea-fishing boat to keep on board his boat the certificate of registry, and if he neglects to do so without reasonable excuse he is liable to a penalty of 201. (g). tended power on the board in regard "That in the case of a vessel built "That for vessels in progress of registry, and for which the builder's certificate and due surveys are in possession of the registrar at the port of intended registry, a clearance or transire be granted for one voyage with cargo to any port in the United Kingdom without requiring the production of the certificate or registry, the tonnage and port of intended registry being noted on the clearance or tran sire: "That for vessels built in the United Kingdom and intended for registry in any other part of her Majesty's dominions, a special application be made to the board by the builder, or the agent to the owner, showing the vessel to have been built on account of British owners, and giving the name of the port to which she is about to proceed for registry, and when the order of the board has been obtained, the pass is to be endorsed on a copy of the certificate of survey and handed to the master of the vessel with his name endorsed thereon: "The original survey and formula of measurement are to be forwarded to the registrar, with a letter apprizing him of the date when the vessel was cleared and of the pass given." (g) The name of the owner, and the port to which the boat belongs, must be painted on her. The Customs Laws Consolidation Act, 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. c. 36), s. 176. See Appendix, "Orders in Council." owners. With respect to the owners of British ships, the Merchant Who may be Shipping Act, 1854, sect. 18, provides that no ship shall be deemed to be a British ship (h) unless she belongs wholly to owners of the following description; that is to say :(1.) Natural-born British subjects: No natural-born subject who has taken the oath of allegiance to any foreign sovereign or state may however be such owner, unless he has subsequently taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen, and is, during the whole period of his being an owner, resident within her dominions, or a member of a British factory, or partner in a house actually carrying on business in the United Kingdom, or within the Queen's dominions (i). (2.) Persons made denizens by letters of denization, or naturalized by or pursuant to any act of the imperial legislature, or any act or ordinance of the proper legislative authority in any British possession (): Such persons must, however, during the whole period of their being owners, be resident within the Queen's dominions, or members of a British factory, or partners in a house actually carrying on business in the United Kingdom, or within the Queen's dominions, and must have taken the oath of allegiance subsequently to the period of their being so made denizens or naturalized. (3.) Bodies corporate established under, subject to the laws of, and having their principal place of business in the United Kingdom, or some British possession (7). (h) Sect. 106 of this act provides that whenever it is declared by the statute that a ship belonging to any person or body corporate qualified according to this act to be owners of British ships shall not be recognized as a British ship, such ship shall not be entitled to any benefits, privileges, advantages or protection usually enjoyed by British ships, and shall not be entitled to use the British flag or assume the British national character; but, so far as regards the payment of dues, the liability to pains and penalties, and the punishment of offences committed on board, or by any persons belonging to her, she is to be dealt with in the same manner in all respects as if she were a recognized British ship. (i) This provision is not to be affected by anything contained in the Promissory Oaths Act, 1868, except (k) See the Naturalization Act, 1870 (1) By the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 89, s. 12, no person who had taken the oath of allegiance to any foreign state, except under the terms of some capitulation, unless he afterwards became a denizen or naturalized subject of the United Kingdom by the Queen's letters-patent, or by Act of Parliament, nor any person usually residing in any country not under the dominion of the Queen, Where and how registry By the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, sect. 30, the following may be made. persons are authorized and required to register British ships, and are made registrars for the purposes of the act: (1.) At any port or place in the United Kingdom or Isle of Man approved by the Commissioners of Customs for the registry of ships, the collector, comptroller or other principal officer of customs for the time being. (2.) In Guernsey and Jersey, the principal officers of customs, together with the governor, lieutenant-governor or other person administering the government of those islands. (3.) In Malta, Gibraltar and Heligoland, the governor, lieutenant-governor or other person administering the government. (4.) At any port or place within the limits of the charter, (5.) At the ports of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, the unless a member of a British factory, Parliament, or act or ordinance of the legislature of any of the British possessions in Asia, Africa or America, or authorized by any such act to hold shares in British shipping, were, on taking the oath of allegiance, qualified to be owners of British registered vessels. Both these acts are now repealed by the Merchant Shipping Repeal Act, 1854, the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 120. (m) The government of the territories formerly governed by the E. I. Co. is by the 21 & 22 Vict. c. 106, transferred to the Crown. lieutenant-governor or other person administering the By sect. 6 of the Merchant Shipping (Colonial) Act, 1869 (32 Vict. c. 11), power is given to the Queen, by order in council, to declare with respect to any British possession mentioned in the order, the description of persons who are to be registrars in that possession (o). By sect. 29 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1873, a similar power is given to the Queen with respect to foreign parts within which her Majesty exercises jurisdiction, in accordance with the Foreign Jurisdiction Acts (p). registry. By sect. 33, the port or place at which any British ship is Port of registered for the time being is to be considered her port of registry, or the port to which she belongs. Sect. 35 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, provides that the application to register is to be made by the proposed owners, or by some one or more of them, or by their duly authorized agent, and, in the case of bodies corporate, by their duly authorized agent; the authority of the agent, if appointed by individuals, must be testified by writing under the hands of the appointors, and if by a corporation, under its common seal. survey. By sect. 36 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, the ship Certificate of must, before registry, be surveyed by a person duly appointed under the act, who is to grant a certificate specifying her tonnage, build, and such other particulars descriptive of her identity as may from time to time be required by the Board of Trade; this certificate must be delivered to the registrar before registry (q). (n) As to the liability of registrars, the returns which are to be made by them to the Commissioners of Customs, and the application of fees received by the registrars, see sects. 93, 94 and 95. In all cases the place must be approved of by the Commissioners of Customs, subject to the following provision:The governor, lieutenant-governor or other person administering the government in any British possession where any ship is registered under the authority of the act is, with regard to the performance of any act or thing relating to the registry of a ship or of any interest therein, to be considered in all respects as occupying the place of the Commissioners of Customs; and any British consular officer, in any place where there is no justice of the peace, is authorized to take any de claration required or permitted to be 31. As to the fees to be taken by (0) On the 6th July, 1869, an order (p) The 6 & 7 Vict. c. 94; 28 & 29 Vict. c. 116; 29 & 30 Vict. c. 87; 38 & 39 Vict. c. 85; 41 & 42 Vict. c. 67. An Order in Council has been made appointing Shanghai a port of British Registry. See Appendix, "Orders in Council." (7) A form of this certificate is given in the schedule to the M. S. Act, 1854, Rules for The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, contains in sects. 20 to ascertaining 24, rules for ascertaining the tonnage both of sailing and steam tonnage. vessels (r). The rules are mainly based upon the principle that the number of tons of water displaced by the vessel when fully laden affords the true measure of her capacity (s); but special provision is made for the measurement of permanent closed-in spaces on an upper deck and of the space under a spar deck. Deduction for Nothing, however, is to be added to the tonnage for a closed-in crew space and engine room. space on the upper deck solely appropriated to the berthing of the crew (t), unless such space exceeds one-twentieth of the remaining tonnage of the ship, and nothing is to be added to the tonnage in respect of any building erected for the shelter of deck passengers and approved by the Board of Trade. In see Form A. By sect. 96 of that act, however, the Commissioners of Customs are empowered, with the consent of the Board of Trade, to alter from time to time the forms contained in the schedule of the act, on giving sufficient public notice before issuing an altered form. The form now in use, which will be found in the Appendix, "Forms," No. 1, varies from that contained in the schedule to the act. (r) The 23rd sect. of the M. S. Act, 1854, is to be construed as if the Board of Trade were therein named instead of the Commissioners of Customs. The M. S. Act, 1872, s. 3. By sect. 29 of the M. S. Act, 1854, and sect. 13 of the M. S. Act, 1872, the Board of Trade may, with the sanction of the Treasury, appoint persons to superintend the survey and admeasurement of ships, and may make from time to time regulations for this purpose. And may with the like approval make such modifications and alterations as from time to time become necessary in the tonnage rules, in order to the more accurate and uniform application thereof and effectual carrying out of the principle of admeasurements therein adopted. In The City of Dublin Steam Packet Co. v. Thompson, 19 C. B., N. S. 553; S. C., Cam. Scacc., L. R., 1 C. P. 355, it was held that the 29th sect. of the M. S. Act, 1854, did not authorize the commissioners to make rules for the measurement of the tonnage of steam vessels which would have the effect of altering the allowance in respect of the space occupied by the propelling power as provided by sect. 23 of the same Act. By the 13th sect. of the M. S. Act, 1872, all duties in relation to the survey and measurement of ships under that act, or the acts amended thereby, are to be performed by the surveyors appointed under the 4th part of the act of 1854, in accordance with the regulations of the Board of Trade. As to the fees to be paid with respect to the survey and measurement of ships under the M. S. Acts, see the M. S. Act, 1873, s. 30, and Schedule III. and Appendix, "General Table of Fees charged under the authority of the Board of Trade,' ""Forms, No. 55, and the M. S. Act, 1876, s. 39, as to the payment of such fees. As to like fees payable at Shanghai, see Appendix, "Orders in Council." (s) The mode of measuring directed by these sections differs from that prescribed by sects. 16, 17, 18 and 19 of the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 89. In 1849, commissioners were appointed by the government to consider the best method of measuring ships, and they recommended an external measurement. This suggestion being open to many objections was never adopted. The system at present in force was proposed by Mr. Moorsom, one of those commissioners. (t) See as to what is not "space available for cargo" or for "accommodation of passengers and crew within the M. S. Act, 1854, s. 21, subs. 4, Lord Advocate v. Clyde Steam Navigation Co., 2 L. R., Sc. App. Cases, 409. See also The Franconia, 3 P. D. 164. The rules, however, with respect to the deductions which may be claimed for crew space in British ships are subject to the provisions of the M. S. Act, 1867, s. 9. |