18 & 19 VICT. Order in Council shall remain in force until altered or revoked by any Order in Council c. 119. to be made under the provisions of this Act. Act; and in 2. In citing this Act in other Acts of Parliament, or in any instrument, document, or Short title of this proceeding, it shall be sufficient to use the expression "The Passengers Act, 1855;" legal proceedings 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. reference to sections of this Act by number to be sufficient. Definition of terms used in this Act. To what vessels Act extends. 3. 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 shopkeeper, 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 intended emigrant any information or assistance in any way relating to emigration. 4. This Act shall extend to every "Passenger ship" proceeding on any voyage from and voyages this the United Kingdom to any place out of Europe, 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 c. 119. Europe and not being within the Mediterranean sea; but shall not extend to any of Her 18 & 19 VICT. 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, provided 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. 5. Such certificate of exemption shall be issuable at the discretion of the officer Penalty on fraudulently authorised to grant the same as herein-before mentioned, and shall remain in force for using certificates the period specified therein unless sooner revoked or unless the vessel for which it shall or using frauduhave been issued shall sooner cease to be employed in carrying the public mails; and if lent certificates. 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 500. 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. carry this Act 6. And whereas by a warrant under Her Majesty's sign manual, bearing date on the Commissioners twenty-seventh day of November one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, Her of emigration to Majesty was pleased to appoint certain persons therein named under the style of "The into execution. 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 execution; and that for all legal and other purposes it shall be sufficient to describe such commissioners by the style of "The Emigration Commissioners." may sue and be &c. 7. The said emigration commissioners for the time being may sue and be sued in the Emigration name of their secretary, or of any one of such commissioners for the time being, and legal commissioners or equitable proceedings taken by or against the said commissioners in the name of any sned in the name one of them or of their secretary shall not abate nor be, discontinued by the death or of their secretary 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 such proceedings: Provided always, that the said commissioners Commissioners, &c. exempt from and their secretary, and the emigration officers herein-after mentioned respectively, shall liability. 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. assistants to act 8. In the United Kingdom the said commissioners acting under the sanction of one of Emigration Her Majesty's principal secretaries of state, and in Her Majesty's possessions abroad, the officers and respective governors thereof may from time to time appoint, and the said commissioners under the com and governors may at pleasure from time to time remove, such emigration officers and missioners, &c, but existing assistant emigration officers as they may respectively think necessary for the purpose of appointments carrying this Act into execution, under the direction of the said commissioners or to continue until governors, as the case may be: Provided, nevertheless, that all existing appointments of revoked. 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. officer of 9. All powers, functions, and duties to be exercised or performed by any such emigration Duties by 10. The master of every ship, whether a passenger ship" or otherwise, fitting or Facilities to be 18 & 19 VICT. intended for the carriage of passengers, or which shall carry passengers upon any voyage c. 119. to officers for the inspection passengers. Penalty. Arrangements for the Ship. No passenger ship to clear without certifi care from emi until bond be given to the Crown. to which this Act extends, shall afford to such emigration officer as aforesaid at any port or place in Her Majesty's dominions, and, in the case of British ships to Her Majesty's consular officer at any foreign port or place at which such 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 shall omit or fail to comply with any of the requirements of this section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 501. 11. No ship fitted or intended for the carriage of passengers as a "passenger ship" shall clear out or proceed to sea until the master thereof shall have obtained from the emigration officer at the port of clearance a certificate of clearance under his hand that all the requirements of this Act, so far as the same can be complied with, before the departure of such ship, have been duly complied with, and that such ship is, in his opinion, gration officer, nor seaworthy, in safe trim, and in all respects fit for her intended voyage, and that her passengers and crew 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. Forfeiture of ship if master proceeds to sea without certifi cate of clearance, &c. 12. If any "passenger ship" shall clear out or proceed to sea without the master's having first obtained such certificate of clearance, or without his having joined in executing such bond, as by this Act is required, or if such ship after having sailed shall put into any port or place in the United Kingdom in a damaged state, and shall put to 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 offence, in any port or place in Her Majesty's dominions; and such ship shall dealt with as if thereupon be dealt with in the same manner as if she had been seized as forfeited under any of the laws relating to the customs for an offence incurring forfeiture under those laws. Such ship to be seized under laws relating to customs. Where passengers may be carried. Penalty. Rule for determining the number of passengers to be carried. Tonnage check. Space check. 13. No ship shall carry passengers or cabin passengers on more than two decks; provided, that cabin passengers in a proportion not exceeding one cabin passenger for every one hundred tons of the ship's registered tonnage, or sick persons placed in a hospital, as herein-after provided, may be carried in a poop or deck house, notwithstanding that passengers are carried on two other decks, and if passengers are carried under the poop or in any round house or deck house, such poop, round house, or deck house shall be properly built and secured to the satisfaction of the emigration officer at the port of clearance: For any breach of this enactment the master of the ship shall for each offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding 500l. nor less than 20. sterling. 14. For determining the number of passengers to be carried in any "passenger ship" the following rules shall be observed: (1.) No ship propelled by sails only shall carry a greater number of persons (including every individual on board) than in the proportion of one statute adult to every two tons of her registered tonnage: (2.) No ship shall carry under the poop, or in the round house or deck house, or on the upper passenger deck," a greater number of passengers than in the proportion of one statute adult to every fifteen clear superficial feet of deck allotted to their use: (3.) No ship shall carry on her lower passenger deck a greater number of passengers than in the proportion of one statute adult to every eighteen clear superficial feet of deck allotted to their use: Provided, nevertheless, that if the height between such lower passenger deck and the deck immediately above it shall be less than seven feet, or if the apertures (exclusive of side scuttles) through which light and air shall be admitted together to the lower passenger deck shall be less in size than in the proportion of three square feet to every one hundred superficial feet of the lower passenger deck, no greater number of passengers shall be carried on such deck than in the proportion of one statute adult to every twenty-five clear superficial feet thereof: (4.) No ship, whatever be her tonnage or superficial space of "passengers decks,” shall c. 119. carry a greater number of passengers on the whole than in the proportion of one 18 & 19 VICT. (5.) In the measurement of the passenger decks, poop, round house, or deck house, the If there shall be on board of any ship at or after the time of clearance a greater number, Penalty. 16 & 17 Vict. 15. Provided nevertheless, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend to repeal or Nothing to vary an Act passed in the session of Parliament holden in the sixteenth and seventeenth extend to repeal years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter eighty-four, intituled "An Act to amend the passengers Act, 1852, so far as relates to the passages of natives of Asia or Africa, and also passages between the island of Ceylon and certain parts of the East Indies." c. 84. the master before 16. The master of every ship, whether a passenger ship" or otherwise, carrying Passengers' lists in England:" In case of noncompliance with any of the requirements of this section on 6 & 7 W. 4, c. 86. after clearance 17. If at any time after such lists shall have been signed and delivered as aforesaid Lists of passenany additional passenger shall be taken on board, in every such case the master shall, gers embarked according to the form aforesaid, add to "The Master's List the names and other to be delivered particulars of every such additional passenger, and shall also sign a separate list, made by master. out according to the form aforesaid, containing the names and other particulars of every Penalty on noncompliance. such additional passenger, and such last-mentioned list, when countersigned by the emigration officer, where there is one at the port, shall, together with "the master's list" to which such addition shall have been made, be delivered to the chief officer of customs as aforesaid, and thereupon such officer shall countersign "the master's list," and shall return the same to the said master, and shall retain the separate list, and so on in like manner whenever any additional passenger or passengers may be taken on board; or if no officer of customs shall be stationed at the port or place where such additional passenger or passengers may be taken on board, the said lists shall be delivered to the officer of customs at the next port or place at which such vessel shall touch or arrive and where any such officer shall be stationed, to be dealt with as herein-before mentioned: provided, that when any additional passengers shall be taken on board the master shall obtain a fresh certificate from the emigration officer of the port that all the requirements Penalty on persons found on 18 & 19 VICT. of this Act have been duly complied with before the ship shall proceed to sea in case of c. 119. noncompliance with any of the requirements of this section, the master of such ship shall for each offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding 50l. nor less than 51. sterling. 18. If any person shall be found on board any passenger ship with intent to obtain a board ships with- passage therein without the consent of the owner, charterer, or master thereof, such person, and every person aiding and abetting him in such fraudulent intent, shall respectively be liable to a penalty not exceeding 5., and in default of payment to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a period not exceeding three calendar months; and such person so found on board may be taken before any justice of the peace without warrant, and such justice may summarily hear the case, and on proof of the offence convict such offender as aforesaid. out consent of owners, &c. All passenger ships to be surveyed before clearing out. 19. No "passenger ship" shall clear out or proceed to sea unless she shall have been surveyed, under the direction of the emigration officer at the port of clearance, but at the expense of the owner or charterer thereof, by two or more competent surveyors to be appointed by the said emigration commissioners for each port at which there may be an emigration officer, and for other ports by the commissioners of customs, nor unless it shall be reported by such surveyors that such " passenger ship" is in their opinion seaworthy, and fit for her intended voyage. The survey shall be made before any part of the cargo is taken on board, except so much as may be necessary for ballasting the ship, and such portion of cargo if laden on board shall be shifted, if required by the emigration officer or surveyors, so as to expose to view successively every part of the frame of the Penalty on non- ship. In case of noncompliance with any of the requirements of this section, the compliance. owner, charterer, or master of the ship, or any of them, shall for each offence be liable Power to owners to a penalty not exceeding 100l. nor less than 57. sterling: Provided always, that in case to appeal gainst any "passenger ship" shall be reported by any such surveyors not to be seaworthy, or of ships not being not fit for her said intended voyage, the owner or charterer, if he shall think fit, may require, by writing under his hand, the emigration officer, or in his absence the chief officer of customs, to appoint three other competent surveyors, of whom two at least shall be shipwrights, to survey the said ship, at the expense of the said owner or charterer; and the said officer shall thereupon appoint such surveyors, who shall survey the said ship, and if they shall, by an unanimous report under their hands (but not otherwise), declare the said ship to be seaworthy, and fit for her intended voyage, the said ship shall then, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed seaworthy for such surveyors report seaworthy. As to the construction of beams and decks. Arrangement and size of berths. Single men to be berthed in a voyage. 20. In every "passenger ship" the beams supporting the "passenger decks" shall form part of the permanent structure of the ship: they shall be of adequate strength, in the judgment of the emigration officer at the port of clearance, and shall be firmly secured to the ship to his satisfaction. The "passenger decks" shall be at least one inch and a half in thickness, and shall be laid and firmly fastened upon the beams continuously from side to side of the compartment in which the passengers are berthed. The height between that part of any deck on which passengers are carried and the deck immediately above it shall not be less than six feet. In case of noncompliance with any of the requirements of this section, the owner, charterer, or master of the ship, or any of them, shall for each offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding 50l. nor less than 51. sterling. 21. There shall not be more than two tiers of berths on any one deck in any "passenger ship," and the interval between the floor of the berths and the deck immediately beneath them shall not be less than six inches, nor the interval between each tier of berths and between the uppermost tier and the deck above it less than two feet six inches; the berths shall be securely constructed, and of dimensions not less than six feet in length and eighteen inches in width for each statute adult, and shall be sufficient in number for the proper accommodation of all the passengers contained in the lists of passengers herein before required to be delivered by the master of the ship. No part of any berth shall be placed within nine inches of any water-closet erected in the between-decks. In case of noncompliance with any of the requirements of this section, the owner, charterer, or master of the ship, or any of them, shall for each offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding 50l. nor less than 51. sterling. 22. In every "passenger ship" all the male passengers of the age of fourteen years and upwards who shall not occupy berths with their wives shall, to the satisfaction of the emigration officer at the port of clearance, be berthed in the fore part of the ship, in a compartment divided off from the space appropriated to the other passengers by a substantial and well-secured bulk-head, without opening into, or communication with, and sexes in one any adjoining passenger berth, or in separate rooms if the ship be fitted with enclosed berths: not more than one passenger, unless husband and wife, or females or children separate com partment. As to numbers berth. |