and if a master or owner causes any such stipulation to be so introduced he shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

(a) See The Amphitrite (1832), 2 Hagg. 403.

Pt. II. 196-197.

seamen

196.-(1.) If a seaman, without having previously committed Money and an act amounting to and treated by the master as desertion (a), effects of leaves his ship in order to enter the naval service of Her Majesty, volunteering and is received into that service, the master shall deliver to him into navy. his effects (b) on board the ship, and shall pay, subject to all [1854, s. 215.] just deductions, the proportionate amount of his wages (b) down to the time of his entering Her Majesty's service, to the officer authorised to receive the seaman into that service, either in money or by bill drawn upon the owner, and payable at sight to the order of the Accountant General of the Navy; and the receipt of that officer shall be a discharge for the money or bill so given; and the bill shall be exempt from stamp duty.

(2.) If the master fails so to deliver the seaman's effects, or to pay his wages, as by this section required, he shall, in addition to his liability to deliver and pay the same, be liable for each offence to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

(3.) If any such bill be not duly paid when presented, the Accountant General of the Navy or the seaman on whose behalf the bill is given, may sue thereon, or may recover the wages due by all or any of the means by which wages due to seamen are recoverable (c).

(a) As to what amounts to desertion, see s. 221, note (d).

(b) "Effects" includes clothes and documents, and " wages " includes emolu. ments. See s. 742. The wages due are to be entered in the official log (see s. 240, sub-s. (8)), and the entry signed by the seaman and the officer (s. 239, sub-s. (5) (c)).

(e) See ss. 164 et seq., as to mode of recovering wages.

197.-(1.) Where the wages of a seaman received into Her Wages of Majesty's naval service are paid in money, the money shall be seamen credited in the ship's ledger to the account of the seaman.

received into

navy.

(2.) Where the wages are paid by bill, the bill shall be noted [1851, s. 215 in the ship's ledger, and sent to the Accountant General of the 220.] Navy, who shall cause the same to be presented for payment, . and shall credit the produce thereof to the account of the

seaman.

(3.) An officer who receives any such bill shall not be subject to any liability in respect thereof, except for the safe custody thereof until sent to the Accountant General as aforesaid.

(4.) The wages of the seaman shall not be paid to him until the time (a) at which he would have been entitled to receive the same if he had remained in the service of the ship which he has quitted for the purpose of entering Her Majesty's service.

Pt. II. 197.

(5.) If the owner or master of the ship shows to the satisfaction of the Admiralty, that he has paid or properly rendered himself liable to pay, an advance of wages to or on account of the seaman (), and has satisfied that liability, and that the seaman has not at the time of quitting his ship duly earned the advance by service therein, the Admiralty may pay to the owner or master so much of the advance as had not been duly earned, and deduct the sum so paid from any wages of the seaman earned or to be earned in the naval service of Her Majesty.

(6.) Where in consequence of a seaman so leaving his ship and entering Her Majesty's service, it becomes necessary for the safety and proper navigation of the ship to engage any substitute, and the wages or other remuneration paid to the substitute for subsequent service exceed the wages or remuneration which would have been payable to the seaman under his agreement for similar service, the master or owner of the ship may apply to the High Court for a certificate authorising the repayment of the excess, and the application shall be made and the certificate granted in accordance with rules of court (c).

(7.) The certificate shall be sent to the applicant or his solicitor or agent, and a copy thereof shall be sent to the Accountant General of the Navy; and the Accountant General shall, upon delivery to him of the original certificate together with a receipt (d) in writing purporting to be a receipt from the applicant, pay to the person delivering the certificate, out of the moneys granted by Parliament for Navy services, the amount mentioned in the certificate; and the certificate and receipt shall absolutely discharge the Accountant General and Her Majesty from all liability in respect of the moneys so paid or of the application thereof.

(8.) If any person in making or supporting any application under this section

(a) forges or fraudulently alters, or assists in forging or fraudulently altering, or procures to be forged or fraudulently altered, any document; or

(b.) presents or makes use of any document so forged or fraudulently altered; or

(c.) gives, assists in giving, or procures to be given, any false evidence, knowing the same to be false; or

(d.) makes, assists in making, or procures to be made, any false representation, knowing the same to be false,

that person shall in respect of each offence be guilty of a misdemeanor (e).

(a) See ss. 134, 135, as to time for payment of wages in foreign-going and home-trade ships.

(b) See s. 140, as to restrictions on advance notes.

(c) The procedure on such applications, which under the former Act was prescribed in the sections here re-enacted, has been left to be settled by Rules of

Court:
: see rules 1 and 3 of the Rules of the Supreme Court (Merchant Shipping),
1891, Appendix, p. 763.

(d) See note (a) to s. 170, as to payment of stamp duty on such receipts.
() As to punishment of misdemeanors, see s. 680.

Provisions, Health, and Accommodation.

Pt. II. 198-199.

or water.

[1854, ss. 221,

198.-(1.) If three or more of the crew of a British ship Complaints as consider that the provisions or water for the use of the crew are to provisions at any time of bad quality, unfit for use, or deficient in quantity, they may complain thereof to any of the following officers, 2221 namely, an officer in command of one of Her Majesty's ships, a British consular officer, a superintendent (a), or a chief officer of customs, and the officer may either examine the provisions or water complained of or cause them to be examined.

(2.) If the officer, or person making the examination, finds that the provisions or water are of bad quality and unfit for use, or deficient in quantity, he shall signify it in writing to the master of the ship, and if the master of the ship does not thereupon provide other proper provisions or water in lieu of any so signified to be of bad quality and unfit for use, or does not procure the requisite quantity of any provisions or water so signified to be deficient in quantity, or uses any provisions or water so signified to be of bad quality and unfit for use, he shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds. (3.) The officer directing, or the person making, the examination shall enter a statement of the result of the examination in the official log book (b), and send a report thereof to the Board of Trade, and that report shall be admissible in evidence in manner provided by this Act (c).

(4.) If the said officer certifies in that statement that there was no reasonable grounds for the complaint, each of the complainants shall be liable to forfeit to the owner out of his wages a sum not exceeding one week's wages (d).

The provisions and water of every British ship sailing from the United Kingdom are liable to inspection by an inspecting officer at his option: see M. S. A. 1906, s. 26; but he must inspect certain of the provisions for crew of ship bound through the Suez Canal or round Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn: see M. S. A. 1894, s. 206.

(a) As to who are included in this term, see s. 742.

(b) As to lug books and entries therein, see ss. 239 et seq.

(c) See s. 695, as to admissibility of documents.

(d) See as to forfeiture, ss. 233, 234.

199. In either of the following cases; (that is to say,)

Allowance for

any

(i.) if during a voyage the allowance of any of the provi- short or bad
sions for which a seaman has by his agreement (a) provisions.
stipulated is reduced (except in accordance with [1854, s. 223.]
regulations for reduction by way of punishment
contained in the agreement with the crew, and also
except for any time during which the seaman wilfully
and without sufficient cause refuses or neglects to

Pt. II. 200.

Regulations respecting medicines, anti-scorbutics, &c.

[30 & 31 Vict.

perform his duty, or is lawfully under confinement for misconduct either on board or on shore); or

(ii) if it is shown that any of those provisions are or have during the voyage been bad in quality and unfit for

use;

the seaman shall receive, by way of compensation (a) for that reduction, or bad quality, according to the time of its continuance, the following sums to be paid to him in addition to, and to be recoverable as, wages (); (that is to say,)

(a.) if his allowance is reduced by not more than one third of the quantity specified in the agreement, a sum not exceeding fourpence a day :

(b.) if his allowance is reduced by more than one third of that quantity, eightpence a day:

(c.) in respect of bad quality as aforesaid, a sum not exceeding one shilling a day:

But if it is shown to the satisfaction of the court before whom the case is tried that any provisions, the allowance of which has been reduced, could not be procured or supplied in proper quantities, and that proper and equivalent substitutes were supplied in lieu thereof, the court shall take those circumstances into consideration, and shall modify or refuse compensation as the justice of the case requires (c).

(a) See M. S. A. 1906, s. 25, as to implied inclusion of stipulation for statutory scale of provisions in agreements, and liability of a master to fine in addition to paying compensation for failure to furnish provisions in accordance therewith. (b) See ss. 164 et seq., as to mode of recovery of wages.

(e) See extension of this power by M. S. A. 1906, s. 25, sub-s. (2).

The court has jurisdiction to award a seaman general damages for breach of agreement (e.g., for hardships incurred through the use of the ship otherwise than as provided in the agreement), in addition to the compensation provided by statute. See The Justitia (1887), 56 L. J. P. 111; 12 P. D. 145. In The Josephine (1856), Swa. 152, compensation was awarded under M. S. A. 1854, s. 223, for short allowance of provisions caused by the unexpected length of the voyage.

200.-(1.) The Board of Trade shall issue scales of medicines and medical stores suitable for different classes of ships and voyages, and shall also prepare or sanction books containing instructions for dispensing the same («).

(2.) The owner of every ship navigating between the United c. 121, 88.4, 5.] Kingdom and any place out of the same (b) shall provide and cause to be kept on board a supply of medicine and medical stores according to the scale appropriate to the ship, and also the said books or one of them.

(3.) The master or owner of every such ship, except in the case of-

1

(a.) ships bound to European ports or ports in the Mediterranean Sea; and

(b.) such ships or classes of ships bound to ports on the eastern coast of America, north of the thirty-fifth

degree of north latitude, and to any islands or places
in the Atlantic Ocean north of the same limit as the
Board of Trade may exempt;

shall provide and cause to be kept on board a sufficient quantity..
of anti-scorbutics in accordance with the regulations in the Fifth
Schedule to this Act (c), and those regulations shall have effect
as part of this section, and the master shall serve out the anti-
scorbutics to the crew according to the said regulations, and
if a seaman or apprentice refuses or neglects to take the anti-
scorbutics when served out, that fact shall be entered in the
official log book (d), and the entry shall be signed by the master
and by the mate or some other of the crew, and also by the
medical practitioner on board if any.

(4.) If any requirement of this section with respect to the provision of medicines, medical stores, book of instruction, or anti-scorbutics is not complied with in the case of any ship, the owner or master of that ship shall, for each offence, be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, unless he can prove that the non-compliance was not caused through his inattention, neglect, or wilful default (e).

(5.) If any requirement of this section with respect to the serving out of anti-scorbutics or making an entry in the official log book is not complied with in the case of any ship to which the requirement applies, the master of the ship shall, for each offence, be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds, unless he can prove that the non-compliance did not arise through any neglect, omission, or wilful default on his part (e).

(6.) If it is proved that some person, other than the master or owner, is in default in any case under this section, that person shall, for each offence, be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds (e).

(7.) If any person manufactures, sells, or keeps, or offers for sale any medicines or medical stores for use on board ship which are of bad quality, he shall, for each offence, be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

(a) The scales at present in force, viz., those issued by the Board of Trade, as revised March, 1903, are printed in Appendix, p. 575.

The use of the "Ship Captain's Medical Guide" was sanctioned by Board of Trade Order of 30th October, 1899.

(b) As to anti-scorbutics in British possessions, see s. 205.

(c) In the repealed Act the regulations were in the body of the section.

(d) As to official log books and entries therein, see ss. 239 et seq.

(e) As to whether, notwithstanding these penalties, a seaman has a right of action in respect of injury caused to him by non compliance with these requirements, see Couch v. Steele (1853), 23 L. J. Q. B. 121; 3 E. & B. 402; (under 7 & 8 Vict. c. 112, s. 18); and the doubt expressed thereon in Atkinson v. Newcastle (1877), 46 L. J. Ex. 775; 2 Ex. D. 441. As to expenses of medical attendance in case of illness, see M. S. A. 1906, ss. 34, 35.

Pt. II.

200.