within six months, after the cessation, deliver or transmit to the superintendent at the port to which the ship belonged the official log book (if any) duly made out to the time of the cessation.

(2.) If a ship is lost or abandoned, the master or owner thereof shall, if practicable, and as soon as possible, deliver or transmit to the superintendent at the port to which the ship belonged the official log book (if any) duly made out to the time of the loss or abandonment.

(3.) If the master or owner of a ship fails without reasonable cause to comply with this section, he shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

Local Marine Boards.

Pt. II. 244-245.

tion of local

244.-(1.) There shall be local marine boards for carrying Continuance into effect such of the provisions of this Act as relate to their and constitupowers and duties under the superintendence of the Board of marine board. Trade (a) at those ports of the United Kingdom at which local [1854, ss. 110, marine boards are now established (b) and at such other places 118, 119; as the Board of Trade appoint for the purpose.

(2.) Every local marine board shall be constituted in manner specified in the Seventh Schedule to this Act, and the regulations in that schedule shall apply to the board and elections thereof.

(3.) A local marine board may regulate the mode in which their meetings are to be held and their business is to be conducted, including the fixing of a quorum, not being less than three.

(4.) A local marine board shall keep minutes of their proceedings in the manner (if any) prescribed by the Board of

Trade.

(5.) Any act or proceedings of a local marine board shall not be vitiated or prejudiced by reason of any irregularity in the election of any of the members, or of any error in the list of voters entitled to vote at the election, or of any irregularity in making or revising the list, or by reason of any person not duly qualified acting on the board, or of any vacancy in the board.

The words in clarendon type are substituted for the words "this Act" by the M. S. A. 1906, s. 74 (2).

(a) As to the general control of the Board of Trade, see ss. 713 et seq., and M. S. A. 1906, s. 74; and see, as to the powers of local marine boards with regard to medical inspectors, s. 204; and to examinations for certificates of competency, ss. 94 et seq.

(b) Local marine boards have been appointed at Aberdeen, Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Cork, Dublin, Dundee, Glasgow, Greenock, Hull, Leith, Liverpool, London, Newcastle, North Shields, Plymouth, South Shields, Sunderland.

245.-(1.) Every local marine board shall make and send to the Board of Trade such reports and returns as the Board of Trade require (a); and all minutes, books, and documents of, or

Ꭲ.

L

1862, c. 14.]

Control of
Board of

Trade over

Pt. II. 246.

local marine boards.

[1854, ss. 119 -121.]

Establishment and control of mercantile

used or kept by, any local marine board, or by any superintendent, or by any examiner (b) or other officer or servant under the control of any local marine board, shall be open to the inspection of the Board of Trade and their officers.

(2.) If any local marine board, by reason of any election not being held or of the simultaneous resignation or continued nonattendance of all or the greater part of the members, or from any other cause, fail to meet or to discharge their duties, the Board of Trade may, in their discretion, either take into their own hands the performance of the duties of the local marine board until the next triennial appointment and election thereof, or direct that a new appointment and election of the local marine board shall take place immediately.

(3.) If on complaint made to the Board of Trade it appears to them that at any port, any appointments or arrangements made by the local marine board under this Act are not such as to meet the wants of the port, or are in any respect unsatisfactory or improper, the Board of Trade may annul, alter, or rectify the same, as they think expedient, having regard to the intention of this Act and to the wants of the port.

(a) Cf. s. 714, returns as to merchant shipping.

(b) Ss. 94 et seq., examinations for certificates of competency.

Mercantile Marine Offices.

246.-(1.) A mercantile marine office, with the requisite buildings, property, superintendents, deputies, clerks, and marine offices. servants shall be maintained at every port of the United [1854, ss. 122, Kingdom where there is a local marine board, and may be 123, 129; 36 & established and maintained at such other ports as the Board of 37 Vict. c. 85, Trade determine.

8. 10.]

(2.) In every port where there is a local marine board the board shall procure the said buildings and property, and appoint and remove the superintendents, deputies, clerks, and servants, and regulate the business at, and have the control of, the mercantile marine office, subject as follows:

(a.) The sanction of the Board of Trade shall be necessary, so
far as regards the number of persons to be so appointed,
and the amount of their salaries and wages, and all other
expenses:

(b.) The Board of Trade shall have the immediate control of
every such office, as far as regards the receipt and
payment of money thereat, and every person appointed
to be an officer in any such office shall, before entering
upon his duties, give such security (if any) for the due
performance thereof as the Board of Trade require.
(c.) If the Board of Trade have reason to believe that any
superintendent, deputy, clerk, or servant appointed by

a local marine board does not properly discharge his
duties, they may cause the case to be investigated, and
if they think fit remove him from his office, and provide
for the proper performance of his duties until another
person is duly appointed in his place.

(d.) The Board of Trade may appoint any superintendent of
or other person connected with any sailors home in
the port of London to be a superintendent with any
necessary deputies clerks and servants, and may
appoint an office in any such home to be a mercantile
marine office, and all persons and offices so appointed
shall be subject to the immediate control of the Board of
Trade, and not of the local marine board of the port.
(3.) At any port at which the business of a mercantile marine
office is conducted otherwise than under a local marine board,
the Board of Trade may :-

(a.) at any time establish a mercantile marine office and for

that purpose procure the requisite buildings and pro-
perty, and appoint and remove all the requisite super-
intendents, deputies, clerks, and servants, or

(b.) direct with the consent of the Commissioners of Customs,
that the whole or any part of the business of a mer-
cantile marine office shall be conducted at the custom
house, and thereupon the custom house shall be a
mercantile marine office for the purposes of that busi-
ness, and any officer of customs there appointed in that
behalf by the Board of Trade shall be a superintendent
or deputy within the meaning of this Act.

The words in italics in this section are repealed by the M. S. A. 1906, s. 85,
Sched. II.

As to local marine boards and their powers, see s. 244 and notes thereto.
As to the general control of the Board of Trade, see s. 713, and M. S. A. 1906,

8. 74.

Pt. II. 247.

[1854, s. 128; 36 & 37 Vict. c. 85, s. 10.]

247.-(1.) It shall be the general business of superinten- Business of dents of mercantile marine offices (in this Act referred to as superintendents (a)) —

mercantile
marine office.
[1854, ss. 122,

to afford facilities for engaging seamen by keeping registries 124.] of their names and characters (b):

to superintend and facilitate the engagement (c) and discharge (d) of seamen in manner in this Act provided:

to provide means for securing the presence on board at the proper times of the seamen who are so engaged :

to facilitate the making of apprenticeships to the sea service (e): and

to perform such other duties relating to seamen, apprentices, and merchant ships as are by or in pursuance of this Act (ƒ), or any Act relating to merchant shipping, committed to them (g).

Pt. II. 248-249.

Embezzlement by

officers of local marine boards.

[1862, s. 16.]

(2.) Any Act done by to or before a deputy duly appointed shall have the same effect as if done by to or before a superintendent.

(a) See s. 742, as to who are superintendents in British possessions, and M. S. A. 1906, s. 49.

(b) S. 230 requires the superintendent to keep a list of seamen who desert or fail to join their ships.

(c) See ss. 113 et seq. In certain cases the agreement is to be signed in the presence of the superintendent, see s. 115, sub-s. (1).

(d) See ss. 127 et seq., discharge of seamen.

(c) See also s. 105, duty of superintendents as to apprentices.

(f) See, e.g., s. 109, production of apprentices' indentures; s. 230, register of deserters; s. 242, delivery of official logs; s. 256, transmission of documents to Registrar; s. 380, apprehension of seamen; s. 387, decision of disputes as to fishing boats.

(g) See M. S. A. 1906, ss. 36 to 49, and s. 65 (2) (reporting to Board of Trade seaman failing to join ship). See Naval Reserve Act, 1859 (22 & 23 Vict. c. 40), s. 17, as to transmission of information and other duties in connection with the Naval Reserve.

248.-(1.) A person appointed to any office or service by or under a local marine board shall be deemed to be a clerk or servant within the meaning of section sixty-eight of the Larceny Act, 1861 (relating to embezzlement).

(2.) If any person so appointed to an office or service-
(a.) fraudulently applies or disposes of any chattel, money,
or valuable security received by him (whilst employed
in such office or service) for or on account of any
local marine board, or for or on account of any other
public board or department, for his own use, or any
use or purpose other than that for which the same
was paid, entrusted to, or received by him, or
(b.) fraudulently withholds, retains, or keeps back the same,
or any part thereof, contrary to any lawful directions
or instructions which he is required to obey in re-
lation to his office or service aforesaid,

that person shall be guilty of embezzlement within the meaning 24 & 25 Vict. of the said section sixty-eight of the Larceny Act, 1861.

c. 96.

Power to dispense with transaction of

(3.) In any indictment under this section, it shall be sufficient to charge any such chattel, money, or valuable security as the property either of the local marine board by whom the person was appointed, or of the board or department for or on account of whom the same was received.

(4.) Section seventy-one of the Larceny Act, 1861 (relating to the manner of charging embezzlement), shall apply as if an offence under this section were embezzlement under that Act.

249. The Board of Trade may dispense with the transaction in a mercantile marine office, or before a superintendent, of any

Pt. II.

matters required by this Act to be so transacted, and thereupon 250-253. those matters, if otherwise duly transacted, shall be as valid as certain if they were transacted in such an office or before a superin- matters at tendent.

mercantile marine offices.

Prohibition on

250. If a superintendent, deputy, clerk, or servant, in a [1854, s. 130.] mercantile marine office demands or receives save as provided by taking fees at any Act (a), or authorised by the Board of Trade, any re- mercantile muneration whatever, either directly or indirectly, for hiring or marine office. supplying any seaman for a ship or transacting any business [1854, s. 127; which it is his duty to transact, he shall for every such offence 45 & 46 Vict. be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, and also to Stat. Law dismissal from his office by the Board of Trade.

(a) The Act makes no express provision for such remuneration. s. 713 and cf. s. 112.

But see

c. 55, s. 6;

Rev. Act, 1892.]

Registration of and Returns respecting Seamen.

251.-(1.) There shall be maintained in the port of London, Establishment under the control of the Board of Trade, an office, called the of register General Register and Record Office of Seamen.

(2.) The Board of Trade may appoint and remove a Registrar General called "The Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen," and such assistants, clerks, and servants as may be necessary, and, with the consent of the Treasury, regulate their salaries and allowances; and those salaries and allowances, and all other necessary expenses, shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament.

(3.) The Board of Trade may direct that the business of the said office at any of the outports be transacted at the mercantile marine office there, or with the consent of the Commissioners of Customs at the Custom House there, and may appoint the superintendent, or with the said consent some officer of customs, as the case may be, to conduct the business, and the business shall thereupon be conducted accordingly, subject to the immediate control of the Board of Trade.

office.

[1854, s. 271;

35 & 36 Vict. c. 73, s. 4.]

252. The Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen shall, Register of by means of the documents transmitted to him in pursuance of seamen. this Act, and by any other means in his power, keep at his office [1854, s. 272.] a register of all persons who serve in ships subject to this Act.

253.—(1.) The master

(a.) of a foreign-going ship (a) whose crew is discharged in

Lists of the

crew.

[1854, ss. 273,

the United Kingdom, in whatever part of Her 274, 275.] Majesty's dominions the ship is registered; and

(b.) of a home-trade ship (a);

shall make out and sign a list (in this Act referred to as the list