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where the ship has been lost from the person who was owner of the ship at the time of the loss (f), or, where the ship has been transferred to some person not being a British subject, either from the owner for the time being or from the person who was the owner of the ship at the time of the transfer, and also, if the ship be a foreign ship, from the person, whether principal or agent, who engaged the seaman for service in the ship.

(2.) The debt, in addition to any fines which may have been incurred, may be recovered by the Board of Trade, on behalf of the Crown, either by ordinary process of law or in the court and manner in which wages may be recovered by seamen (g).

(3.) In any proceeding for such recovery the production of the account (if any) of the expenses furnished in accordance with this Act or the distressed seamen regulations, and proof of payment of the expenses by or on behalf of the Board of Trade, shall be prima facie (h) evidence that the expenses were incurred or repaid under this Act by or on behalf of the Crown.

(4.) For the purpose of this section, excepted expenses are expenses incurred in cases where the certificate of the proper authority obtained on leaving a seaman behind states, or the Board of Trade are otherwise satisfied, that the cause of the seaman being left behind is desertion (i), or disappearance, or imprisonment for misconduct, or discharge from his ship by a naval court on the ground of misconduct, and expenses incurred on account of the return to a proper return port (c) of a distressed seaman who has been discharged at the port at which he was shipped, or at some neighbouring port.

(a) This section takes the place of s. 193 of M. S. A. 1894, as amended by s. 4 of Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act, 1898, both of which sections are repealed by this Act.

(b) "Seaman" here includes apprentice. See s. 49.

(c) See s. 45, as to what is proper return port.

(d) Wages include emoluments. See M. S. A. 1894, s. 742.

(e) As to amount of wages due in such cases, see M. S. A. 1894, s. 158.

(f) As to meaning of "loss," see note (b) to s. 158 of M. S. A. 1894.

(g) As to recovery of wages by seamen, see M. S. A. 1894, ss. 164-167, and notes thereto.

(h) In the repealed section the words were "sufficient evidence." The change has been made apparently in consequence of decision in the Board of Trade v. Sailing Ship Glenpark, 73 L. J. K. B. 315; [1901] 1 K. B. 682.

(i) As to certificate of proof of desertion and registers of deserters, see M. S. A. 1894, ss. 229, 230, 231. As to meaning of "desertion," see note (d) to s. 221 of M. S. A. 1894.

Pt. IV.

43.

43 (a). A person belonging to a British ship shall not Penalty for wrongfully force a seaman (b) on shore and leave him behind forcing or otherwise cause a seaman to be wrongfully left behind at shore. any place, either on shore or at sea, in or out of His Majesty's

seamen on

Pt. IV. 44.

Deduction

from wages

dominions, and if he does so he shall in respect of each offence be guilty of a misdemeanor (c).

(a) This section takes the place of s. 187 of M. S. A. 1894, which is repealed by M. S. A. 1906, s. 85, Sched. II.

(b) "Seaman" here includes apprentice. See s. 49.

(c) As to punishment of misdemeanor, see M. S. A. 1894, s. 680.

44 (a).-(1.) Every fine imposed on a seaman for any act of misconduct for which his agreement (b) imposes a fine shall be and payment deducted as follows (that is to say) :

to superintendents, &c. of fines.

(a.) if the offender is discharged in the United Kingdom,

and the offence, and the entry in the log book required by the Merchant Shipping Acts in respect thereof (c), are proved to the satisfaction, in the case of a foreign-going ship (d), of the superintendent before whom the offender is discharged, and in the case of a home-trade (d) ship of the superintendent at or nearest the port (d) at which the crew are discharged, the master or owner shall deduct the fine from the wages of the offender;

(b.) If the offender enters His Majesty's naval service (e) or is discharged abroad (f), and the offence and the entry as aforesaid are proved to the satisfaction of the officer in command of the ship he so enters, or of the proper authority by whose sanction he is discharged, as the case may be, the fine shall be deducted as aforesaid and an entry made in the official log book of the ship and signed by the officer or authority to whose satisfaction the offence is proved.

(2.) Every fine so deducted shall be paid—

(a.) if the offender is discharged in the United Kingdom,
to the superintendent;

(b.) if the offender enters His Majesty's naval service (e),
on the return of the ship to its port of destination,
if that port is in the United Kingdom, to the
superintendent before whom the crew is discharged,
or in the case of a home-trade ship, to the superin-
tendent at or nearest to the port at which the crew
is discharged, and, if the port of destination is not
in the United Kingdom, to the proper authority as
defined for the purpose of this Part of this Act;
(c.) if the offender is discharged at any place out of the
United Kingdom, to the proper authority (g).

(3.) A proper authority shall remit any amounts received by them under this section at such times and in such manner, and render such accounts in respect thereof, as the Board of Trade require.

(4.) If a master or owner fails without reasonable cause to pay any fine as required by this section, he shall for each offence be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding six times the amount of the fine not so paid.

(5.) An act of misconduct for which any fine has been inflicted and paid by, or deducted from the wages of, the seaman, shall not be otherwise punished under the Merchant Shipping Acts.

(a) This section takes the place of s. 235 of M. S. A. 1894, which is repealed by M. S. A. 1906, s. 85, Sched. II.

(b) See M. S. A. 1894, s. 114, sub-ss. (2) (9), for regulations as to fines imposed by agreement with crew.

(c) As to such entries in official log, see M. S. A. 1894, s. 228.

(d) For definition, see M. S. A. 1891, s. 742.

(e) As to volunteering into the navy, see M. S. A. 1894, ss. 195, 196.

(f) As to certificates of discharge, see s. 31.

(9) As to meaning of proper authority, see s. 49.

Pt. IV. 45-46.

45. For the purpose of this Part of this Act, either the port Proper return

at which the seaman was shipped or a port (a) in the country to port.
which he belongs, or some other port agreed to by the seaman,
in the case of a discharged seaman, at the time of his discharge,
shall be deemed to be a proper return port.

Provided that in the case of a seaman belonging to a British
Possession who has been shipped and discharged out of the
United Kingdom the proper officer (b) may treat a port in the
United Kingdom as a proper return port (c).

(a)" Port" includes place, M. S. A. 1894, s. 742.

(b) Semble, means the officer employed for the purposes of ss. 32, 41, &c., by the proper authority as defined in s. 49. This term is used in s. 28 (3), ante, and defined for the purposes of that section only by sub-s. (11).

(c) As to decision of question as to what port and by which route the seaman is to be returned, see s. 47.

46.-(1.) A seaman may be sent to a proper return port (a) Mode of by any reasonable route, either by sea or land, or partly by sea providing and partly by land.

(2.) Provision shall be made for the return of the seaman as to the whole of the route if it is by sea, or as to any part of the route which is by sea, by placing the seaman on board a British ship which is in want of men to make up its complement, or if that is not practicable, by providing the seaman with a passage in any ship, British or foreign, or with the money for his passage, and as to any part of the route which is by land, by paying the expenses of his journey and of his maintenance during the journey, or providing him with means to pay those expenses.

(3.) Where the master of a ship is required under this Part of this Act to provide for the return of a discharged seaman to a proper return port, the master may, instead of providing the

T.

K K

for return.

Pt. IV. 47-48.

Decision of questions as to return by proper authority.

Provisions as to taking distressed seamen on

ships.

seaman's passage, or the expenses of his journey, or of providing the seaman with means to pay his passage or those expenses, deposit with the proper authority (b) such sum as that authority consider sufficient to defray the expenses of the return of the seaman to a proper return port.

(4.) The Board of Trade may, by the distressed seamen regulations, make such provision as may be necessary for enabling the proper authority (b), and in the case of expenses required to be incurred in the United Kingdom any officer named for the purpose by the Board, to defray on behalf of the authority originally making arrangements for the return of a distressed seaman to a proper return port any expenses on account of that seaman which the authority originally acting in respect of him could defray, and any expenses so incurred shall for the purposes of this Part of this Act relating to distressed seamen be deemed to be expenses incurred on behalf of the distressed seaman.

(a) See ss. 32, 41, 45 as to return to proper return port.
(b) As to the meaning of proper authority, see s. 49.

47. If any question arises as to what return port a seaman is to be sent to in any case, or as to the route by which he should be sent, that question shall be decided by the proper authority (a), and in deciding any question under this provision, the authority shall have regard both to the convenience of the seaman and to the expense involved, and also, where that is the case, to the fact that a British ship which is in want of men to make up its complement is about to proceed to a proper return port (b).

"Seaman" here includes apprentice. See s. 49.

(a) As to the meaning of proper authority, see s. 49.
(b) See ss. 32, 41, 45 as to proper return port.

48 (a).-(1.) Where a distressed seaman is, for the purpose of his return to a proper return port (b), placed on board a British ship, the authority by whom the seaman is so placed shall endorse on the agreement with the crew of the ship the name of the seaman so placed on board, together with any particulars directed to be endorsed by the distressed seamen regulations.

(2.) The master of every British ship shall receive on board his ship, and afford a passage and maintenance to, all distressed seamen (c) whom he is required under this Act to take on board his ship, not exceeding one for every fifty tons burden (d), and shall during the passage provide every such distressed seaman with a proper berth or sleeping place, effectually protected against sea and weather.

(3.) On the production of a certificate, signed by the authority by whose directions any such distressed seaman was received on

board, specifying the number and names of the distressed seamen and the time when each of them was received on board, and on a declaration made by the master before a justice of the peace (e), or any officer authorised to administer an oath, stating the number of days during which each distressed seaman has received maintenance, and stating the full complement of his crew and the actual number of seamen employed on board his ship, and every variation in that number, whilst the distressed seamen received maintenance, the master shall be entitled to be paid, in respect to the maintenance and passage of every seaman so conveyed, maintained, and provided for by him, exceeding the number (if any) wanted to make up the complement of his crew, such sum per diem as the Board of Trade allow.

(4.) If any master of a British ship fails without reasonable cause to comply with this section in the case of any distressed seaman, he shall for each offence be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds (f).

(a) This section takes the place of s. 192 of M. S. A. 1894.

(b) See ss. 41, 45 as to return of distressed seamen to proper return port.

(c) Seamen so received are not passengers. See The Clymene, 66 L. J. P. 152; And are, as regards discipline, in the same position as members See M. S. A. 1894, s. 237 (2).

[1897] P. 295.

of the crew.

(d)" Tons burden means net register tonnage.

24; note (a) to M. S. A. 1894, s. 3.

See The Brunel, [1900] P.

(e) Or a commissioner for oaths. See M. S. A. 1894, s. 698.

(f) As to the recovery of this fine, see M. S. A. 1894, s. 680 et seq.

Pt. IV.

49.

49. For the purposes of this Part of this Act, unless the Definitions context otherwise requires

(1.) The expression "proper authority" means

(a.) as respects a place out of His Majesty's
dominions, the British consular officer (a), or if there
is no such officer in the place, any two British mer-
chants resident at or near the place, or if there is only
one British merchant so resident, that British mer-
chant; and

(b.) as respects a place in a British possession (6)—
(i.) in relation to the discharge or leaving behind
of seamen, or the payment of fines, a
superintendent (a), or, in the absence of
any such superintendent, the chief officer
of customs (a) at or near the place; and
(ii.) in relation to distressed seamen the governor
of the possession, or any person acting
under his authority; and

(2.) The expression "seamen" includes not only seamen as
defined by the principal Act (c), but also apprentices to
the sea service (d).

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