Pour la France: Son Excellence M. le Duc Decazes, Ministre Four l'Italie M. le Chevalier Nigra, Envoyé Extraordinaire et Pour le Pérou M. Pedro Galvez, Envoyé Extraordinaire et Pour la Russie: M. Okouneff, Conseiller d'État actuel, Cou- Pour la Suède et la Norvége: M. le Baron d'Adelswärd, Envoyé Pour la Suisse: M. Kern, Envoyé Extraordinaire et Ministre Et pour la Turquie: Nasri-Bey, Premier Secrétaire d'Ambassade. Son Excellence M. le Duc Decazes fait les communications suivantes : Le Projet de Convention voté par les Chambres des Députés d'Autriche et de Hongrie n'a pas encore pu être soumis aux délibérations des Chambres des Seigneurs de ces deux pays. Quoique ce retard mette le Gouvernement Austro-Hongrois dans l'impossibilité de co-opérer à l'échange immédiat des ratifications, la question de principe n'en est nullement atteinte, et Son Excellence M. le Comte Apponyi a été autorisé à déclarer de la manière la plus formelle que son Gouvernement considère tacitement la Convention comme devant entrer en vigueur à l'époque fixée et n'a aucune objection à ce que les mesures nécessaires soient prises dès à présent par le Comité International. Le Gouvernement Portugais n'a pas encore obtenu la sanction législative du Parlement, qui se réunira le 2 Janvier prochain, et le Gouvernement des États-Unis d'Amérique est également obligé d'attendre le vote du Sénat, dont la session vient de s'ouvrir. Ces deux Gouvernements ont donc besoin d'un délai d'environ deux mois pour produire leurs ratifications. La République Argentine et le Vénézuéla sollicitent, de leur côté, la faveur d'un délai dont ils ne déterminent pas la durée. Un seul des États signataires de la Convention, le Brésil, à résolu, en dernier lieu, de ne pas s'associer à l'œuvre commune. Conformément à la clause insérée dans le Protocole de la Conférence du 15 Avril, 1875, les délais demandés par divers États sont accordés. Il est bien entendu, d'ailleurs, que ces délais ne portent aucune atteinte à l'Article XIV de la Convention, qui fixe l'époque de sa mise à exécution, et que, par conséquent, les charges pécuniaires proportionnelles qui en découlent courront, à partir du 1er Janvier, 1876, pour ceux d'entre les États Contractants qui échangeront plus tard leurs ratifications, comme pour ceux qui se trouvent en mesure de les échanger aujourd'hui. Il est procédé à l'échange des actes de ratification entre l'Allemagne, la Belgique, le Danemark, l'Espagne, l'Italie, le Pérou, la Russie, la Suède et Norvége, la Suisse, la Turquie, et la France, suivant le mode convenu et déterminé dans le Protocole de la Conférence du 20 Mai, 1875. L'échange ultérieur des ratifications ajournées sera, dès qu'il aura eu lieu, porté à la connaissance des États Contractants par lettre circulaire de M. le Ministre des Affaires Étrangères de France. ACT of the British Parliament, to facilitate the Erection and Maintenance of Colonial Lighthouses, and otherwise to amend "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854."* [Jurisdiction in case of Offences on board Ship.] [18 & 19 Vict., cap. 91.] [August 14, 1855.] WHEREAS it is expedient to make provision for facilitating the erection and maintenance of lighthouses in the British possessions abroad, and otherwise to amend "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854:" Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1. This Act may be cited as The Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1855," and shall be taken to be part of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," and shall be construed accordingly. 2. In any case in which any lighthouse, buoy, or beacon has been or is hereafter erected or placed on or near the coasts of any British possession, by or with the consent of the legislative authority of such possession, Her Majesty may, by Order in Council, fix such dues in respect thereof, to be paid by the owner or master of every ship which passes the same or derives benefit therefrom, as Her Majesty may deem reasonable, and may in like manner from time to time increase, diminish, or repeal such dues, and from the time specified in such Order for the commencement of the dues * Vol. XLV. Page 1347. thereby fixed, increased, or diminished the same shall be leviable throughout Her Majesty's dominions in manuer hereinafter mentioned. 3. No such dues as aforesaid shall be levied in any Colony unless and until the legislative authority in such Colony has, either by address to the Crown, or by an Act or Ordinance duly passed, signified its opinion that the same ought to be levied in such Colony. 4. The said dues shall in the United Kingdom be collected by the same persons by whom, and by the same means, in the same manner, and subject to the same conditions, so far as circumstances permit, by, in, and subject to which the light dues leviable under "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," are collected, and shall in each British possession abroad be collected by such persons as the Governor of such possession abroad may appoint for the purpose, and shall be collected by the same means, in the same manner, and subject to the same conditions, so far as circumstances permit, by, in, and subject to which the light dues leviable under "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1851," are paid and collected, or by such other means, in such other manner, and subject to such other conditions as the legislative authority in such possession may direct. 5. All dues levied under this Act shall be paid over to Her Majesty's Paymaster-General, at such times and in such manner as the Board of Trade may direct, and shall be applied, paid, and dealt with by him, for the purposes hereinafter mentioned, in such manner as such Board may direct. 6. The dues levied under the authority of this Act in respect of any such lighthouse, buoy, or beacon as aforesaid shall, after deducting any expenses incurred in collecting the same, be applied for the purpose of paying the expenses incurred in erecting and maintaining such lighthouse, buoy, or beacon, and for no other purpose whatever. 7. For the purpose of constructing or repairing any such lighthouse, buoy, or beacon as aforesaid, the Board of Trade may raise, upon the security of the dues to be levied in respect thereof, such sums of money as they may deem fit; and the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, out of any moneys which may be provided by Parliament, the Public Works Loan Commissioners, or any other person or body of persons, may advance the same accordingly, such advances to be made in the same manner, with the same powers, and subject to the same provisions, so far as circumstances permit, in, with, and subject to which, under "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," advances may be made upon the security of the mercantile. marine fund for the construction and repair of lighthouses in the United Kingdom. 8. Accounts shall be kept of all sums expended in the construction, repair, or maintenance of every lighthouse, buoy, or beacon in the British possessions abroad, for which dues are levied under the authority of this Act, and of the dues received in respect thereof, in such manner as the Board of Trade may direct, and shall be laid before Parliament annually; and the said accounts shall be audited in such a manner as Her Majesty may, by Order in Council, direct. 9. Any person who, in any declaration made in the presence of or produced to any registrar of shipping, in pursuance of the second part of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," or in any documents or other evidence produced to such registrar, wilfully makes, or assists in making, or procures to be made, any false statement concerning the title to or the ownership of or the interest existing in any ship, or any share or shares in any ship, or who utters, produces, or makes use of any declaration or document containing any such false statement, knowing the same to be false, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour. 10. Shares in ships registered under the said "Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," shall be deemed to be included in the word "stock," as defined by "The Trustee Act, 1850,"* and the provisions of such last-mentioned Act shall be applicable to such shares accordingly. 11. In any case in which any bill of sale, mortgage, or other instrument for the disposal or transfer of any ship or any share or shares therein or of any interest therein is made in any form or contains any particulars other than the form and particulars prescribed and approved for the purpose by or in pursuance of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," no registrar shall be required to record the same without the express direction of the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Customs. 12. Upon the transfer of a registry of a ship from one port to another, the certificate of registry required by the 19th Section of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," to be delivered up for that purpose, may be delivered up to the registrar of either of such ports. 13. [The Commissioners of Customs may, with the consent of the Board of Trade, exempt any pleasure yacht from the provision contained in the 34th Section of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," which requires the name of every ship and the port to which she belongs to be painted on her stern.] 14. The owner of any ship which is measured under Rule II contained in the 22nd Section of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," may, at any subsequent period, apply to the Commissioners of 13 & 14 Vict., c. 60. + Repealed by Act 34 & 35 Vict., c. 110. Page 716. Customs to have the said ship re-measured under Rule I contained in the 21st Section of the same Act, and the said Commissioners may thereupon, and upon payment of such fee not exceeding 78. 6d. for each transverse section as they may authorize, direct the said ship to be re-measured accordingly, and the number denoting the register tonnage shal be altered accordingly. 15. The copy or transcript of the register of any British ship which is kept by the Chief Registrar of Shipping at the Customhouse in London, or by the Registrar-General of Seamen, under the direction of Her Majesty's Commissioners of Customs or of the Board of Trade, shall have the same effect to all intents and purposes as the original register, of which the same is a copy or transcript. 16. The Board of Trade may issue instructions concerning the relief to be administered to distressed seamen and apprentices, in pursuance of the 211th and 212th Sections of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," and may by such instructions determine in what cases and under what circumstances and conditions such relief is to be administered; and all powers of recovering expenses incurred with respect to distressed seamen and apprentices, which by the 213th Section of the said Act are given to the Board of Trade, shall extend to all expenses incurred by any foreign Government for the purposes aforesaid, and repaid to such Government by Her Majesty's Government, and shall likewise extend to any expenses incurred by the conveying home such seamen or apprentices in foreign as well as British ships; and all provisions concerning the relief of distressed seamen and apprentices, being subjects of Her Majesty, which are contained in the said sections of the said Act, and in this section, shall extend to such seamen and apprentices, not being subjects of Her Majesty, as are reduced to distress in foreign parts by reason of their having been shipwrecked, discharged, or left behind from any British ship; subject nevertheless to such modifications and directions concerning the cases in which relief is to be given to such foreigners, and the country to which they are to be sent, as the Board of Trade may, under the circumstances, think fit to make and issue. 17. The enactment of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," relating to Savings Banks shall apply to all seamen, and to their wives and families, whether such seamen belong to the Royal Navy or to the Merchant Service, or to any other sea service. 18. Any Naval Court summoned, under the provisions of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," to hear any complaint touching the conduct of the master or any of the crew of any ship, shall, in addition to the powers given to it by the said Act, have power to try the said master or any of the said crew for any offences against |