STAMP DUTIES ON MARINE POLICIES. Time Policies. For every £100, or fractional part of £100, insured on any ship in any dock or harbour, for any certain time not exceeding a calendar month... 6d. Ditto, not exceeding three months, and whether Insurances on any ship, wheresoever the same may be, not exceeding six months ... ... ... IS. 25. 45. Voyage Policies. For every £100, or part of £100, insured When the premium does not exceed 10s. per cent. ... 3d. 6d. If an insurance is made for a voyage, and for any period longer than twenty-four hours after the ship arrives at her destination, and has moored there in safety, the duty for both a time and a voyage policy is chargeable. Policy of Mutual Marine Insurance on any voyage, and not for any period of time. For every £100, or part of £100, insured ... ... 2s. 6d. If separate interests are insured by one policy, the duty must be paid on each separate interest, instead of on the aggregate amount. 7 Vic. C. 21. Sea policies cannot be stamped after execution (except in the case of stamped policies of mutual assurances, which may have further duties added, if not underwritten for more than the amount covered by the stamp already thereon). 9 Geo. IV. c. 41. Any person effecting, negotiating, or underwriting an unstamped marine policy, or receiving a premium for the same, is liable to a penalty of £100. 7 Vic. c. 21. A policy executed after a loss has occurred, is valid. APPENDIX. DIGEST OF THE MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT, 1854. SHOWING IN ITALICS ALL THE RECENT ALTERATIONS WHICH HAVE BEEN MADE BY THE ACTS OF 1855, 1862, AND 1867. (As the Acts themselves are very voluminous, and if given in extenso would make this volume four or five times its present size, the following digest has been prepared so as to show the provisions of the Acts within as small a compass as possible. If further details are required, reference can be made to the Acts themselves.) PART I.-THE BOARD OF TRADE. The Board of Trade is appointed as the department to superintend shipping matters, and to carry into effect the Acts of Parliament relating thereto (sec. 6), and to issue the forms of documents, &c., which are required (secs. 7 and 8), which are to be exempt from stamp duties (s. 9). Persons forging any forms issued by the Board of Trade are liable to penalties (s. 10). Papers issued by the Board of Trade are to be received in evidence without further proof (s. 7). Consuls and Shipping Masters are to furnish to the Board of Trade whatever information they may require, and if required they must also send to the Board all official logs which may be delivered to them (s. 12). British consuls, collectors of customs, shipping masters, &c., have power to require captains to produce their official log-books, and give a list of all persons on board the ship, and may muster the crew and require the master to explain his log and documents (s. 13). Inspectors are to be appointed by the Board to report on the causes of accidents to ships and to see that the Act is complied with (s. 14), and the inspectors may go on board of ships and inspect them, and require the attendance of persons and examine them on oath, and require the production of all necessary books and papers (s. 15). Persons impeding inspectors in their duties are liable to a penalty of £10 (s. 16). PART II.—OWNERSHIP, MEASUREMENT, AND REGISTRY OF BRITISH SHIPS. Applicable to all Her Majesty's dominions (s. 17). Description and Ownership of British Ships. To enable a man to be a registered owner of a British ship he must be a British subject either by birth or naturalization, and he must not have taken the oath of allegiance to any foreign state (s. 18). Bodies corporate carrying on business in any of Her Majesty's dominions may also be registered as owners (s. 18). Every British ship must be registered (except vessels under 15 tons employed on rivers or in coasting, and except vessels under 30 tons having no fixed deck, and employed in fishing in Canada and adjacent coasts), and no clearance or transire to allow a vessel to sail as a British ship can be granted unless the British register is produced (s. 19). Measurement of Tonnage. Directions are given in the Act for the mode of measurement by which the register tonnage is to be ascertained; the tonnage and official number are to be cut in the main-beam (s. 25), and when the tonnage is once ascertained, that has ever afterwards to be deemed the tonnage of the vessel (s. 26), but ships already registered may be re-measured if desired (s. 27). [Under the Act of 1862, s. 60, foreign ships belonging to countries adopting the British rule of measurement need not be re-measured before being registered here, and under s. 4 of that Act, tonnage rates under local Acts may be levied on the register tonnage.] Registry of British Ships. The chief officer of customs at the port is the person who is to register ships (s. 30), and the port at which a ship is registered is to be considered the port to which she belongs (s. 33). Before registry the ship's name and the port she belongs to must be painted on her stern in white or yellow letters, not less than four inches long. The name cannot be changed, and no concealment of the name is allowed except to enable her to escape from an enemy, and she must not be described by any other than her registered name (s. 34). Before being registered she must be surveyed by the proper officer (s. 36). The property in a ship is to be considered as divided into 64 shares, but no fractional part of a share can be registered. No more than 32 persons can be registered as owners at one time. Not more than five persons can be registered as joint-owners of any share. Joint-owners cannot transfer their shares separately. Corporate bodies may be registered as owners in their corporate name (s. 37). No person can be registered as owner until he makes a declaration in the form given in the Act (s. 38). On the first registry of a ship, if she is British built, the builder's certificate, containing the measurement, &c., must be produced; if she is foreign built, the bill of sale to the new owner is sufficient (s. 40). When these particulars are complied with the registrar is to register the vessel (s. 42). No notice of any trust is to be entered in the register book, and the registered owner has full power to dispose of the ship (s. 43). [Equities may now be enforced against owners and mortgagees of ships.-See Act of 1862, s. 3.] Certificate of Registry. After a ship is registered the registrar is to give a certificate of registry to the owner (s. 44), and if any change of ownership or change of captain takes place, it should be endorsed on the register (ss. 45 and 46). A new register can be granted on the old one being given up (s. 47). If the register is lost while the ship is in the United Kingdom a new certificate is to be granted at the port of her registry, but if it is lost abroad, the captain is to apply to the first British registrar he comes to, and make a declaration of the facts, and then a provisional certificate will be granted by that registrar, which must be delivered up as soon as the ship arrives at the United Kingdom, and a new register will be made out (ss. 48 and 49). The register can only be used for the navigation of the ship and cannot be pledged as a security for money. If it is so pledged the owner or captain can recover it at any time by applying to a magistrate (ss. 50 and 51). If the master or owner uses an improper certificate he is guilty of a misdemeanour, and the ship is liable to seizure and forfeiture to Her Majesty (s. 52). When a ship is lost the owner is to give notice at the custom-house, and the captain is to deliver up the register to some British custom-house or consul at the earliest opportunity (s. 53). If a ship lying at a foreign port becomes the property of British owners, the British consul can give a provisional certificate of registry, to last till the ship arrives in the United Kingdom (s. 54). Transfer of Ships. Ships are to be transferred by bill of sale in the form given in the Act (see s. 55). [The Act of 1855 enac's (s. 11) that |