Repeal of certain sections of 17 and 18 Vict., c. 104, 12. On and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, the twenty-fifth and thirtyand 18 and 19 fourth sections of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, and the thirteenth section of the Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1855, shall be repealed. Vict., c. 91. Short Title. Commence ment of Act. Transfer to 35 & 36 VICT., c. 73-1872. An Act to amend the Merchant Shipping Acts and the assenger Acts. W THEREAS it is expedient to amend the Merchant Shipping Acts and the Passenger Acts: Be it 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: Preliminary. : 1. This Act may be cited as the Merchant Shipping Act, 1872. 2. This Act shall come into operation on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three. Measurement of Ships. 3. The twenty-third, twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, and of duties of twenty-ninth sections of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, Commission the fourteenth section of the Merchant Shipping Act Amendwith respect to ment Act, 1855, and the fourth section of the Merchant ers of Customs measurement of ships. Shipping Act, 1871, shall be read and construed as if the Board of Trade were therein named instead of the Commissioner of Customs. Registry. Transfer to 4. The forty-sixth, fifty-fourth, ninety-second and ninetyeral of Seamen fourth sections of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, shall be of duties of read and construed as if the Registrar General of Seamen ers of Cestoms were therein named instead of the Commissioners of Customs, with respect to registry of and the returns required to be transmitted by the said ninety Commission ships. fourth fourth section of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, shall be transmitted to the Registrar General of Seamen and not to the custom house in London, and the Registrar General of Seamen shall be called the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen. Passenger Ships. 5. The sixth and seventh sections of the Passengers Act, 1855, except so much of the latter section as provides for the immunity of emigration officers, shall be repealed, and all powers and duties vested in or imposed on the Emigration Commissioners by the Passengers Act, 1855, and the Passengers Act Amendment Act, 1863, shall be transferred to and imposed on the Board of Trade. In the construction and for the purposes of the said As the name of the Board of Trade shall be deemed to lie substtuted for the name of the Emigration Commissioners and anything which might, if this Act had not passed, have been done by the Emigration Commissioners, whether acting independently or under the sanction or authority of one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, may be done by the Board of Trade independently of such sanction or authority. Transfer to Board of Trade of powers and duties of Emigration Commissioners. penalties for applications 6. The provisions contained in the eighty-third section of Extension of the Passengers' Act, 1855, shall extend to any forms of ap- offences conplication or other papers issued by or under the authority of nected with one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, for the for assistance use of persons desirous of emigrating by his assistance, and in emigration. to any certificate, document, or statement adduced in support of any application to such Secretary for such assistance. to Board of Trade of 7. The powers conferred by the thirteenth section of the Transfer Passengers' Act Amendment Act, 1863, on one of Her of powers Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, shall be transferred Secretary of to the Board of Trade. Annual Survey of Passenger Steamers. State under steamers to be 8. The three hundred and fourth section of the Merchant Passenger Shipping Act, 1854, shall be repealed, and every passenger surveyed once steamer shall be surveyed once at the least in every year, in in every year, the manner mentioned in the fourth part of that Act. The fees to be charged for certificates issued in respect of such survey, shall not exceed for a yearly certificate twice the sum named in the table marked T in the schedule to the said Act as chargeable for a six months' certificate. (Sections 9, 10 and 11, amend the provisions of the Principal Act as to pilotage, but do not extend to Canadian waters. Section 12 relates to fees for testing chain cables and applies only to the United Kingdom.) General. according to 17 and 18 Vict., c. 104. Duties of sur veyors. Fees and sala ries of survey gration offi cers. General. 13. All duties in relation to the survey and measurement af ships under this Act or the Acts amended hereby shall be performed by the surveyors appointed under the fourth part of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, in accordance with such regulations as may be from time to time made by the Board of Trade. 14. All fees payable in respect of the survey or measureors and emi- ment of ships under this Act or the Acts amended hereby, or in respect of any services performed by any person employed under the authority of the Passengers' Act, 1855, shall be paid to the superintendent of a mercantile marine office at such times and in such manner as the Board of Trade may from time to time direct, and shall be carried to the mercantile marine fund; and the salaries of surveyors and other expenses connected with the survey and measurement of ships under this Act or the Acts amended hereby, and also so much of the salaries and expenses of persons employed under the authority of the Passengers' Act, 1855, as has heretofore been paid by fees shall be paid out of the mercantile marine fund. Penalty on surveyor, etc., re ty, etc., for duties per 15. If any surveyor, or any person employed under the ceiving gratui- authority of the Passengers' Act, 1853, demands or receives directly or indirectly, otherwise than by the direction of the formed under Board of Trade, any fees, remuneration, or gratuity whatever, in respect of any of the duties performed by him under this Act or Acts amended hereby, he shall for every such offence incur a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds. this Act. Her Majesty may accept offers of persons recommended by the (Section 16 applies only to home-trade ships.) 17. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty to accept from time to time the offers of any person whom the Lord High Admiral or the Commissioners for executing his office may recommend, Admiralty to to serve as Officers of Reserve in the Royal Navy upon such terms and conditions as to Her Majesty may from time to time seem fit, and the "Officers of the Royal Naval Reserve Act, 1863," shall be read and construed as if this clause formed part of the said Act. serve as officers of the Royal Naval Reserve. 36 & 37 VICT., c. 85. An Act to amend the Merchant Shipping Acts. Be it 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: Preliminary. 1. This Act may be cited as the Merchant Shipping Act, Short Title. 1873. 2. This Act shall be construed as one with the Merchant Construction Shipping Act, 1854, and the Acts amending the same, and of Act. the said Acts and this Act may be cited collectively as the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1873. Registry (Part II. of Merchant Shipping Act, 1854.) be marked on 3. Every British ship registered after the passing of this Particulars to Act shall before registry, and every British ship registered British ships. before the passing of this Act, shall on or before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, be permanently and conspicuously marked to the satisfaction of the Board of Trade, as follows: Her name shall be marked on each of her bows, and her name and the name of her port of registry shall be marked on her stern on a dark ground in white or yellow letters, or on a light ground in black letters, such letters to be of a length not less than four inches and of proportionate breadth : Her official number and the number denoting her registered tonnage shall be cut in on her main beam: A scale of feet denoting her draught of water shall be marked on each side of her stern and of her stern-post in Roman capital letters, or in figures, not less than six inches in length, the lower line of such letters or figures to coincide with the draught line denoted thereby. Such letters or figures shall be marked by being cut in and painted white or yellow on a dark ground, or in such other way as the Board of Trade may from time to time approve. The Board of Trade may, however, exempt any class of ships from the requirements of this section or any of them: If the scale of feet showing the ship's draught of water is in any respect inaccurate, so as to be likely to mislead, the owner of the ship shall incur a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds: The Particulars to be entered in record of draught of water. The marks required by this section shall be permanently continued and no alteration shall be made therein, except in the event of any of the particulars thereby denoted being altered in the manner provided by the Merchant Shipping Acts 1854 to 1873: Any owner or master of a British ship who neglects to cause his ship to be marked as aforesaid, or to keep her so marked, and any person who conceals, removes, alters, defaces, or obliterates, or suffers any person under his control to conceal, remove, alter, deface, or obliterate any of the said marks, except in the event aforesaid, or except for the purpose of escaping capture by an enemy, shall for each offence incur a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds, and any officer of customs, on receipt of a certificate from a surveyor or inspector of the Board of Trade that a ship is insufficiently or inaccurately marked, may detain the same until the insufficiency or inaccuracy has been remedied : Provided, that no fishing vessel, duly registered, lettered, and numbered, in pursuance of the Sea Fisheries Act, 1868, shall be required to have her name and port of registry marked under this section: Provided also, that if any registered British ship, if not within a port of the United Kingdom at any time before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventyfour, she shall be marked as by this section required within one month after her next return to a British port of registry subsequent to that date. (As to additional marks to be made on British ships see Imp. Act, 38 & 39 Vict., c. 88, s s. 5 & 6.) 4. The records of the draughts of water of any sea-going ships required under section five of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1871, shall in addition to the particulars thereby required, specify the extent of her clear side in feet and inches. The term "clear side" means the height from the water to the upper side of the deck, from which the depth of hold as stated in the register is measured, and the measurement of the clear side is to be taken at the lowest part of the side. Every master of a sea-going ship shall, upon the request of any person appointed to record the ship's draught of water, permit such person to enter the ship and to make such inspections and take such measurements as may be requisite for the purpose of such record, and any master who fails so to do, or impedes or suffers any one under his control to impede any person so appointed in the execution of his duty, shall for each offence incur a penalty not exceeding five pounds. 5. Whereas a foreign ship, not having at any previous time foreign ships been registered as a British ship, becomes a British ship, no Rules as to names of person |