Acts, or an emigrant passenger ship subject to the Passengers Acts, and the Board of Trade are satisfied by the production of a foreign certificate of survey attested by a British consular officer at the port of survey, that such ship has been officially surveyed at a foreign port and that the requirements of the said acts or any of them are proved by such survey to have been substantially complied with, the Board may, if they think fit, dispense with any further survey of the ship in respect of the requirements so complied with, and give or direct one of their officers to give a certificate which shall have the same effect as if given upon survey under the said acts or any of them (d). steamers sea without No passenger steamer except a passenger steamer which is Prohibition also an emigrant passenger ship, and has complied with the of passenger requirements of the Passengers Acts with respect to the survey proceeding to of her hull, equipments, and machinery as hereinafter men- passenger tioned (e), and no foreign steamship carrying passengers between certificates. places in the United Kingdom, may clear out or proceed to sea, or on any voyage or excursion with more than twelve passengers on board unless the provisions of the above-mentioned sections of the Merchant Shipping Acts of 1854 and 1876, with respect to survey, surveyors' declarations, and passenger certificates, have been in all respects complied with (f). in passenger By the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, sects. 322 and 323, Misconduct rules were laid down to prevent misconduct by passengers, the by passengers overcrowding of steamers and the evading of fares. These steamers. sections were, however, repealed by the Merchant Shipping Act, 1862 (g), which has substituted the following provisions. By sect. 35 of that act, penalties are imposed on(1.) Any person who, being drunken or disorderly, has been on that account refused admission into any duly surveyed passenger steamer by the owner or any person in his employment, and who, after having had the amount of his fare (if he has paid it) returned or tendered to him, nevertheless persists in attempting to enter the steamer; (d) The section further provides, that her Majesty may, by Order in Council, direct that this section shall not apply in the case of an official survey at any foreign port at which it appears to her Majesty that corresponding privileges are not extended to British ships. (e) See infra, p. 721. (f) The M. S. Act, 1854, ss. 291, 303, 318; the M. S. Act, 1876, ss. 16, 18. (g) The M. S. Act, 1862, s. 2, and Schedule, Table (A). (2.) Any person who, being drunken or disorderly on board any such steamer is requested by the owner or any person in his employment to leave it at any place in the United Kingdom at which he can conveniently do so, and who, having had the amount of his fare (if he has paid it) returned or tendered to him, refuses to comply with such request; (3.) Any person on board any such steamer who, after warning by the master or any other officer, molests or continues to molest any passenger; (4.) Any person who, after having been refused admission into any such steamer by the owner or any person in his employment on account of the steamer being full, and who after having had the full amount of his fare (if he has paid it) returned or tendered to him, nevertheless persists in attemping to enter the ship; (5.) Any person, having got on board any such steamer, who, upon being requested on the like account by the owner or any person in his employment to leave the steamer before it has quitted the place at which he got on board, and who, upon having the full amount of his fare (if he has paid it) returned or tendered to him, refuses to comply with the request; (6.) Any person who travels or attempts to travel in any such steamer without having previously paid his fare, and with intent to avoid payment of it; (7.) Any person who, having paid his fare for a certain distance, knowingly and wilfully proceeds in any such steamer beyond this distance without previously paying the additional fare, and with intent to avoid payment of it; (8.) Any person who knowingly and wilfully refuses or neglects, on arriving at the point to which he has paid his fare, to quit the steamer; and (9.) Any person on board any such steamer who does not when required by the master or other officer either pay his fare, or exhibit the ticket or other receipt (if any), showing the payment of the fare which is usually given to persons travelling by and paying their fare for the steamer (i). (i) The recovery of the fare is not to be prejudiced by the imposition of any penalty under this section. The M. S. Act, 1862, s. 35. sengers in steamers. By sect. 36 of the same act it is provided, that any person Wilful inon board any such steamer who wilfully does or causes to be juries by pasdone anything in such a manner as to obstruct or injure any passenger part of the machinery or tackle of the steamer, or to obstruct, impede or molest any of the crew in the navigation or management of the steamer, or otherwise in the execution of their duty, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 207. of offenders. And by sect. 37, the master or other officer of any duly sur- Apprehension veyed passenger steamer, and all persons called by him to his assistance, may detain any person who has committed any offence against any of these provisions, and whose name and address are unknown to the officer, and convey him with all convenient despatch before a justice without warrant (k). OF PASSENGER GRATION AND SHIPS. The principal acts now in force relating to emigration, to PROVISIONS passenger ships bound to any place out of Europe not within ACTS RELA the Mediterranean, and to "emigrant passenger ships" (7), are TING TO EMIthe Passengers Act, 1855, the Passengers Act, 1863, the Pas- PARTICULAR sengers Act, 1870, and the Merchant Shipping Act, 1872, of PASSENGER which last act the full title is "An Act to amend the Merchant Shipping Acts and the Passenger Acts." The first of these acts consolidated many of the provisions of the law on this subject, and came into operation on the 1st October, 1855. The second, which amended the first and is to be construed with it, came into operation on the 1st October, 1863 (m). The provisions of the Passengers Act, 1855, applied to all Application of Passengers passengers except cabin passengers, and labourers under inden- Acts. ture to the Hudson's Bay Company carried in that company's ships. This act provided that no persons should be deemed to To what be cabin passengers unless the space allotted to their exclusive passengers. use was in the proportion of at least thirty-six clear square feet to each passenger of the age of twelve or upwards, nor unless they were messed throughout the voyage at the same table with the master or first officer of the ship, nor unless the fare contracted to be paid by each was in the proportion of at least 30s. for every week of the length of the voyage as computed for (k) The magistrate is empowered to try and dispose of the case with all convenient despatch. The M. S. Act, 1862, s. 37. (1) See supra, p. 698. (m) The Passengers Act, 1855, s. 1; the Passengers Act, 1863, s. 2. See To what ships. sailing vessels proceeding south of the equator under the provisions of the act, and of 20s. for vessels proceeding north of the equator, nor unless they were duly furnished with contract tickets according to the provisions of the act (n). Most of the provisions of the Passengers Act, 1855, do not apply to cabin passengers, but we shall see that a few of them have been extended to certain passengers of this class by the Passengers Act, 1863 (0). The Passengers Acts do not extend to Queen's ships, or to ships in the service of the Admiralty, but, as has been already noticed, their provisions chiefly apply (p) to "emigrant passenger ships," that is, to every description of sea-going vessel, whether British, or foreign or colonial, carrying on any voyage from the United Kingdom to any place out of Europe, and not in the Mediterranean Sea, or on certain colonial voyages described in the act (9), more than fifty "passengers" ("), or a greater number of "passengers" when the ship is propelled by sails, than in the proportion of one statute adult (that is, one person of the age of twelve or upwards, or two persons between the ages of one and twelve) to every thirty-three tons of the registered tonnage, or, when the ship is propelled by steam, a greater number than in the proportion of one statute adult to every twenty tons registered tonnage (s). It was held that a sailing ship was not (n) The Passengers Act, 1855, s. 3. (0) See ss. 4, 6, 11 and 15. under contract with the government of the state or colony to which the vessels belonged, were also exempted from the operation of the earlier act by the Passengers Act, 1855, s. 4. The latter class of vessels has ceased now to exist, and the exemption of steamers carrying mails has been repealed by sect. 4 of the Passengers Act, 1863. (7) See the Passengers Act, 1855, s. 95; see also ib. ss. 96-99; and infra, p. 713. (r) See supra, p. 711, as to the meaning of " passengers as here used. (s) See supra, p. 698. The definition of an "emigrant passenger ship," which is given above, is that contained in sect. 3 of the Passengers Act, 1863, which repeals the definition given by sect. 3 of the Passengers Act, 1855. These "emigrant passenger ships" are invariably referred to throughout the Passengers Act, 1855, and the Amendment Act of 1863, as "passenger ships." "a passenger ship" within the meaning of the Passengers Act, 1855, that is, an emigrant passenger ship, because she carried more than the number of passengers mentioned in that act, if that number or proportion could not be made up without reckoning cabin passengers, even although those persons had not received contract tickets; for the provisions of that act with reference to contract tickets for cabin passengers are only applicable in the case of emigrant passenger ships, and the nondelivery of the tickets on board a ship that is not a passenger ship does not render it necessary to count the cabin passengers as steerage passengers (t). Some of the provisions of the Passengers Act, 1855, apply, as we have already seen, to all ships carrying passengers, whether they are or are not "emigrant passenger ships" within the above description (u), but these provisions of the Acts of 1855 and 1863 which we have now to mention (with the exception of a few provisions referring to ships carrying passengers on particular colonial voyages (r); or to vessels bringing passengers into the United Kingdom from places out of Europe (x)), either apply only to emigrant passenger ships and ships carrying passengers to places out of Europe not within the Mediterranean (y), or exclusively to emigrant passenger ships. It is not necessary to consider in detail the provisions of the Passengers Act, 1855, as to colonial voyages. They are for the most part contained in sects. 95 to 99, and are chiefly applicable to voyages from ports in the colonies, other than the territories formerly under the government of the East India Company and the island of Hong Kong. Power is, however, given to the Governor-General of India in Council to adopt, where it may be thought expedient, the system established by the act (). By the 24 & 25 Vict. c. 52, the governors of the Australian colonies may prescribe by proclamation rules as to the number of passengers to be carried by passenger ships from one part of Australia to another part, and for determining on (t) See Ellis v. Pearce, 1 E. B. & E. 431. (u) Supra, p. 702. See ss. 10, 13, 49, 56, and 70 of the Passengers Act, 1855. See also s. 58. (v) See the Passengers Act, 1855, ss. 95-99. (x) The Passengers Act, 1855, ss. 100-102; and infra, p. 718. (y) The Passengers Act, 1855, ss. 16, 17, 48. See also ss. 58, 67, 69, 71-74; and infra, p. 714. (2) Sect. 99. Emigration from British India is regulated by the Indian Act, No. XIII. of 1864, which consolidated some sixteen acts. To what colonial voyages. |