to deliver to the proper officer on account of wages only the sum by which the total of the amounts shown on the delivery accounts to be due on account of wages exceeds the total of the amounts allowed as properly chargeable on the reimbursement accounts.

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(5.) The proper officer shall (subject to any repayment made under this section) remit the effects, and any amount received by him on account of wages under this section, at such time and in such manner as the Board of Trade require, and shall render such accounts in respect thereof as the Board direct. (6.) In this section the expression effects includes the proceeds of any sale of the effects if these effects are sold under this section, and the effects shall be sold by the proper officer in such manner as he thinks fit when they are delivered to him unless the Board of Trade direct to the contrary, and, if not so sold, shall be sold by the Board as and when they think fit unless they are delivered to the seaman.

(7.) The master shall be under no liability for any loss of effects or for any damage to the effects if he proves to the proper officer that the loss or damage occurred without his neglect or privity after the seaman left the ship.

(8.) The Board of Trade shall not be under any liability with respect to anything done under this section, except that, if after the wages or effects of a seaman have been dealt with under this section, any legal proceedings are taken in respect of those wages or effects, or involving the forfeiture of those wages or effects, or of any sum out of the wages, by the seaman against the master or owner of the ship, or by the master or owner of the ship against the seaman, the Board shall, if notice is given to them of the proceedings, and a reasonable opportunity afforded to them of appearing, comply with any order of the court made as respects the wages or effects, so far as they can do so out of the wages and effects remitted to them in respect of the voyage of the ship, and, so far as those wages and effects are not required for reimbursing any expenses incurred by or on behalf of the Crown, or incurred by the Government of a foreign country and repaid to that Government by or on behalf of the Crown, as expenses of a distressed seaman on behalf of the seaman.

The Board shall be entitled to appear and be heard in any such proceedings by any of their officers, and for the purpose of this section notice to any superintendent shall be deemed to be notice to the Board.

The Board may, if and so far as they think fit, meet any claim made by a seaman against the master or owner of the ship in respect of any wages or effects dealt with under this section, although legal proceedings are not actually taken in respect thereof Provided that they have given notice to the master or owner of the ship, and the master or owner has not given written notice of objection within ten days of the notice being given.

For the purposes of this sub-section, any legal proceedings

taken or any claim made by a person in whose favour an allotment note has been made, or who claims reimbursement of expenses on behalf of any union or parish under section one hundred and eighty-two of the principal Act, shall be treated as proceedings taken or a claim made by the seaman.

(9.) Any sums remitted under this section or arising from the sale of effects under this section shall be paid into the Exchequer, and any sums payable by the Board of Trade under this section shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament.

(10.) If the master of a ship fails without reasonable cause to comply with this section, he shall (without prejudice to any other liability) for each offence be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, and, if he delivers a false account or makes a false statement or representation for the purposes of this section, he shall in respect of each offence be guilty of a misdemeanour.

(11.) The proper officer for the purpose of this section shall be(i.) At a port in the United Kingdom, a superintendent;

(ii.) At a port in a British possession, a superintendent, or, in the absence of any such superintendent, the chief officer of customs at or near the port;

(iii.) At a port elsewhere, the consular officer at the port.

(12.) This section shall not apply in the case of an absent

seaman

(a.) Where the master of the ship satisfies the proper officer that none of the effects of the seaman have to his knowledge been left on board the ship, and that he has paid all wages due to the

seaman; or

(b.) Where the amount of wages earned by the seaman (after taking into account any deductions made in respect of allotments or advances for which provision is made by the agreement with the crew) appears from the agreement to be less than five pounds, and the master does not exercise his option to deal with the delivery and reimbursement accounts collectively; or

(c.) Where the master of the ship satisfies the proper officer that the net amount due to the seaman on account of wages (after taking into account any deductions lawfully made in respect of allotments, advances, or otherwise) is less than three pounds, and the master does not exercise his option to deal with the delivery and reimbursement accounts collectively; or

(d.) Where the question of the forfeiture of the wages and effects of the seaman has been dealt with in legal proceedings lawfully instituted before the termination of the voyage, or within fortyeight hours of the arrival of the ship at the port at which the voyage terminates.

29. The provisions of Part II of the principal Act, relating to the property of deceased seamen shall be extended so as to apply to seamen belonging to a British ship registered in the United Kingdom, the voyage of which is to terminate out of the

United Kingdom, and in that case the British consular officer at the port at which the voyage terminates, or, if the port is in a British possession, the officer of customs there, shall exercise the same powers as he may exercise under those provisions when a ship, the voyage of which is to terminate in the United Kingdom, touches and remains for forty-eight hours at a port elsewhere than in the United Kingdom, and those provisions shall apply accordingly.

30.-(1.) The master of a British ship shall not discharge a seaman at any place out of the United Kingdom (except at a port in the country in which he was shipped), unless he previously obtains, endorsed on the agreement with the crew, the sanction of the proper authority as defined for the purpose in this Part of this Act, but that sanction shall not be refused where the seaman is discharged on the termination of his service.

(2.) The authority to whom an application is made for sanction under this section may, and, if not a merchant, shall, examine into the grounds on which a seaman is to be discharged at a place out of the United Kingdom, and for that purpose may, if he thinks fit, administer oaths, and may grant or refuse the sanction as he thinks just, but such sanction shall not be unreasonably withheld. (3.) If the master of a ship fails to comply with this section, he shall, in respect of each offence, be guilty of a misdemeanor, and in any legal proceeding for the offence it shall lie on the master to prove that the sanction was obtained or could not be obtained or was unreasonably withheld.

31. Where the master of a British ship discharges a seaman at any place out of the United Kingdom, he shall give to that seaman a certificate of discharge in a form approved by the Board of Trade, and, in the case of any certificated officer whose certificate he has retained, shall return that certificate to him.

32.-(1.) Where the service of a seaman belonging to a British ship terminates at a port out of His Majesty's dominions otherwise than by the consent of the seaman to be discharged during the currency of the agreement, the master of the ship shall, besides giving the certificate of discharge required under this Part of this Act, and besides paying the wages to which the seaman is entitled, make adequate provision in accordance with this Act for his maintenance and for his return to a proper return port, and the proper authority as defined for the purpose in this Part of this Act shall endorse upon the agreement with the crew of the ship which the seaman is leaving the particulars of any provision

so made.

(2.) If the master fails, without reasonable cause, to comply with this section, the expenses of maintenance and of the journey to the proper return port,

(a.) If defrayed by the seaman, shall be recoverable as wages due to him; and

(b.) If defrayed by the proper authority or by any other person, shall (unless the seaman has been guilty of barratry) be a charge upon the ship to which the seaman belonged, and may also be recovered against the person who is the owner of the ship for the time being, or, where the ship has been lost, against the person who was the owner of the ship at the time of the loss, or, where the ship has been transferred to some person not being a British subject, either against the owner for the time being or against the person who was the owner of the ship at the time of the transfer, at the suit of the proper authority or other person defraying the expenses, or, in case they have been allowed to the authority or person out of public money, as a debt to the Crown, either by ordinary process of law or in the court and in the manner in which wages may be recovered by seamen.

(3.) This section shall not apply in the case of a foreign seaman who has been shipped at a port out of the United Kingdom and discharged at a port out of the United Kingdom.

33. (1.) Where a British ship is transferred or disposed of at any port out of His Majesty's dominions, any seaman belonging to that ship shall be discharged unless the seaman consents in writing in the presence of the proper authority as defined for the purpose in this Part of this Act to complete the voyage of the ship if continued.

(2.) Where a seaman is so discharged the provisions of this Part of this Act as to the certificate of discharge, and the return of the seaman to a proper return port, shall apply as if the service of the seaman had terminated otherwise than by the consent of the seaman to be discharged during the currency of the agreement, and shall apply to foreign seamen whether they have been shipped at a port in the United Kingdom or not.

34.—(1). If the master of, or a seaman belonging to, a ship receives any hurt or injury in the service of the ship, or suffers from any illness (not being venereal disease, or an illness due to his own wilful act or default or to his own misbehaviour), the expense of providing the necessary surgical and medical advice and attendance and medicine, and also the expenses of the maintenance of the master or seaman until he is cured, or dies, or is returned to a proper return port, and of his conveyance to the port, and in the case of death the expense (if any) of his burial, shall be defrayed by the owner of the ship, without any deduction on that account from his wages.

illness

(2.) If the master or a seaman is on account of any temporarily removed from his ship for the purpose of preventing infection, or otherwise for the convenience of the ship, and subsequently returns to his duty, the expense of the removal and of providing the necessary advice and attendance and medicine, and of his maintenance while away from the ship, shall be defrayed in like manner.

(3.) The expense of all medicines, surgical and medical advice,

and attendance, given to a master or seaman whilst on board his ship shall be defrayed in like manner.

(4.) In all other cases any reasonable expenses duly incurred by the owner for any seaman in respect of illness, and also any reasonable expenses duly incurred by the owner in respect of the burial of any seaman who dies whilst on service, shall, if duly proved, be deducted from the wages of the seaman.

35.-(1.) If any of the expenses attendant on the illness, hurt, or injury of a seaman, which are to be paid under the Merchant Shipping Acts by the master or owner, are paid by any authority on behalf of the Crown, or if any other expenses in respect of the illness, hurt, or injury of any seaman whose wages are not accounted for under the Merchant Shipping Acts to that authority, are so paid, those expenses shall be repaid to the authority by the master or owner of the ship.

(2.) If the expenses are not so repaid, the amount thereof shall with costs be a charge upon the ship, and be recoverable from the master or from the owner of the ship for the time being, or where the ship has been lost from the person who was the owner of the ship at the time of the loss, 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, as a debt to the Crown, either by ordinary process of law or in the court and in the manner in which wages may be recovered by seamen.

(3.) In any proceeding for such recovery, a certificate of the facts, signed by the said authority, together with such vouchers (if any) as the case requires, shall be sufficient proof that the said expenses were duly paid by that authority.

36. (1.) The master of a British ship shall not leave a seaman behind at any place out of the United Kingdom, ashore or at sea (except where the seaman is discharged in accordance with the Merchant Shipping Acts), unless he previously obtains, endorsed on the agreement with the crew, the certificate of the proper authority as defined for the purpose in this Part of this Act, stating the cause of the seaman being left behind, whether the cause be unfitness or inability to proceed to sea, desertion, or disappearance or otherwise.

(2.) The authority to whom an application is made for a certificate under this section may, and, if not a merchant, shall, examine into the grounds on which a seaman is to be left behind, and for that purpose may, if he thinks fit, administer oaths, and may grant or refuse the certificate as he thinks just, but the certificate shall not be unreasonably withheld.

(3.) If the master of a ship fails to comply with this section, he shall (without prejudice to his liability under any other provision of the Merchant Shipping Acts) be guilty in respect of each offence of a misdemeanor, and in any legal proceeding for the offence it shall lie on the master to prove that the certificate