47. A parent of a child who employs such child in any labour exercised by way of trade or for the purposes of gain shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to take such child into his employment. Elementary Education Act, 1880. 43 & 44 VICT. c. 23. 4. Every person who takes into his employment a child of the age of ten and under the age of thirteen years, resident in a school district, before that child has obtained a certificate of having reached the standard of education fixed by a bye-law in force in the district for the total or partial exemption of children of the like age from the obligation to attend school, shall be deemed to take such child into his employment in contravention of the Elementary Education Act of 1876, and shall be liable to a penalty accordingly. Proceedings may, in the discretion of the local authority or person instituting the same, be taken for punishing the contravention of a byelaw, notwithstanding that the act or neglect or default alleged as such contravention constitutes habitual neglect to provide efficient elementary education for a child within the meaning of section eleven of the Elementary Education Act, 1876 (d): Provided that nothing in this section shall prevent an employer from employing any child who is employed by him or by any other person at the time of the passing of this Act, and who attends school in accordance with the provisions of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1878. (d) That is, children habitually eglected by parents, habitually wandering, or consorting with criminals. See, however, Saunders v. Crawford, note (c). CHAPTER XI. SEAMEN. SEAMEN have been the subject of many special acts (a). The law in force as to them is, however, chiefly contained in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. 104), the principal sections of which are here set out. 17 & 18 VICT. c. 104. An Act to amend and consolidate the Acts relative to Merchant Shipping PART III. Masters and Seamen. Sect. 109 states that, "The whole of the third part of this Act shall apply to all sea-going ships registered in the United Kingdom, and also to all ships registered in any British possession and employed in trading or going between any place in the United Kingdom and any place or places not situate in the possession in which such ships are registered, and to the owners, masters, and crews of such ships respectively, wherever the same may be " (b). Sects. 110-121 provide for the constitution of local marine boards, the qualification of voters for members of such boards, and preparation of list of voters. Sects. 122-130 provide for the establishment of shipping offices (by the 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63, s. 15, called Mercantile Marine Offices) and the appointment of shipping masters (called superintendents). 124. It shall be the general business of shipping masters appointed as aforesaid (a) See the Minerva, 1 Hag. Ad. 347, for the history of this legislation. The other chief statutes in force are 18 & 19 Vict. c. 91; 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63; 30 & 31 Vict. c. 124; 34 & 35 Vict. c. 110; 35 & 36 Vict. c. 73; 36 & 37 Vict. c. 85; 39 & 40 Vict. c. 80; 43 & 44 Vict. c. 16. (b) Sec. 13 of 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63 extends the operation of the third part of the Act of 1854 to "(1) Registered seagoing ships exclusively employed in fishing on the coasts of the United Kingdom; (2) Seagoing ships belonging to any of the three general Lighthouse Boards; (3) Seagoing ships being pleasure-yachts." Sections 136, 143, 145, 147, 149,150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 157, 158, 161, 162, 166, 170, 171, 231, 256, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, do not apply to the three above classes of ships. See Cope v. Doherty (1858), 27 L. J. Ch. 600. To afford facilities for engaging seamen by keeping registries of their names and characters; To superintend and facilitate their engagement and discharge in manner hereinafter mentioned; To provide means for securing the presence on board at the proper To facilitate the making of apprenticeships to the sea service; Sects. 131-140 provide for certificates to be given after examinations for master and mates; and there are similar provisions in 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63, ss. 5—12, as to certificates for engineers. 136. No foreign-going ship or home trade passenger ship shall go to sea from any port in the United Kingdom unless the master thereof, and in the case of a foreign-going ship the first and second mates or only mate (as the case may be), and in the case of a home trade passenger ship the first or only mate (as the case may be), have obtained and possess valid certificates, either of competency or service appropriate to their several stations in such ship, or of higher grade; and no such ship, if of one hundred tons burden or upwards, shall go to sea as aforesaid, unless at least one officer besides the master has obtained and possesses a valid certificate appropriate to the grade of only mate therein or to a higher grade; and every person who, having been engaged to serve as master or as first or second or only mate of any foreign-going ship, or as master or first or only mate of a home trade passenger ship, goes to sea as aforesaid as such master or mate without being at the time entitled to and possessed of such a certificate as herein before required, or who employs any person as master, or first, second, or only mate of any foreign-going ship, or as master or first or only mate of a home trade passenger ship, without ascertaining that he is at the time entitled to and possessed of such certificate, shall for each such offence incur a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds." Apprenticeships to the Sea Service. 141. All shipping masters appointed under this Act shall, if applied to for the purpose, give to any board of guardians, overseers, or other persons desirous of apprenticing boys to the sea service, and to masters and owners of ships requiring apprentices, such assistance as is in their power for facilitating the making of such apprenticeships, and may receive from persons availing themselves of such assistance such fees as may be determined in that behalf by the Board of Trade, with the concurrence, so far as relates to pauper apprentices in England, of the Poor Law Board in England, and so far as relates to pauper apprentices in Ireland, of the Poor Law Commissioners in Ireland. 142. In the case of every boy bound apprentice to the sea service by any guardians or overseers of the poor, or other persons having the authority of guardians of the poor, the indentures shall be executed by the boy and the person to whom he is bound in the presence of and shall be attested by two justices of the peace, who shall ascertain that the boy has consented to be bound, and has attained the age of twelve years, and is of sufficient health and strength, and that the master to whom the boy is to be bound is a proper person for the purpose (c). 143. All indentures of apprenticeship to the sea service shall be exempt from stamp duty (d); and all such indentures shall be in duplicate; and every person to whom any boy whatever is bound as an apprentice to the sea service in the United Kingdom shall within seven days after the execution of the indentures take or transmit the same to the Registrar General of Seamen or to some shipping master; and the said Registrar or shipping master shall retain and record one copy, and shall endorse on the other that the same has been recorded, and shall re-deliver the same to the master of the apprentice; and whenever any such indenture is assigned or cancelled, and whenever any such apprentice dies or deserts, the master of the apprentice shall, within seven days after such assignment, cancellation, death, or desertion, if the same happens within the United Kingdom, or if the same happens elsewhere, so soon afterwards as circumstances permit, notify the same either to the said Registrar of Seamen or to some shipping master to be recorded; and every person who fails to comply with the provisions of this section shall incur a penalty not exceeding ten pounds. 144. Subject to the provisions herein before contained, all apprenticeships to the sea service made by any guardians or overseers of the poor, or persons having the authority of guardians of the poor, shall, if made in Great Britain, be made in the same manner and be subject to the same laws and regulations as other apprenticeships made by the same persons (e), and if made in Ireland shall be subject to the following rules. 145. The master of every foreign-going ship shall, before carrying any apprentice to sea from any place in the United Kingdom, cause such apprentice to appear before the shipping master before whom the crew is engaged, and shall produce to him the indenture by which such apprentice is bound, and the assignment or assignments thereof (if any), and the name of such apprentice with the date of the indenture, and of the assignment or assignments thereof (if any), and the name of the port or ports at which the same have been registered, shall be entered on the agreement; and for any default in obeying the provi (c) The two justices must be present together, and be acting within their jurisdiction. Rex v. Hamstall Ridware (1789), 3 T. R. 380, and Reg. v. Totness (1849), 11 Q. B. 80. (d) See 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63, s. 13. (c) See 43 Eliz. c. 2; 42 Geo. III. c. 46; 56 Geo. III. c. 139; 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 63; 7 & 8 Vict. c. 101; 14 & 15 Vict. c. 11. sions of this section the master shall for each offence incur a penalty not exceeding five pounds (ƒ). Engagement of Seamen. Sections 146-167 deal with engagement of seamen. 149. The master of every ship, except ships of less than eighty tons registered tonnage exclusively employed in trading between different ports on the coasts of the United Kingdom, shall enter into an agreement with every seaman whom he carries to sea from any port in the United Kingdom as one of his crew in the manner hereinafter mentioned; and every such agreement shall be in a form sanctioned by the Board of Trade (g), and shall be dated at the time of the first signature thereof, and shall be signed by the master before any seaman signs the same, and shall contain the following particulars as terms thereof; (that is to say), (1.) The nature, and, as far as practicable, the duration of the intended voyage or engagement : (h) (2.) The number and description of the crew, specifying how many are engaged as sailors : (3.) The time at which each seaman is to be on board or to begin work : (4.) The capacity in which each seaman is to serve : (5.) The amount of wages which each seaman is to receive: (i) (6.) A scale of the provisions which are to be furnished to each seaman : (f) The Albert Crosby (1860), Lush 44. (An apprentice entitled to sue in the Admiralty Court the proceeds of ship in which he has served for wages, but not for the penalty contained in the indenture.) (g) See Boyd's Merchant Shipping Laws, p. 131. (h) By 36 & 37 Vict. c. 85, s. 7, the agreement may state "the maximum period of the voyage or engagement, and the places or parts of the world (if any) to which the Voyage or engagement is not to extend.' As to agreements with fishermen, 36 & 37 Vict. c. 85, s. 8. "The words 'nature of the voyage' must have such a rational construction as to answer the main and leading purpose for which they were framed, namely, to give the mariner a fair intimation of the nature of the service in which he was about to engage himself when he signed the ship's articles." Dr. Lushington in the Westmoreland (1841), in 1 W. Rob., p. 228. As to descriptions of (i) In Annie Sherwood (1865), 12 L. T. N. S. 582, the Court refused to inforce against a seaman a stipulation that he should be paid in United States currency, or its equivalent. |