Discharge and Service to Shipping Master may decide Questions which Parties refer to him. Master and others to produce Ship's Papers to Shipping Masters, and give Evi dence. Settlement of Wages. Release to be signed before and attested by the Shipping Master; To be Discharge: Merchant Shipping (Part III. Masters and Seamen.) exceeding Ten Pounds; and the Master shall also, upon the Discharge of every Certificated Mate whose Certificate of Competency or Service has been delivered to and retained by him Return such Certificate, and shall in default incur a penalty not exceeding Twenty Pounds. CLXXIII. Every Shipping Master shall hear and decide any Question whatever between a Master or Owner and any of his Crew which both Parties agree in Writing to submit to him; and every Award so made by him shall be binding on both Parties, and shall in any legal Proceeding which may be taken in the Matter before any Court of Justice be deemed to be conclusive as to the Rights of the Parties; and no such Submission or Award shall require a Stamp; and any Document purporting to be such Submission or Award shall be prima facie Evidence thereof. CLXXIV. In any Proceeding relating to the Wages, Claims, or Discharge of any Seaman carried on before any Shipping Master under the Provisions of this Act, such Shipping Master may call upon the Owner or his Agent, or upon the Master or any Mate or other Member of the Crew, to produce any Log Books, Papers, or other Documents in their respective Possession or Power relating to any Matter in question in such Proceeding, and may call before him and examine any of such Persons being then at or near the Place on any such Matter; and every Owner, Agent, Master, Mate, or other Member of the Crew who when called upon by the Shipping Master does not produce any such Paper or Document as aforesaid, if in his Possession or Power, or does not appear and give Evidence, shall unless he shows some reasonable Excuse for such Default, for each such Offence incur a Penalty not exceeding Five Pounds. CLXXV. The following Rules shall be observed with respect to the Settlement of Wages, (that is to say,) (1.) Upon the Completion before a Shipping Master of any Discharge and Settlement, the Master or Owner and each Seaman shall respectively in the Presence of the Shipping Master sign in a Form sanctioned by the Board of Trade a mutual Release of all Claims in respect of the past Voyage or Engagement, and the Shipping Master shall also sign and attest it, and shall retain and transmit it as herein directed: Such Release so signed and attested shall operate as a mutual Discharge and Settlement of all Demands between the Parties thereto in respect of the past Voyage or Engagement: Merchant Shipping (Part III. Masters and Seamen.) (3.) A Copy of such Release certified under the Hand of and to be such Shipping Master to be a true Copy shall be given Evidence. by him to any Party thereto requiring the same; and such Copy shall be receivable in Evidence upon any future Question touching such Claims as aforesaid, and shall have all the Effect of the Original of which it purports to be a Copy: (4.) In Cases in which Discharge and Settlement before a No other ReShipping Master are hereby required, no Payment, ceipt to be Receipt, Settlement, or Discharge otherwise made shall a Discharge. operate or be admitted as Evidence of the Release or Satisfaction of any Claim: to be Evi (5.) Upon any Payment being made by a Master before a Voucher to be Shipping Master, the Shipping Master shall, if required, given to sign and give to such Master a State.nent of the whole Master, and Amount so paid; and such Statement shall as between dence. the Master and his Employer be received as Evidence that he has made the Payments therein mentioned. CLXXVI. Upon every Discharge effected before a Shipping Master to Master the Master shall make and sign in a Form sanctioned make Reports by the Board of Trade a Report of the Conduct, Character, of Character. and Qualifications of the Persons discharged, or may state in a Column to be left for that Purpose in the said Form that he declines to give any Opinion upon such Particulars or upon any of them; and the Shipping Master shall transmit the same to the Registrar General of Seamen, or to such other Person as the Board of Trade directs, to be recorded, and shall, if desired so to do by any Seaman, give to him or indorse on his Certificate of Discharge a Copy of so much of such Report as concerns him; and every Person who makes, assists in making, or procures to be made any false Certificate or Report of the Service, Qualifications, Conduct, or Character of any Seaman, knowing the same to be false, or who forges, assists in forging, or procures to be forged, or fraudulently alters, assists in fraudulently altering, or procures to be fraudulently altered, any such Certificate or Report, or who fraudulently makes use of any Certificate or Report or of any Copy of any Certificate or Report which is forged or altered or does not belong to him, shall for each such Offence be deemed guilty of a Misdemea nor. Remittance of Wages and Savings Banks for Seamen. Remittance of CLXXVII. Facilities shall, if the Board of Trade so directs, Facilities may be given for remitting the Wages and other Monies of Seamen be given for and Apprentices to their Relatives or other Persons by means rernitting of Remillance of Seamen's Power to pay lost. Merchant Shipping (Part III. Masters and Seamen.) of Money Orders issued by Shipping Masters; and the Board of Trade may make Regulations concerning such Orders, and the Persons by or to whom, and the Mode and lime in and at which, the same are to be paid, and may from Time to Time repeal or alter any such Regulations; and all such Regulations, so long as they are in force, shall be binding upon all Persons interested or claiming to be interested in such Orders, as well as upon the Officers employed in issuing or paying the same; and no legal Proceeding shall be instituted against the Board of Trade, or against any Shipping Master or other public Officer employed about such Orders, on account of any such Regulations, or on account of any Act done or left undone in pursuance thereof, or on account of any Refusal, Neglect, or Omission to pay any such Money Order, unless such Refusal, Neglect, or Omission arise from Fraud or wilful Misbehaviour on the Part of the Person against whom Proceedings are instituted. CLXXVIII. The Board of Trade may, in any Case in which when Order is it thinks fit so to do, cause the Amount of any such Money Order as aforesaid to be paid to the Person to whom or in whose Favour the same may have been granted, or to his personal Representatives, Legatees, or next of Kin, notwithstanding that such Order may not be in his or their Possession; and in all such Cases from and after such Payment the Board of Trade and every Shipping Master or other Officer of the Board of Trade shall be freed from all Liability in respect of such Order. Penalty for Orders with fraudulent CLXXIX. Every Shipping Master or other public Officer issuing Money who grants or issues any Money Order with a fraudulent Intent shall in England or Ireland be deemed guilty of Felony, and in Scotland of a high Crime and Offence, and shall be liable to be kept in Penal Servitude for a Term not exceeding Four Years. Intent. Savings CLXXX. The Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, or the Comptroller General acting under them, be established. may, on the Application and Recommendation of the Board of Trade, establish Savings Banks at such Ports and Places within the United Kingdom, either in the Shipping Offices established in such Ports or elsewhere, as may appear to be expedient, and may appoint Treasurers to receive from or on account of Seamen, or the Wives and Families of Seamen, desirous to become Depositors in such Savings Banks, Deposits to an Amount not exceeding One hundred and fifty Pounds in the whole in respect of any One Account, under such Regulations as may be prescribed by the said Commissioners or Comptroller General; and such Regulations shall be binding on Merchant Shipping (Part III. Masters and Seamen.) on all such Treasurers and Depositors; and the said Commissioners may remove such Treasurers, and appoint others in their Place; and all the Provisions of the Acts now in force relating to Savings Banks, except so far as relates to the annual Amount of Deposit, shall apply to all Savings Banks which may be established under the Authority of this Act, and to such Treasurers and Depositors as aforesaid. Legal Rights to Wages. Remittance of Wages and Savings Banks for Seamen. Legal Rights to Wages. CLXXXI. A Seaman's Right to Wages and Provisions shall Right to be taken to commence either at the Time at which he com- Wages and mences Work or at the Time specified in the Agreement for Provisions, when to begin. his Commencement of Work or Presence on board, whichever first happens. CLXXXII. No Seaman shall by any Agreement forfeit his Seamen not to Lien upon the Ship, or be deprived of any Remedy for the give up certain Recovery of his Wages to which he would otherwise have Rights. been entitled; and every Stipulation in any Agreement inconsistent with any Provision of this Act, and every Stipulation by which any Seaman consents to abandon his Right to Wages in the Case of the Loss of the Ship, or to abandon any Right which he may have or obtain in the Nature of Salvage, shall be wholly inoperative. CLXXXIII. No Right to Wages shall be dependent on the Wages not to earning of Freight; and every Seaman and Apprentice who be dependent would be entitled to demand and recover any Wages if the on the earning of Freight. Ship in which he has served had earned Freight, shall, subject to all other Rules of Law and Conditions applicable to the Case, be entitled to claim and recover the same, notwithstanding that Freight has not been earned; but in all Cases of Wreck or Loss of the Ship, Proof that he has not exerted himself to the utmost to save the Ship, Cargo, and Stores shall bar his Claim. CLXXXIV. If any Seaman or Apprentice to whom Wages In ease of are due under the last preceding Enactment dies before the Death, such same are paid, they shall be paid and applied in the Manner Wages to be herein-after specified with regard to the Wages of Seamen who paid as after die during a Voyage. mentioned. CLXXXV. In Cases where the Service of any Seaman ter- Rights to minates before the Period contemplated in the Agreement by Wages in case reason of the Wreck or Loss of the Ship, and also in Cases of Termination where such Service terminates before such Period as aforesaid Wreck or illof Service by by reason of his being left on shore at any Place abroad under ness. a Certificate of his Unfitness or Inability to proceed on the Voyage g Legal Rights to Wages. Wages not to accrue during work or im Refusal to prisonment. Period within Merchant Shipping (Part III. Musters and Seamen.) Voyage granted as herein-after mentioned, such Seaman shall be entitled to Wages for the Time of Service prior to such Termination as aforesaid, but not for any further Period. CLXXXVI. No Seaman or Apprentice shall be entitled to Wages for any Period during which he unlawfully refuses or neglects to work when required, whether before or after the Time fixed by the Agreement for his beginning Work, nor, unless the Court hearing the Case otherwise directs, for any Period during which he is lawfully imprisoned for any Offence committed by him. CLXXXVII. The Master or Owner of every Ship shall pay which Wages to every Seaman his Wages within the respective Periods folare to be paid. lowing; (that is to say,) in the Case of a Home Trade Ship Mode of recovering Wages. Seamen may within Two Days after the Termination of the Agreement or at the Time when such Seaman is discharged, whichever first happens; and in the Case of all other Ships (except Ships employed in the Southern Whale Fishery or on other Voyages for which Seamen by the Terms of their Agreement are wholly compensated by Shares in the Profits of the Adventure) within Three Days after the Cargo has been delivered, or within Five Days after the Seaman's Discharge, whichever first happens; and in all Cases the Seaman shall at the Time of his Discharge be entitled to be paid on account a Sum equal to One Fourth Part of the Balance due to him; and every Master or Owner who neglects or refuses to make Payment in manner aforesaid, without sufficient Cause, shall pay to the Seaman a Sum not exceeding the Amount of Two Days Pay for each of the Days, not exceeding Ten Days, during which Payment is delayed beyond the respective Periods aforesaid, and such Sum shall be recoverable as Wages. Mode of recovering Wages. CLXXXVIII. Any Seaman or Apprentice, or any Person sue for Wages duly authorized on his Behalf, may sue in a summary Manner in a summary before any Two Justices of the Peace acting in or near to the Manner. Place at which the Service has terminated, or at which the Seaman or Apprentice has been discharged, or at which any Person upon whom the Claim is made is or resides, or in Scotland either before any such Justices or before the Sheriff of the County within which any such Place is situated, for any Amount of Wages due to such Seaman or Apprentice not exceeding Fifty Pounds over and above the Costs of any Proceeding for the Recovery thereof, so soon as the same becomes payable; and every Order made by such Justices or Sheriff in the Matter shall be final. CLXXXIX. |