MERCHANT SHIPPING (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1939

AN ACT TO AMEND THE MERCHANT SHIPPING ACTS, 1894 TO 1933. [14th June, 1939.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Definitions.

1.—(1) In this Act—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Industry and Commerce;

the expression “the Principal Act” means the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894;

the expression “the Act of 1933” means the Merchant Shipping (Safety and Load Line Conventions) Act, 1933 (No. 42 of 1933).

• (2) Every word and expression used in this Act to which a particular meaning is assigned by the Principal Act for the purposes of that Act, shall have in this Act the meaning so assigned to it.

2 Contributions to superannuation funds from wages of seamen.

2.—(1) Wages due or accruing to a seaman or to an apprentice to the sea service, or a part of any such wages, may be applied in paying contributions on behalf of such seaman or apprentice to a fund to which this section applies.

• (2) This section applies to every fund the principal purpose of which is to provide superannuation allowances and other benefits for seamen on retirement and which has been declared in writing by the Minister to be a fund to which this section applies.

• (3) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to declarations by the Minister under the next preceding sub-section of this section, that is to say:—

• (a) no such declaration shall be made in respect of a fund unless or until the Minister has received, from an organisation which appears to him to be representative of both shipowners and seamen or from an organisation which appears to him to be representative of shipowners and also from an organisation which appears to him to be representative of seamen, a request in writing for such declaration;

• (b) whenever the Minister receives any such request as is mentioned in the next preceding paragraph of this section, he shall forthwith make the declaration asked for in such request;

• (c) every such declaration shall have effect as from the date (whether previous or subsequent to the date of such declaration and although such date is previous to the date of the passing of this Act) specified in that behalf in such declaration or, where no such date is so specified, as from the date of such declaration;

• (d) where, by virtue of the next preceding paragraph of this sub-section, any such declaration has effect as from a date specified therein which is previous to the date of such declaration, this section shall be deemed to have applied to the fund to which such declaration relates as from the date so specified and, where that date is previous to the date of the passing of this Act, this section shall be deemed to have been in operation in relation to the said fund as from the said date so specified;

• (e) if the Minister receives, from the organisation or one of the organisations on whose request any such declaration was made or from an organisation which appears to the Minister to be the successor of such organisation or of one of such organisations, a request that this section shall cease to apply to the fund to which such declaration relates, the Minister shall forthwith revoke in writing such declaration;

• (f) if it appears to the Minister that the organisation or one of the organisations on whose request any such declaration was made has ceased to be representative (as the case may be) of shipowners and seamen or of shipowners or of seamen, the Minister may, if he thinks proper so to do, revoke in writing such declaration;

• (g) whenever the Minister revokes any such declaration under either of the two next preceding paragraphs of this sub-section, this section shall forthwith cease to apply to the said fund, but such cesser shall not prejudice or affect the validity of anything previously done under this section in relation to the said fund.

• (4) Paragraphs (b) and (c) of sub-section (1) of section 163 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 (which places restrictions upon certain dispositions by seamen and apprentices of their wages), shall not apply to any application under this section of wages, or of a part of any wages, in payment of contributions to a fund to which this section applies, and paragraphs (a) and (d) of the said sub-section (1) shall not apply to anything done or to be done for giving effect to such application.

3 Prohibition on taking to sea a ship with submerged load line.

3.—(1) It shall not be lawful to send or take to sea any Irish load line ship which is so loaded as to contravene section 41 of the Act of 1933.

• (2) If any Irish load line ship is sent or taken to sea in contravention of this section, the master thereof, and also any person who sends or is a party to sending such ship to sea (unless such person did not know and had no reason to believe that such ship was so sent in contravention of this section) shall each be guilty of a separate offence under this section and shall (in addition to any other penalty to which he may have rendered himself liable) be liable—

• (a) on conviction thereof on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or

• (b) on summary conviction thereof to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months.

• (3) In this section, the expression “Irish load line ship” has the same meaning as the expression “Saorstát Eireann load line ship” as adapted by virtue of section 2 of the Constitution (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1937 (No. 40 of 1937), has in the Act of 1933.

4 Rules as to life-saving appliances in fishing boats.

4.—(1) The power of the Minister under section 427 of the Principal Act to make rules (in that section called rules for life-saving appliances) is hereby extended to empower him to make such rules in respect of fishing boats.

• (2) Rules made under the said section 427 of the Principal Act before the passing of this Act shall not apply to fishing boats unless and so far as such rules are made applicable to fishing boats by rules made under the said section after the passing of this Act.

5 Power of the Minister to prescribe fees.

5.—(1) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, prescribe by order (in this Act referred to as a fees order) the fees to be charged for surveys made and services rendered under the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1933.

• (2) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to fees orders, that is to say:—

• (a) a fee may be prescribed by a fees order for a survey or service in respect of which no fee is chargeable under the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1933;

• (b) where a fee is prescribed by a fees order for a survey or service in respect of which a fee is chargeable under the, said Acts, such fee may be so prescribed either in addition to or in substitution for the said fee chargeable under the said Acts;

• (c) no limitation imposed by the said Acts on the amount of the fee which may be prescribed, charged, or made chargeable in respect of any particular survey or service shall apply or have effect in relation to the fee prescribed by a fees order for such survey or service.

• (3) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, at any time by order revoke or amend a fees order or an order made under this sub-section.

• (4) Every order made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either such House within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

6 Collection and disposal of fees.

6.—(1) All fees payable under a fees order shall be collected and taken in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall from time to time direct and shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in accordance with the directions of the said Minister.

• (2) The Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply in respect of any fees payable under a fees order.

7 Repeal.

7.—Section 375 and sub-section (3) of section 427 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, and also the Fifteenth Schedule to that Act are hereby repealed.

8 Short title, construction and citation.

8.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Act, 1939.

• (2) This Act shall be construed as one with the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1933, and those Acts and this Act may be cited together as the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1939.