THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 173

Captain or Master of a merchant vessel recording
"in his log book or otherwise" the birth of a child
or the death of a person on board ship, together with
certain other particulars: and on the arrival of the
ship in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, "a return
of the facts so recorded" must be forwarded to the
Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen "in such
form and manner as the Board of Trade may direct."
The Board of Trade accordingly direct that the return
shall be made in the form given in the Official Log
Book, to be forwarded in due course to the Regis-
trar-General of Shipping and Seamen.

Section 37 (3) enacts that the Board of Trade
"may, if they think fit, direct" that the said return
of births and deaths be delivered, "upon the arrival
of the ship at any port or place out of the United
Kingdom," to the Shipping Master, or Collector of
Customs, for the purpose of being transmitted to the
Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen.

This section and the schedule referred to in it are
also printed annexed.

Tables have been inserted in the Official Log Book
to meet the requirements of the new Births and
Deaths Registration Act.

On a vessel touching at his port, the Officer should
ascertain that the requisite particulars of any births
or deaths which may have occurred on board ship
since the voyage commenced have been properly
inserted by the Master in the Official Log Book; and
should also demand from the Master a return filled
in on the appropriate Form of these particulars for
all births and deaths which do not appear by entries
in the last two columns of the tables printed in the
Official Log Book to have been previously reported
at an intermediate port.

Copies of the forms (Eng. 8, 9, and 10) for this
purpose, and which are fac-similes of the tables
printed in the Official Log Book, are appended to
these instructions, and blank forms will be supplied
upon application in the usual manner.

To prevent duplication of returns the Officer will
be so good as to note the fact in the tables in the
Official Log Book in every case in which the particu-
lars are duly reported to him by the Master.

T. H. FARRER,
Secretary.

THOMAS GRAY,
Assistant Secretary.

BIRTHS AND DEATHS REGISTRATION ACT, 1874.

Section 37. The provisions of this Act, save as is
herein expressly provided, shall not apply to the
registration of births and deaths on board a vessel at
sea, with respect to which the following provisions
shall have effect:-

(1.) The Captain or Master of or other person
having the command or charge of a British
ship shall, as soon as may be after the occur-
rence of the birth of a child or the death of
a person on board such ship, record in his log
book or otherwise the fact of such birth or
death, and the particulars required by the
Fourth Schedule to this Act to be registered
concerning such birth or death, or such of
them as may be known to him, and shall
(unless the ship is one of Her Majesty's ships),
upon the arrival of such ship at any port of
the United Kingdom, or at such other time or
place as the Board of Trade may from time to
time with respect to any ship or class of ships
direct, deliver or send, in such form and
manner as the Board of Trade may from time
to time direct, a return of the facts so recorded
to the Registrar-General of Shipping and
Seamen.

(2.) Where a ship which is not a British ship
carries passengers to or from any port of the
United Kingdom as the port of destination
or the port of departure of such ship, the
provisions of this section shall apply to the
Captain or Master of or other person having
the command or charge of such ship, in like
manner as if it were a British ship.

(3.) Where the said return is directed by the
Board of Trade (whether the ship is British
or foreign) to be delivered upon the arrival of
the ship, or the discharge of the crew, or
otherwise, at any port or place out of the
United Kingdom, the Board of Trade may, if
they think fit, direct that the return, instead
of being delivered to the Registrar-General
of Shipping and Seamen, shall be delivered,
and the same shall accordingly be delivered,
if such port or place is within Her Majesty's
dominions, to the shipping master or collector
of customs at such port or place, and, if it is
a foreign port or place, to the principal British
consular officer at the said foreign port or
place, and such shipping master, collector, or
officer shall send the same, as soon as may be,
by post or otherwise, to the Registrar-General
of Shipping and Seamen.

(4.) Where it appears from any such return that
the father of any child so born, or if the child
is a bastard the mother of such child, was a
Scotch or Irish subject of Her Majesty, or
that any person whose death is mentioned in
such return was a Scotch or Irish subject of
Her Majesty, the Registrar-General of Ship-
ping and Seamen shall from time to time send
a certified copy of so much of the return as
relates to such birth or death to the Registrar-
General of Births and Deaths in Scotland or
Ireland, as the case may require.

(5.) The Registrar-General of Shipping and
Seamen shall from time to time send to the
Registrar-General of Births and Deaths in
England a certified copy of every other such
return, or of that part of every such return
which is not so sent to the Registrar-General
of Births and Deaths in Scotland or Ireland.

(6.) A Captain of or other person having charge
of one of Her Majesty's ships shall, upon the
arrival of any such ship in any port of the
United Kingdom, or at such other time as the
Commissioners of the Admiralty may from
time to time direct, deliver or send, in such
manner and form as the said Commissioners
may from time to time direct, a return of the
facts recorded in pursuance of this section to
that Registrar-General of Births and Deaths
to whom a copy of such return would, if the
ship were a merchant ship, be sent under the
provisions of this section by the Registrar-
General of Shipping and Seamen.

(7.) Every Registrar-General of Births and
Deaths to whom a copy of any return or a
return is sent in pursuance of this section
shall cause the same to be filed and preserved
in or copied in a book to be kept by him for
the purpose, and to be called a marine register
book, and such book shall be deemed to be a
certified copy of a register book within the
meaning of the Acts relating to the registra-
tion of births and deaths in England, Scot-
land, and Ireland respectively.

(8.) Every Captain or Master of or other per-
son having charge of a ship who fails to com-
ply with this section shall be liable to a penalty
not exceeding five pounds for each offence;
and such penalty may be recovered in the