Feb. 9.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 235

Approving and appointing a Bonding Warehouse.

CUSTOMS.—In exercise of the powers in me for this purpose vested by “The Customs Laws Consolidation Act, 1882,” I, the Commissioner of Trade and Customs, do hereby approve and appoint the under-mentioned warehouse to be a warehouse for the reception of goods under bond, namely,—

Port of Wellington.

The ground-floor of the back of a building, constructed of wood and iron, situate on Section No. 59, Reclaimed Land, entrance on right-of-way off Panama Street, to be known as ZOHRAB’S BOND.

Given under my hand, at Wellington, this eighth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight.

GEO. FISHER,
Commissioner of Trade and Customs.

Commissioner’s Order No. 295.]

Despatch from Secretary of State for Colonies re Issue of Colonial Certificates of Competency to Masters, Mates, and Engineers.

Marine Department,
Wellington, 6th February, 1888.

THE following despatch, with its enclosure, received from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, is published for general information.

GEO. FISHER,
(For the Minister having charge of the Marine Department.)

Downing Street,
23rd November, 1887.

(Circular.)

SIR,—I have the honour to transmit to you herewith, for communication to your Government, the accompanying copy of a Board of Trade circular, dated November, 1887, to which is annexed an Order of Her Majesty in Council, dated the 15th September, 1887, relating to colonial certificates of competency granted to officers of British vessels.

This order consolidates the regulations now in force; gives to colonial certificates the same force as to similar certificates issued by the Board of Trade; modifies the provisions of the Order in Council passed on the 29th June, 1882, and of all other orders hitherto issued on the subject, by withdrawing the restrictions to the issue of a certificate of a lower grade, either temporarily or permanently, in the case of the suspension or cancellation of officers’ certificates; and has been passed in consequence of representations received from the Government of Victoria relating to the hardship which might be inflicted upon men in the event of the suspension, &c., of their certificates (issued by the Board of Trade or some British possession), in the absence of power for the issue to them of temporary certificates of a lower grade without previous application being required to the authority which originally granted the certificates dealt with.

I have, &c.,

H. T. HOLLAND.

The Officer Administering the Government of New Zealand.

INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFICERS IN BRITISH POSSESSIONS ABROAD.—“MERCHANT SHIPPING (COLONIAL) ACT, 1869.”

Board of Trade, Marine Department,
November, 1887.

THE annexed Order in Council, dated the 15th day of September, 1887, revokes all orders previously issued relating to colonial certificates of competency, and consolidates all the regulations now in force relating to their use, issue, delivery, cancellation, and suspension.

As the colonial certificates of competency referred to in the said Order in Council are to have the same force as the similar certificates granted by the Board of Trade in the United Kingdom, such a colonial certificate must be accepted as occupying in every respect the place of one of the latter, and as entitling its bonâ fide holder to act in the capacity stated in it, or any inferior (but not a superior) capacity in any British ship, all over the world, without the possession of a Board of Trade certificate.

Colonial certificates will have to be used, produced, and delivered at the times and on the occasions at and on which Imperial certificates of competency would have to be used, produced, and delivered.

When it appears from a certificate (Imperial or Colonial) officially produced to the officer that its owner possesses other certificates, their production also should be required, and if they are not produced their owner’s explanation in writing should be demanded and forwarded to the Registrar-General of Seamen with the least possible delay.

Officers in British possessions abroad are empowered by Regulation 9 attached to the Order in Council to demand, and, if necessary, detain, any such colonial certificate which they have reason to believe has been improperly issued, or has been forged, altered, cancelled, suspended, or to which the person using it is not justly entitled.

Whenever this power is exercised a report of the facts and circumstances must be sent by the officer, with the least possible delay, to either the Board of Trade or the Government of the possession in which the certificate was originally granted or may purport to have been granted, accordingly as communication may be easier and quicker.

As the withdrawal of a certificate would in some cases entail inconvenience not only upon its possessor, but also upon the owners of the ship and cargo, it is scarcely necessary to caution officers that the exercise of this power should only be resorted to when the evidence is perfectly clear; and if the ship is bound to the United Kingdom, and the report above mentioned has been sent to the possession in which the certificate was originally granted, the Board of Trade should nevertheless be informed of the facts.

Every case of death of a colonial certificate-holder which may come to the officer’s knowledge should be reported without delay to the Government of the possession in which the certificate was granted.

The attention of officers and functionaries in British possessions abroad engaged in the conduct of official inquiries in wreck and discipline cases is directed to the fact that the certificates to which the Order in Council applies will be liable to cancellation and suspension in precisely the same way as certificates granted by the Board of Trade under the Merchant Shipping Acts, and by the same Boards, Courts, and tribunals. The provisions of “The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854,” and “The Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1862,” as to Courts of Inquiry will therefore be applicable to the colonial certificates in question, with the exception of the provisions specified in the Order in Council.

Attention is further directed to the provision now for the first time inserted in Regulation 6 attached to the Order in Council, under which colonial authorities are empowered to issue a lower grade of certificate in lieu of a certificate cancelled or suspended by an official Court of Inquiry, if the Court of Inquiry make a recommendation to that effect.

It will be noticed that Regulation 8 attached to the Order in Council provides that the cancellation or suspension of a certificate shall involve cancellation or suspension of all the other certificates (if any) possessed by its owner. With the view of carrying this regulation strictly into effect, it will be desirable that the Court should endeavour to ascertain, and should specify in their decision, the particulars of all the certificates possessed by any person whose conduct is the subject of an investigation by them.

In cases of cancellation or suspension of such colonial certificates, copies of the report of the Court and of the evidence, together with the respective certificates, should be sent to the Governments of the British possessions by whom the several certificates possessed by the offender were originally granted. A full report upon the case and the evidence should at the same time be sent to the Board of Trade, as required by the Act, and the sentence, giving the number of each certificate dealt with, and the possession in which it was granted, should be mentioned in it.

The holders of colonial certificates which are cancelled or suspended should be referred to the Government of the possession in which the certificate was originally granted, instead of to this Board, if they desire to appeal from the sentence or to apply for a mitigation of it.

These instructions must be understood as having reference only to the certificates referred to in the said Order in Council.

HENRY G. CALCRAFT, Secretary.
THOMAS GRAY, Assistant Secretary.

At the Court at Balmoral, the 15th day of September, 1887.

Present:

THE QUEEN’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY IN COUNCIL.

WHEREAS by “The Merchant Shipping (Colonial) Act, 1869,” it is, amongst other things, enacted that where the Legislature of any British possession provides for the examination of, and grant of certificates of competency to, persons intending to act as masters, mates, or engineers on board British ships, and the Board of Trade reports to Her Majesty that they are satisfied that the examinations are so conducted as to be equally efficient as the examinations for the same purpose in the United Kingdom under the Acts relating to merchant shipping, and that the certificates are granted on such principles as to show the like qualification and competency as those granted under the said Acts, and are liable to be forfeited for the like reasons and in the like manner, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by Order in Council,—

1. To declare that the said certificates shall be of the same force as if they had been granted under the said Acts;

2. To declare that all or any of the provisions of the said Acts which relate to certificates of competency granted under those Acts shall apply to the certificates referred to in the said order;

3. To impose such conditions and to make such regulations with respect to the said certificates, and to the use, issue, delivery, cancellation, and suspension thereof, as to Her Majesty may seem fit, and to im-