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on deck has not been included in the gross tonnage, whether its contents have been deducted therefrom or not, the crew-space shall be, on the application of the owner of the ship, or by direction of the Board of Trade, measured and its contents ascertained and added to the register tonnage of the ship; and, if it appears that with such addition to the tonnage the engine-room does not occupy more that 13 per cent. of the tonnage of the ship, the existing allowance for engine room of 32 per cent. of the tonnage shall be continued, notwithstanding anything in this Act.

Measurement of ships with double bottoms for water-ballast.

5. In the case of a ship constructed with a double bottom for water-ballast, if the space between the inner and outer plating thereof is certified by a surveyor appointed by the Board of Trade to be not available for the carriage of cargo, stores, or fuel, then the depth required by section 21, paragraph (2), of “The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854,” shall be taken to be the upper side of the inner plating of the double bottom, and that upper side shall, for the purposes of measurement, be deemed to represent the floor-timber referred to in that section.

Remeasurement of foreign ships.

6. If and whenever it is made to appear to Her Majesty that the tonnage of any foreign ship, as measured by the rules of the country to which she belongs, materially differs from that which would be her tonnage if measured under “The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854,” and the Acts amending the same, Her Majesty may from time to time, by Order in Council, direct that, notwithstanding any Order in Council for the time being in force under those Acts, any of the ships of that country may, for all or any of the purposes of those Acts, be remeasured in accordance with the provisions of those Acts, and Her Majesty may revoke any order so made.

Short Title and construction.

7. This Act may be cited as “The Merchant Shipping (Tonnage) Act, 1889,” and shall be construed as one with “The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854,” and the Acts amending the same.

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CHAPTER 46.

AN ACT to amend “The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854,” and the Acts amending the same.

[26th August, 1889.

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Remedies for recovery of master’s disbursements.

1. Every master of a ship and every person lawfully acting as master of a ship by reason of the decease or incapacity from illness of the master of the ship shall, so far as the case permits, have the same rights, liens, and remedies for the recovery of disbursements properly made by him on account of the ship, and for liabilities properly incurred by him on account of the ship, as a master of a ship now has for the recovery of his wages; and if any proceeding in any Court of Admiralty or Vice-Admiralty, or in any County Court having Admiralty jurisdiction, touching the claim of a master or any person lawfully acting as master to wages or such disbursements or liabilities as aforesaid, any right or set-off or counter-claim is set up, it shall be lawful for the Court to enter into and adjudicate upon all questions, and to settle all accounts then arising or outstanding and unsettled between the parties to the proceeding, and to direct payment of any balance which is found to be due.

Restrictions on advance notes.

2. (1.) Any agreement with a seaman made under section 149 of “The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854,” may contain a stipulation for payment to or on behalf of the seaman, conditionally on his going to sea in pursuance of the agreement, of a sum not exceeding the amount of one month’s wages payable to the seaman under the agreement.

(2.) Save as authorised by this section, any agreement by or on behalf of the employer of a seaman for the payment of money to or on behalf of the seaman conditionally on his going to sea from any port in the United Kingdom shall be void, and no money paid in satisfaction or in respect of any such agreement shall be deducted from the seaman’s wages, and no person shall have any right of action, suit, or set-off against the seaman or his assignee in respect of any money so paid or purporting to have been so paid.

(3.) Nothing in this section shall affect any allotment made under “The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854,” or the Acts amending the same.

(4.) Section 2 of “The Merchant Seamen (Payment of Wages and Rating) Act, 1880,” is hereby repealed.

Register of deserters.

3. Every superintendent of a mercantile marine office shall keep at his office a list of the seamen who, to the best of his knowledge and belief, have deserted or failed to join their ships after signing an agreement to proceed to sea in them, and shall on request show this list to any master of a ship.

A superintendent of a mercantile marine office shall not be liable in respect of any entry made in good faith in the list so kept.

Rule as to payment of British seamen in foreign money.

4. Where a seaman has agreed with the master of a British ship for payment of his wages in British sterling or any other money, any payment of, or on account of, his wages if made in any other currency than that stated in the agreement shall, notwithstanding anything in the agreement, be made at the rate of exchange for the money stated in the agreement for the time being current at the place where the payment is made.

Provisions as to steamships to apply to ships propelled by electricity, &c.

5. The provisions of “The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854,” and the Acts amending the same, with respect to steamships, shall apply to ships propelled by electricity or other mechanical power, with such modifications as the Board of Trade may from time to time prescribe for purposes of adaptation.

Short Title and construction.

6. (1.) This Act may be cited as “The Merchant Shipping Act, 1889.”

(2.) This Act shall be construed as one with “The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854,” and the Acts amending the same, and this Act and those Acts may be cited collectively as the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1889.

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CHAPTER 52.

AN ACT to prevent the Disclosure of Official Documents and Information.

[26th August, 1889.

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Disclosure of information.

1. (1.) (a.) Where a person, for the purpose of wrongfully obtaining information,—

(1.) Enters or is in any part of place belonging to Her Majesty the Queen, being a fortress, arsenal, factory, dockyard, camp, ship, office, or other like place, in which part he is not entitled to be; or,

(2.) When lawfully or unlawfully in any such place as aforesaid, either obtains any document, sketch, plan, model, or knowledge of anything which he is not entitled to obtain, or takes without lawful authority any sketch or plan; or,

(3.) When outside any fortress, arsenal, factory, dockyard, or camp belonging to Her Majesty the Queen, takes or attempts to take, without authority given by or on behalf of Her Majesty, any sketch or plan of that fortress, arsenal, factory, dockyard, or camp; or,

(b.) Where a person knowingly having possession of, or control over, any such document, sketch, plan, model, or knowledge has been obtained or taken by means of any act which constitutes an offence against this Act, at any time wilfully and without lawful authority communicates or attempts to communicate the same to any person to whom the same ought not, in the interest of the State, to be communicated at that time; or,

(c.) Where a person after having been intrusted in confidence by some officer under Her Majesty the Queen with any document, sketch, plan, model, or information relating to any such place as aforesaid, or to the naval or military affairs of Her Majesty, wilfully and in breach of such confidence communicates the same when, in the interest of the State, it ought not to be communicated,

he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and on conviction be liable to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding one year, or to a fine, or to both imprisonment and a fine.

(2.) Where a person having possession of any document, sketch, plan, model, or information relating to any fortress, arsenal, factory, dockyard, camp, ship, office, or other like place belonging to Her Majesty, or to the naval or military affairs of Her Majesty, in whatever manner the same has been obtained or taken, at any time wilfully communicates the same to any person to whom he knows the same ought not, in the interest of the State, to be communicated at that time, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and be liable to the same punishment as if he committed an offence under the foregoing provisions of this section.