Mar. 15.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 803

Every applicant must submit, with his application, his certificate, and satisfactory evidence of good conduct and sobriety during the twelve months immediately preceding the date of his application.

5. A fee of £1 will be charged for a license, and must be paid before the license is issued.

6. The license will be issued by the Secretary of the Marine Department at Wellington, in the form numbered 1 in the Schedule hereto, and it shall not be lawful for any person to act as an adjuster unless he holds such license.

7. The holder of a license as an adjuster shall have authority to examine, adjust, and compute the error of compasses, and transmit tables of such errors to the masters, owners, or agents of vessels of which the compasses have been examined and adjusted as herein required, and such licenses may at any time be suspended or cancelled by the Minister.

8. The amount of adjustment fee shall be based according to the net registered tonnage, and as prescribed in the table of fees numbered 2 in the Schedule hereto.

9. The adjusters shall be paid such fees or remuneration by the master, owner, or agent as may be from time to time approved of by the Minister.

10. The error of the standard compass must not exceed 5° on any given compass-point after adjustment by a licensed adjuster in New Zealand.

11. Periodical Adjustment.—The compasses of every foreign-going vessel, intercolonial vessel, and home-trade vessel, either steam-vessel or sailing-vessel, shall be properly examined, repaired (if necessary), and adjusted, and their errors ascertained from time to time (subject to the following regulations), by a licensed adjuster of compasses or by the master of the ship.

12. When a ship arrives in the colony for the first time the master thereof shall sign a certificate and declaration in the form set forth as numbers 3 and 4 of the Schedule hereto, and submit his compass-error book for inspection to the Minister of Marine or his appointee.

13. Before the periodical survey of any ship the master thereof shall submit to the Minister of Marine, through his appointee, a deviation-card showing the deviation on each point of the compass, with the date and position of the ship when last swung, and the adjuster’s name; also, if a foreign-going or intercolonial ship, his compass-error register-book for inspection; and shall also sign a certificate and declaration in the form set forth as numbers 3 and 4 of the Schedule hereto. The deviation-card should have noted on it the position and size of the magnets and soft-iron correctors, their distance from centre of the compass, and any changes in them which have been made in readjustment.

14. Home-trade Vessels (unless commanded by masters who have passed the foreign-going masters’ examination or the compass syllabus examination, and with the exception mentioned hereinafter) must be swung annually and the compass-errors determined by a licensed adjuster, who must also sign a certificate and declaration in the forms numbered 3 and 4 of the Schedule hereto. This rule is deemed necessary as the home-trade master is not at present necessarily competent to determine the compass-error by azimuth or amplitude of the sun except when on the meridian. Masters, however, are cautioned that the deviation found from this swinging, or at any particular time, is always liable to change under altered circumstances, and they should therefore endeavour to check the deviation themselves on the voyage whenever they are able to do so by the methods with which they are acquainted.

Wooden sailing-vessels, if free from any machinery or iron near the compass, may be exempted from the annual compass-swinging if, on report from the licensed adjuster or Inspector, it appears that such exemption can safely be granted.

15. Where no Licensed Adjuster is available.—In the event of a ship coming under survey in some port where no licensed adjuster is available, the Minister may appoint some other competent person to determine the compass-errors and sign the certificate.

16. Unsatisfactory Compass.—In the event of the master not being able to sign the certificate mentioned in clause 13, or if, after the examination of the deviation-card and compass-error book, the Minister has reason to believe that the errors are not satisfactory, or have not been taken with sufficient frequency, he may order the ship to be swung, and the compass thereof readjusted and errors determined by an adjuster duly licensed under these regulations, or, if the position and good order of the compass is at fault, the Minister may order that this shall be rectified.

17. Ships not to be passed by Surveyor until Compass Inspector’s Certificate is signed.—The Inspector appointed by the Minister to examine the compass-error register-book, and position, &c., of the compass, must have nautical experience, and must possess a foreign-going master’s certificate. No ship to which these regulations apply shall be passed by the Collector of Customs or Surveyor until a certificate in the form numbered 5 of the Schedule hereto has been signed by the Inspector.

18. Place and Mode of Adjustment.—Where the compasses of any vessel to which these regulations apply are to be adjusted, such vessel shall be taken to the swinging-buoys laid down for such purpose in any port, or, at the option of the master or other person in charge thereof, such ship may be swung for the adjustment of compasses in any harbour or at sea by means of distant objects, or by azimuth or amplitude of the sun.

19. Adjustment Tables, &c.—The adjuster shall, as soon as possible after completion of the examination and adjustment by him of the compass of any vessel, deliver to the master, owner, or agent of such vessel a table in the form numbered 4 in the Schedule hereto, and also a Napier’s diagram showing the deviation of the standard compass of such vessel. There shall be attached to the aforesaid table a declaration by the adjuster that the compasses are in good order and condition. Duplicates of such deviation forms and diagrams are to be handed to an Inspector at that port (duly appointed by the Minister) by the master or adjuster. The Inspector, after having inspected the above-mentioned form and diagram, shall forward them to the Marine Department, Wellington.

20. Repairs, &c.—Where at any time any vessel has been lying idle for a long time, or has undergone at any port in New Zealand alterations or repairs necessitating the removal or addition of any plates, masts, beams, machinery, &c., from the ship in the neighbourhood of the compass, and an Inspector appointed by the Minister of Marine is of opinion that from either of these causes the compass-errors will be materially affected, the ship must be again swung and the errors ascertained prior to such ship proceeding to sea.

21. Standard Compass.—Every foreign, intercolonial, and home-trade vessel shall be provided with a standard compass, placed in a suitable position; and the said compass shall be furnished with appliances for taking accurate observations and bearings, and with proper means for making the necessary compensations.

22. Compass-error Register-book.—The equipment of every foreign-going, intercolonial, and home-trade ship surveyed at any port in New Zealand shall include a compass-error register-book, made out in some such form as that numbered 6 in the Schedule hereto, in which shall be accurately recorded the errors of the standard compass (such errors being ascertained by taking observations as often as practicable), and also accurate notes of the different points of the vessel’s head, and the approximate position of the vessel when the observations are taken. This book should also contain particulars of the position of the magnets and soft-iron correctors for the standard compass, and the date and particulars of any change made with them.

23. Compass unadjusted.—The master of any vessel to which these regulations apply who takes or attempts to take such vessel to sea, or engages in trade, or in the carriage of passengers, before the compasses of the vessel have been duly adjusted as herein required shall be deemed to have committed a breach of these regulations.

———

SCHEDULE.

No. 1.—LICENSE AS AN ADJUSTER OF COMPASSES. (Reg. 6.)

"The Shipping and Seamen Act, 1903."

, of , is hereby licensed as a duly qualified adjuster of compasses, in pursuance of section 201 of "The Shipping and Seamen Act, 1903."

Dated at Wellington, this day of , 190 .

(Seal of the Marine Department.) , Secretary.

NOTE.—The holder of this license must produce it whenever asked to do so by a Collector of Customs, Engineer Surveyor, Inspector, or a master, owner, or agent requiring his services.

This license may at any time be suspended or cancelled by the Minister.

———

No. 2.—TABLE OF ADJUSTMENT FEES. (Reg. 8.)

£ s. d.
Vessels not exceeding 30 tons net registered tonnage 1 0 0
Vessels exceeding 30 tons net registered tonnage and not exceeding 200 tons net registered tonnage .. 1 0 0
Vessels exceeding 200 tons and not exceeding 700 tons net registered tonnage .. 2 2 0
Vessels exceeding 700 tons and not exceeding 1,200 tons net registered tonnage .. 3 3 0
Vessels exceeding 1,200 tons and not exceeding 2,000 tons net registered tonnage .. 4 4 0
Vessels exceeding 2,000 tons net registered tonnage 5 5 0