APRIL 5.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 941

ners, received from the Port Officer, Melbourne, Victoria, is published for general information.

WM. HALL-JONES.

WEST CHANNEL, PORT PHILLIP.

REFERRING to General Notice to Mariners, page 69, dated 24th September, 1901, and subsequent notices, Nos. 44, 47, and 76, mariners are hereby informed that the 15 ft. and 16 ft. knolls, shown on latest departmental chart about midway between No. 3 black buoy and the small black can buoy moored about 1¼ miles N.N.E., have increased in area and shoaled in places to 13 ft. These shoals are immediately to the westward of the line of No. 2 gas beacon (Pope’s Eye) and the Observatory Point beacon light. Mariners are therefore advised to keep these beacon lights slightly open to the eastward when navigating between No. 3 black and No. 8 red buoys.

C. W. MACLEAN,
Port Officer.

Melbourne, 8th March, 1906.

Shipping Casualties Rules.

Marine Department,
Wellington, 2nd April, 1906.

IN pursuance and exercise of the power and authority conferred upon me by section 244 of “The Shipping and Seamen Act, 1903,” I, William Hall-Jones, Minister of Marine, do hereby make the following general rules for carrying into effect the enactments relating to formal investigations, and to the rehearing of or an appeal from any investigation or inquiry held under the said Act, and in particular with respect to the appointment and summoning of assessors, the procedure, the parties, the persons allowed to appear, the notice to those parties or persons, or to persons affected, and the amount and application of fees.

WM. HALL-JONES.

GENERAL RULES FOR FORMAL INVESTIGATIONS INTO SHIPPING CASUALTIES.

SHORT TITLE AND COMMENCEMENT.

1. These rules may be cited as the Shipping Casualties Rules, 1906. They shall come into operation on the date they are gazetted, and shall, so far as practicable, and unless otherwise expressly provided, apply to all matters arising in any pending investigation, and also to all investigations instituted on or after the said date.

INTERPRETATION.

2. In these rules, unless the context or subject-matter otherwise requires,—

“Investigation” means a formal investigation into a shipping casualty:

“Court” means the Supreme Court, Stipendiary Magistrate, Justices, or other authority empowered to hold an investigation:

“List of Assessors” means the list of Assessors for shipping casualties approved by the Minister:

“Court of Appeal” means the Court by which appeals from decisions given in investigations or inquiries into shipping casualties are for the time being heard, under “The Shipping and Seamen Act, 1903,” or any Act amending that Act.

NOTICE OF INVESTIGATION.

3. When an investigation has been ordered, the Minister or Collector of Customs may cause a notice, to be called a notice of investigation, to be served upon the owner, master, and officers of the ship, as well as upon any person who in their opinion ought to be served with such notice. The notice shall contain a statement of the questions which, on the information then in the possession of the Minister or Collector, he intends to raise on the hearing of the investigation, and shall be in the Form No. 1 in Part I of the Appendix, with such variations as circumstances may require. The Minister or Collector may, at any time before the hearing of the investigation, by a subsequent notice, amend, add to, or omit any of the questions specified in the notice of investigation.

The Minister, Collector, and any certified officer upon whom a notice of investigation has been served, shall be deemed to be parties to the proceedings.

5. Any other person upon whom a notice of investigation has been served, and any person who shows that he has an interest in the investigation, shall have a right to appear, and any other person may, by leave of the Court, appear, and any person who appears under this rule shall thereupon become a party to the proceedings.

NOTICE TO PRODUCE.

6. A party may give to any other party notice in writing to produce any documents (saving all just exceptions) relating to the matters in difference between them, and which are in the possession or under the control of such other party; and, if the notice is not complied with, secondary evidence of the contents of the documents may be given by the party who gave the notice.

NOTICE TO ADMIT.

7. A party may give to any other party notice in writing to admit any documents (saving all just exceptions), and in case of neglect or refusal to admit after such notice, the party so neglecting or refusing shall be liable for all the costs of proving the documents, whatever may be the result, unless the Court is of opinion that the refusal to admit was reasonable; and no costs of proving any document shall be allowed unless such notice has been given, except where the omission to give the notice has, in the opinion of the officer by whom the costs are taxed, caused a saving of expense.

AFFIDAVITS.

8. Affidavits may, by permission of the Court, be used as evidence at the hearing.

PROCEEDINGS IN COURT.

9. At the time and place appointed for holding the investigation the Court may proceed with the investigation, whether the parties upon whom a notice of investigation has been served, or any of them, are present or not.

10. The proceedings on the investigation shall commence with the production and examination of witnesses by the Minister or Collector. These witnesses, after being examined on behalf of the Minister or Collector, may be cross-examined by the parties in such order as the Court may direct, and may then be re-examined by the Minister or Collector. Questions asked, and documents tendered as evidence in the course of the examination of these witnesses, shall not be open to objection merely on the ground that they do or may raise questions which are not contained in, or which vary from, the statement of the case, or questions specified in the notice of investigation.

11. When the examination of the witnesses produced by the Minister or Collector has been concluded, the Minister or Collector shall state in open Court the questions in reference to the casualty, and the conduct of the certified officers or other persons connected therewith, upon which the opinion of the Court is desired. In framing the questions for the opinion of the Court the Minister or Collector may make such modifications in, additions to, or omissions from the questions in the notice of investigation as, having regard to the evidence which has been given, the Minister or Collector may think fit.

12. After the questions for the opinion of the Court have been stated, the Court shall proceed to hear the parties to the investigation upon and determine the questions so stated. Each party to the investigation shall be entitled to address the Court and produce witnesses, or recall any of the witnesses who have already been examined for further examination, and generally adduce evidence. The parties shall be heard and their witnesses examined, cross-examined, and re-examined in such order as the Court shall direct. The Minister or Collector may also produce and examine further witnesses, who may be cross-examined by the parties, and re-examined by the Minister or Collector.

13. When the whole of the evidence in relation to the questions for the opinion of the Court has been concluded, any of the parties who desire so to do may address the Court upon the evidence, and the Minister or Collector may address the Court in reply upon the whole case.

14. The Court may adjourn the investigation from time to time and from place to place, and where an adjournment is asked for by a party to the investigation or by the Minister or Collector, the Court may impose such terms as to payment of costs or otherwise as he may think just as a condition of granting the adjournment.

15. Except when the certificate of an officer is cancelled or suspended, in which case the decision shall always be given in open Court, the Court may deliver the decision of the Court either viva voce or in writing, and if in writing it may be sent or delivered to the parties. In the latter case it shall not be necessary to hold a Court merely for the purpose of delivering the decision of the Court.

16. The Court may order the costs and expenses of the investigation, or any part thereof, to be paid by the Minister or by any other party. An order for payment of costs shall be in the Form No. 2 in Part I of the Appendix, with such variations as circumstances may require.

17. At the conclusion of the investigation the Court shall report to the Minister. The report shall be in the Form No. 3 in Part I of the Appendix, with such modifications as circumstances may require,