3082

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

[No. 82

States within the jurisdiction of which such vessel shall arrive or depart, and the leaving or attempting to leave each and every port of the United States shall constitute a separate offence.

SEC. 4. That the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall make such regulations as may be necessary to secure the proper execution of this Act by collectors of customs and other officers of the Government.

REGULATIONS.

1. ADMINISTRATION.

2. The Department will appoint three wireless ship inspectors, whose districts shall be :

NORTH ATLANTIC, from New York to the Canadian boundary;

MIDDLE ATLANTIC AND GULF, from Philadelphia to Galveston, including Porto Rico;

PACIFIC, from Puget Sound to San Diego, including Alaska and Hawaii.

2. These inspectors are authorized to communicate directly in their respective districts with collectors of customs, and to co-operate with them in the enforcement of the law.

3. Collectors of customs and wireless ship inspectors, as far as practicable, shall visit ocean passenger steamers subject to the Act, before they leave port, and ascertain if they are equipped with the apparatus in charge of the operator prescribed by the first section of the act.

4. Where an ocean passenger steamer subject to the act is without the apparatus and the operator prescribed, or either of them, and is about to attempt to leave port, the customs officer or wireless ship inspector visiting the vessel shall—

(a) Notify the master of the fine to which he will be liable, and of the particulars in respect of which the law has not been complied with;

(b) Notify at once the collector of customs, if necessary, by telephone;

(c) Prepare in writing a report of his action, stating particulars as in (a), to be transmitted to the collector of customs. The collector will transmit a copy to the United States attorney for the district in which the port is situated.

5. The act does not authorize the refusal of clearance in case of violation of its provisions, but specifically provides for the imposition of a fine in a sum not more than five thousand dollars upon conviction by the court. The collector of customs, accordingly, when advised that an ocean passenger steamer subject to the act is attempting to leave port in violation of its requirements, shall at once notify the United States attorney. Subsequently he shall report the case briefly to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor.

6. The act does not apply to a vessel at the time of entering a port of the United States. Customs officers and wireless ship inspectors may, however, accept as evidence of the efficiency of the apparatus and the skill of the operator wireless messages shown to have been transmitted and received by him over a distance of at least one hundred miles, by night or day, during the voyage to the United States.

7. In cases of violations of the act the efficiency of the apparatus and the skill of the operator will be determined by the court (see section 3 of the act). Collectors of customs and wireless ship inspectors, accordingly, are enjoined that the reports required by paragraph 4 (c) of these regulations must be precise statements of the facts as the basis for proceedings by the United States attorney.

II. OPERATORS.

1. Paragraphs 3 and 4 of Article VI of the Service Regulations, annexed to the Berlin International Radiotelegraphic Convention, provide :

(3.) The service of the ship station must be carried on by a telegraphist holding a certificate issued by the Government to whose authority the ship is subject. This certificate testifies to the technical proficiency of the telegraphist as regards—

(a) The adjustment of apparatus;

(b) Transmission and sound-reading at a speed which must not fall short of twenty words a minute;

(c) Knowledge of the regulations applicable to the exchange of radio-telegraphic traffic.

(4.) In addition, the certificate testifies that the Government has bound the telegraphist to the obligation of preserving the secrecy of correspondence.

The Berlin Convention has been ratified by the following nations, dominions, and provinces: Great Britain, Canada, Australia, British South Africa, India, and New Zealand, Germany and all German protectorates, France, Norway, Japan, the Netherlands and Dutch Indies, Russia, Sweden, Austria-Hungary, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Brazil, Turkey, Portugal, Roumania, Mexico, Bulgaria, Persia, and Tunis.

Wireless operators holding valid certificates issued by the Governments named above will be recognized by this Department as persons “skilled in the use of such apparatus” within the meaning of the act unless in the case of a specific individual there may be special reason to doubt the operator’s skill and reliability. Such certificates should be ready at hand for the inspection of customs or other officers before the steamer departs from the United States.

2. (a) The Commissioner of Navigation will issue operators’ certificates of skill (see Appendix A) in radiocommunication, and operators holding them will be recognized as persons “skilled in the use of such apparatus” within the meaning of the act, unless in the case of a specific individual there may be special reason to doubt the operator’s skill and reliability. Such certificates should be ready at hand for the inspection of customs or other officers before the ship departs from the United States.

(b) To secure a certificate an operator will pass an examination in the adjustment of apparatus, correction of faults, change from one wave length to another, transmission and sound reading at a speed of not less than fifteen words a minute American Morse, or twelve words Continental, as the operator may elect. Operators are advised to learn as soon as practicable the Continental system, recognized by the Berlin Convention and employed by the United States Navy.

(c) The examinations will be held at the United States navy yards at Boston, Mass., Brooklyn, N.Y., Philadelphia, Pa., Washington, D.C., Norfolk, Va., Charleston, S.C., New Orleans, La., Mare Island (San Francisco), Cal., Puget Sound, Wash.; at the naval stations at Key West, Fla., San Juan, P.R., and Honolulu, Hawaii, and also at the Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C. Applicants for certificates should communicate in writing with the commandants of the navy yards or stations named, or with the Director of the Bureau of Standards, to ascertain the day and hour when they can be examined. The certificates will be delivered at the places named.

(d) After an applicant has secured a certificate he should go before a notary public to take the usual oath for the preservation of secrecy of messages received in the line of duty.

(e) These examinations for the present will be open to—

(1) Operators actually employed as such by a wireless or steamship company, including shore operators;

(2) Operators seeking employment as such by a wireless or steamship company, including shore operators; and such applicants shall present letters from the company with which they seek employment;

(3) Applications for examination of operators of either class may be made by the wireless or steamship company in behalf of a number of operators by name.

3. Additional provision will be made later for the examination of operators by wireless ship inspectors at the New York and San Francisco customhouses and at other customhouses hereafter to be designated.

4. A wireless ship operator not possessing a certificate of skill as provided herein may present for the consideration of the visiting customs officer or wireless inspector other competent evidence of skill, or the wireless inspector may examine him, if practicable. If such examination be satisfactory, the wireless inspector will issue a certificate.

III. APPARATUS.

1. When the efficiency of the wireless apparatus is certified by a foreign government, such certificate will be recognized by this Department, but the customs officer or wireless ship inspector may, if he deem it necessary or desirable, satisfy himself that the apparatus is in good working order.

2. Whenever practicable, the customs officer or wireless ship inspector shall satisfy himself on his visit before the departure of a passenger steamer subject to the act that the apparatus is efficient and in good working order within the meaning of the act, and, if satisfied, he shall issue a certificate in the form in Appendix B. Duplicates of such certificates shall be retained in the files of the collector of customs.

3. When inspection of the apparatus by a customs officer or wireless inspector is not practicable, the master of the steamer may furnish to the visiting customs officer a certificate in the form in Appendix C. Such certificate shall be retained in the files of the collector of customs.

4. The current necessary to transmit and receive messages shall at all times while the steamer is under way be available for the wireless operator’s use.

5. A storage battery or some other auxiliary which will produce sufficient power to operate the transmitting apparatus for four hours, ordinary sending, should be suit-