2386

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

[No. 51

Regulations respecting the Blue Ensign of H.M. Fleet (Naval Reserve Flag). [R.N. 39.]

ADMIRALTY REGULATIONS (ARTICLE 126).

1. BRITISH merchant ships will be allowed to fly the Blue Ensign when the following conditions are fulfilled:-
   (a.) The officer commanding the ship must be an officer on the Retired or Emergency List of the Royal Navy or of the Royal Australian Navy, or an officer of the Royal Naval Reserve, of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve (Sea-going), of the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve, or of the Royal Naval Reserve (New Zealand Division).
   (b.) The crew must include (in addition to the commanding officer) officers of the Royal Naval Reserve, of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve (Sea-going), of the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve, or of the Royal Naval Reserve (New Zealand Division) and men of the Royal Naval Reserve, of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve, of the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve, or of the New Zealand Royal Naval Reserve, Class B, to the number specified from time to time by the Admiralty, but officers on the Retired or Emergency List of the Royal Navy or of the Royal Australian Navy, men belonging to the Royal Fleet Reserve, to the Royal Australian Fleet Reserve, or to the New Zealand Royal Naval Reserve, Class A, Royal Naval pensioners and men holding Naval Reserve deferred pension certificates may be included in the number specified.
   (c.) Before hoisting the Blue Ensign the officer commanding the ship must be provided with an Admiralty warrant.
   (d.) The fact that the commanding officer holds a warrant authorizing him to hoist the Blue Ensign must be noted on the ship's articles of agreement.

2. Commanding officers failing to fulfil the above conditions, unless such failure be due to death or other circumstances over which they have no control, will no longer be entitled to hoist the Blue Ensign.

3. British merchant ships in receipt of Admiralty subvention will be allowed to fly the Blue Ensign under Admiralty warrant.

4. In order to ascertain that the above conditions are strictly carried out, the Captain of one of His Majesty's ships meeting a ship flying the Blue Ensign may send on board an officer, not below the rank of Lieutenant, at any convenient opportunity. This restriction as to the rank of the boarding officer is in no way to limit or otherwise affect the authority or the duties of Naval officers either under the Merchant Shipping Act or in time of war.

5. Applications for permission to hoist the Blue Ensign on board British merchant ships in receipt of Admiralty subvention should be made direct to the Admiralty by the owners; for other merchant ships the applications should be made through the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen.

The Board of Trade will issue regulations as to the mode of proceeding.

NOTE.-All former instructions respecting the Blue Ensign H.M. Fleet are hereby cancelled.

DETAILED REGULATIONS ISSUED BY THE BOARD OF TRADE.

1. Officers above referred to who are desirous that the ships commanded by them should wear the Blue Ensign should apply on Form R. V. 40 for an Admiralty warrant. The same warrant will authorize the officer to hoist the Blue Ensign on any ships in the same ownership that he may from time to time command.

Forms of application may be obtained in-
Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
From the Registrar of Royal Naval Reserve or Superintendent at any Mercantile Marine Office.
Canada.
From the Registrar of Royal Canadian Naval Reserve at Halifax, Lunenberg, St. John, Charlottetown, Quebec, Montreal, Vancouver, Victoria, or Prince Rupert.
Australia.
From the District Naval Officer stationed at Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, or Freemantle.
New Zealand.
From the Commanding Officer, H.M.S. "Philomel," Auckland, or Secretary of the Naval Board, Wellington, New Zealand.

The form should then be completed and forwarded to the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen, Tower Hill, London, E. 1., through the usual official channels, for transmission to the Admiralty.

2. If the application be approved, the warrant will be forwarded through the Registrar-General with Form R. V. 41, to the Registrar of Royal Naval Reserve or Superintendent of Mercantile Marine in Great Britain or Northern Ireland, or to the Dominion Authority concerned, who will, on the completion of the engagement of the crew, if the conditions named above have been complied with, deliver the warrant to the officer commanding the ship, and will obtain his receipt

on Division B of the Form R. V. 41, and return the form to the Registrar-General through the usual official channels.

Note.-Officers and men whom it is desired to count towards the quota must produce satisfactory evidence that they belong to one of the Naval Forces referred to in Admiralty Regulations.

3. If the conditions are not complied with, the warrant and the Form R. V. 41 are to be returned to the Registrar-General, with a statement in Division D of the reasons why the warrant has been withheld.

4. Registrars or shipping masters or other duly qualified officers are to write on the agreements of ships authorized to wear the Blue Ensign, under the name of the ship, the words, "Authorized to wear the Blue Ensign," and are to sign their names thereto.

5. The conditions under which the Blue Ensign is NOT to be worn during the voyage are as follows:-
   (a.) If from any circumstances the officer to whom the warrant was issued is not in command of the ship, then the Blue Ensign is not to be worn.
   (b.) If the number of persons belonging to the Naval Forces or Naval Reserve Forces specified in the Admiralty Regulations on board is less than the number regulated, then the Blue Ensign is not to be worn, unless it can be shown by the endorsements on the agreement, or by entries in the official log, that the reduction in the number is caused by death, sickness, desertion, or joining a British man-of-war, or some unavoidable casualty.

6. Before the Blue Ensign may be hoisted on a vessel in the same ownership, other than the vessel for which the warrant was originally granted, the officer who endorses the ship's agreement (clause 4) must satisfy himself that all conditions of the regulations are fulfilled. He should then report the name, official number, tonnage, and trade of the second vessel to the Registrar-General.

7. Officers commanding His Majesty's Ships abroad, British Consuls in foreign ports, and Customs officers in the dominions, colonies, and other British possessions abroad, are empowered to ascertain that ships wearing the Blue Ensign are provided with Admiralty warrants, and that the foregoing conditions and regulations are complied with.

8. If it should be found that although the ship is provided with an Admiralty warrant the above regulations are not complied with, the Admiralty warrant should be obtained and transmitted with a report to the Admiralty if the commanding officer is on the Retired or Emergency List of the Royal Navy, and to the Registrar-General in all other cases.

9. If it is found that the ship is flying the Blue Ensign without an Admiralty warrant, the Blue Ensign should be seized, and the case reported to the Admiralty or Registrar-General, as the case may be.*

10. A list of the officers (with their shipping firms) to whom warrants have been issued will be prepared monthly by the Registrar-General, and forwarded to the Admiralty for publication in the Navy List.

11. The warrant to hoist the Blue Ensign must be returned for cancellation to the Registrar-General by the officer to whom it is granted when he ceases-
    (a.) To command a vessel belonging to the owners named on the warrant;
    (b.) To belong to any of the Naval Forces specified in Admiralty Regulations.

The competent officers in the Dominions should periodically check the list of officers under their jurisdiction to whom the warrant has been issued, to ensure that this instruction is being complied with.

• NOTE.-Section 73 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, provides as follows:

“(1.) The Red Ensign usually worn by merchant ships, without any defacement or modification whatsoever, is hereby declared to be the proper national colours for all ships and boats belonging to any British subject, except in the case of Her Majesty's ships or boats, or in the case of any other ship or boat for the time being allowed to wear any other national colours in pursuance of a warrant from Her Majesty or from the Admiralty.

“(2.) If any distinctive national colours, except such Red Ensign or except the Union Jack with a white border, or if any colors usually worn by Her Majesty's ships or resembling those of Her Majesty, or if the pendant usually carried by Her Majesty's ships or any pendant resembling that pendant, are or is hoisted on board any ship or boat belonging to any British subject without warrant from Her Majesty or from the Admiralty, the master of the ship or boat, or the owner thereof, if on board the same, and every other person hoisting the colours or pendant, shall for each offence incur a fine not exceeding five hundred pounds.

“(3.) Any commissioned officer on full pay in the Military or Naval Service of Her Majesty, or any officer of Customs in Her Majesty's Dominions, or any British Consular Officer, may board any ship or boat on which any colours or pendant are hoisted contrary to this Act, and seize and take away the colours or pendant, and the colours or pendant shall be forfeited to Her Majesty.

“(4.) A fine under this section may be recovered with costs in the High Court in England or Ireland, or in the Court of Session in Scotland, or in any Colonial Court of Admiralty or Vice-Admiralty Court within Her Majesty's Dominions.

“(5.) Any offence mentioned in this section may also be prosecuted, and the fine for it recovered summarily, provided that:-
“(a.) Where any such offence is prosecuted summarily, the Court imposing the fine shall not impose a higher fine than one hundred pounds; and
“(b.) Nothing in this section shall authorize the imposition of more than one fine in respect of the same offence.”

By direction of the Naval Board.

E. N. R. FLETCHER, Naval Secretary.

Navy Office, Wellington, 25th July, 1926.