1694

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE

[No. 65

Public Trust Office—Retirement of Agent at Tapanui

IT is notified for public information that Mr. William Roderick Quin has retired from the position of agent of the Public Trust Office at Tapanui as at 30 September 1952.

Dated at Wellington, this 30th day of September 1952.

G. E. TURNey, Public Trustee.

Regulations Respecting the Blue Ensign of H.M. Fleet (Naval Reserve Flag) (Revised May 1952)

ADMIRALTY REGULATIONS

1. British merchant ships and fishing vessels shall be allowed to wear the Blue Ensign plain and undefaced, under the authority of an Admiralty Warrant, subject to the following conditions being fulfilled :-

(a) The officer commanding a ship on foreign going articles must be an officer on the retired list of the Royal Navy or a Commonwealth Navy, or an officer of the Reserves of such Navies.

(b) The officer commanding a ship on home trade articles or the skipper of a fishing vessel must be an officer on the retired list of the Royal Navy or Commonwealth Navy or an officer on the active or retired list of the Reserves of such Navies, who holds or has held on the active list of such Navies or their Reserves the substantive rank of Lieutenant Commander or Skipper Lieutenant.

(c) The crew must include, in addition to the Commanding Officer, a number of reservists as specified from time to time by the Admiralty. Officers and men of the Royal Naval Reserve, or of a Commonwealth Naval Reserve, officers on the retired or emergency lists of the Royal Navy or of a Commonwealth Navy, men belonging to the Royal Fleet Reserve, and Royal Naval Pensioners may be included in reckoning the number specified. Home trade ships and fishing vessels must hold a certificate issued by the Registrar of Royal Naval Reserve at the port where the articles are opened, showing particulars of reservists, &c., employed, and specifying the minimum number required to qualify. This certificate must be retained with the Warrant and produced when required.

(d) Commodores on the active or retired lists of the Royal Naval Reserve, or Commonwealth naval reserves, may be allowed to fly the Blue Ensign in their own right without the requirement of a minimum number of reservists.

2. Before hoisting the Blue Ensign, the officer commanding the ship must be provided with an Admiralty Warrant, and this authorization must also be noted on the ship's agreement with the crew.

3. The officer in command of a ship who shall fail to fulfil these conditions, unless such failure is due to death or other circumstances over which he has no control, will no longer be entitled to hoist the Blue Ensign in the ship. The Blue Ensign is in no circumstances to be worn if the officer to whom the warrant was issued is not in command of the ship.

4. British merchant ships registered in Canada shall be allowed to wear the Canadian Blue Ensign under conditions laid down by the Canadian Minister of National Defence.

5. The Captain of one of Her Majesty's ships meeting a ship wearing the Blue Ensign may, in order to ascertain that these instructions are being strictly obeyed, send on board an officer not below the rank of Lieutenant, at any convenient opportunity, but 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 Acts or in time of war.

DETAILED REGULATIONS ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT

1. Officers who desire ships under their command which fulfil the above conditions to 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 in any ship in the same ownership that he may from time to time command, provided the same conditions are fulfilled.

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 Fremantle.

New Zealand.—From the Commanding Officer, H.M.N.Z.S. “Philomel”, Auckland, or the Secretary of the Naval Board, Wellington, N.Z.

The form should then be completed and forwarded to the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen through the usual channels, for transmission to the Admiralty.

2. If the application be approved, the Warrant will be forwarded through the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen, 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 Commonwealth authority concerned, who will, after completion

of the initial engagement of the crew, deliver the Warrant, together with the certificate required by paragraph 1 (c) of the Admiralty Regulations for ships on home trade articles and fishing vessels, 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 of Shipping and Seamen 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. When a ship has been authorized to wear the Blue Ensign, a Registrar or Superintendent or other duly qualified officer is to write on the agreement with the crew, under the name of the ship, the words “Authorized to wear the Blue Ensign” and is to sign his name thereto.

4. Whenever a Registrar or Superintendent witnesses or is informed of changes in the crew of a ship or fishing vessel whose agreement is so endorsed, he is to satisfy himself that the ship is still entitled to wear the Blue Ensign. If, as a result of the changes, the ship or vessel is no longer so entitled, he is to cancel the authorization on the agreement, signing his name thereto, and report the facts forthwith to the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen.

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 reservists, &c., on board is less than the number specified according to paragraph 1 (c) of the Admiralty Regulations, 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 in a vessel other than that for which the Warrant was originally granted but in the same ownership, the officer who endorses the ship's agreement (as provided in paragraph 3 above) must satisfy himself that all conditions of the regulations are fulfilled. He should then report the name, official number, tonnage and trade of the vessel to the Registrar General.

7. Officers commanding Her Majesty's ships, British consuls in foreign ports, and customs officers in the Commonwealth 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, a report should be made to the Admiralty if the officer in command is on the retired list of the Royal Navy, or to the Registrar General in all other cases.

9. If it is found that the ship is wearing the Blue Ensign without an Admiralty Warrant and authorization as in paragraph 3 above, the Blue Ensign should be seized, and the case reported to the Admiralty or to the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen, as appropriate.

10. A list of the officers (with their shipping firms) to whom Warrants have been issued will be prepared quarterly 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 by the officer to whom it is granted to the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen, 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.

To ensure that this instruction is being complied with, the competent officers in the Commonwealth should periodically check the list of officers under their jurisdiction to whom a Warrant has been issued.

• 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 colours 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-

D. A. WRAIGHT, Navy Secretary,

Navy Office, Wellington.