INSTRUCTIONS TO LOCAL MARINE

BOARDS ().

M. 11,890.

INQUIRIES.

BOARD OF TRADE, 17th September, 1878.

SIR, I am directed by the Board of Trade to inform you that they have had under further consideration the method of procedure at Investigations held before the Local Marine Boards into charges of incompetency or misconduct preferred against certificated officers in the Mercantile Marine, also the duties of Secretaries of Local Marine Boards in connection therewith.

The result at which they have arrived is as follows:

1. As regards procedure they think it advisable that the proceedings at these Investigations should, as far as practicable, be assimilated to those of Courts of Inquiry into Wrecks, and that a clear distinction should be drawn between, on the one hand,-the judicial functions exercised conjointly by the Local Marine Board and the Stipendiary Magistrate or Legal Assistant who assists them; and, on the other hand,-the functions of the Solicitor (or Counsel) who represents this Department.

On the preferment of a charge against a certificated officer, the Board of Trade will, if they have "reason to believe" that the said officer "is from incompetency or misconduct unfit to discharge his duties," and it is decided to hold an Investigation into his conduct before a Local Marine Board, make an order for the holding of such Investigation before the Local Marine Board most conveniently situated for the hearing of the case, and will at the same time, at ports where there is no Stipendiary Magistrate, appoint a Legal Assistant to the Local Marine Board.

The Board of Trade will also appoint a Solicitor (or Counsel) to represent this Department.

The remuneration of the Legal Assistant will be three guineas for one day and two guineas per diem for any subsequent days over which an Investigation may extend.

On receipt of his appointment, and of the official papers connected with the case, it will be the duty of the Solicitor who represents the Board of Trade:

(a) See Chapter VII., page 145.

(1.) To prepare a summons (^), and the "copy of the Report or Statement of the case," required by sec. 23, sub-sec. 6, of "The Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1862," and cause them to be served on the defendant.

(2.) To prepare summonses (b) and cause them to be served on such witnesses as it may be considered necessary to call in order to elucidate the facts of the case.

(3.) (c) To take, or cause to be taken, the statements of the various witnesses who are to be examined at the Investigation, or, if already taken, to supplement them if necessary, by additional proofs; and to take such other steps as may be necessary in order to prepare the case for hearing at the earliest possible moment.

(4.) To give due notice to the Secretary of the Local Marine Board when the case is ripe for hearing.

(5.) To conduct the Investigation before the Local Marine Board as quasi-prosecutor, to examine the witnesses summoned to give evidence, and after their cross-examination by the defendant or his Solicitor to re-examine the said witnesses. (N.B.-The Court should, in the exercise of its discretion, allow either party to call further witnesses if they think the justice of the case requires it.)

The duties of the Secretary of the Local Marine Board in connection with Investigations are enumerated in the annexed Instructions. The Board of Trade will be glad to receive any observations the Local Marine Board may have to offer with regard to the above proposals, which are a modification of those contained in their letters of 30th June, 14th September, and 25th August, 1877.

I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,

GEORGE J. SWANSTON.

INSTRUCTIONS TO SECRETARIES.

When a Local Marine Board have been directed to institute an Investigation into the incompetency or misconduct of a certificated master, mate, or engineer, the Board of Trade regard it as part of

(") Printed Summons Forms can be obtained from the Secretary of the Local Marine Board.

(b) Printed Summons Forms can be obtained from the Secretary of the Local Marine Board.

() In the preparation of the case the Solicitor should not merely get up the case as quasi-prosecutor, but should endeavour to elicit and lay before the Court, the entire facts as they bear both for and against the certificated officer.

the duty of the Secretary of the Local Marine Board, and included within the duties for which he receives a salary from the Mercantile Marine Fund, to perform the duties following, viz. :—

1. To give due notice of the time and place fixed for the Investigation to the Solicitor or Counsel who represents this Department.

2. To attend the Investigation and to take notes of the evidence. If the Secretary, being a Solicitor, be appointed Legal Assistant to the Local Marine Board for the Investigation, the duty of taking notes is to be performed by some other person, who should, if possible, be a salaried officer of the Local Marine Board. If there be no such officer whose services are available for this duty, a sum not exceeding 108. per diem may be paid to a person specially employed by the Local Marine Board to perform it.

3. To draw up the Report upon the case for the Board of Trade, and transmit it to them with the notes of evidence and official papers, as soon as possible after the close of the Inquiry.

INSTRUCTIONS RELATING TO NAVAL COURTS (*).

GENERAL.

NAVAL Courts are British Tribunals to investigate facts and try cases connected with British shipping in ports or places out of Her Majesty's Dominions, when occasion demands the prompt interference of British authority.

Naval Courts, therefore, must not be held in Great Britain or a British possession abroad.

They should not be held in any case in which a Consul can deal satisfactorily with the matter without the assistance of a Naval Court, and in all cases where practicable it will be well that a consultation should be held between a Naval Officer and a Consul before summoning a Naval Court.

The cases in which, according to law, a Naval Court may be summoned, are the following:

(a.) If a master or any of the crew of a British ship make a complaint to a Consul or a Naval Officer which appears to such officer to require immediate investigation;

(b.) Whenever the interest of the owner of any British ship or of the cargo of any such ship appears to such officer to require it;

(c.) Whenever any British ship is wrecked or abandoned, or otherwise lost at or near the place where such officer may be, or whenever the crew or part of the crew of any British ship which has been wrecked, abandoned, or lost abroad, arrives at such place.

These cases may generally be classed under the following heads:

:

Crimes committed on the high seas and abroad.

Offences against discipline.

Misdemeanors and other offences against the Merchant Shipping

Acts.

Wrecks and Casualties.

Misconduct and incompetency of Officers of the Mercantile Marine

(*) See Chapter IX., page 158.

holding certificates granted by the Board of Trade, or Colonial Certificates of the same validity.

Loss of or danger to health or life on board British ships, however caused, whether by accident, improper or insufficient provisions, water, accommodation, medicines or anti-scorbutics, defective equip. ment, machinery, or condition of hull, cargo dangerous in itself or dangerously stowed, or otherwise.

Danger or damage to property in ships or cargoes.

CRIMES COMMITTED UPON THE HIGH SEAS AND ABROAD.

By section 263 (6) /54, Naval Courts may exercise the same powers as are vested in British Consular Officers by section 268, as to sending for trial to the United Kingdom or any British Possession, any master, seaman, or apprentice belonging to any British ship charged with any offence mentioned in section 267, or with any offence on the high seas.

In cases of murder or manslaughter, or mutiny or assault of a serious character, if the charges are sustained by the evidence, the prisoner should be sent to the nearest British Possession or to Great Britain for trial.

In cases of a less grave character, such as mutiny unaccompanied by violence, or assault without serious consequences committed under great provocation, if the distance to the nearest tribunal competent to try the offence be great, and expense and difficulty likely to be involved in the prosecution, the Court may exercise a wise discretion by punishing the offence, provided it be punishable by a Naval Court in a summary way; and by making such arrangements as to the discharge of the prisoner from the ship or otherwise as may prevent any danger of the recurrence of evils.

It should always be borne in mind that it is useless to send prisoners for trial unless the proceedings of the Court have been perfectly formal, and sufficient witnesses are sent to procure a conviction.

OFFENCES AGAINST DISCIPLINE.

The ordinary offences against discipline which most frequently come under the cognizance of Naval Courts are those specified in section 243/54. This section also prescribes the limit of punishment for each offence.

The Consul may sometimes find himself able to dispose of minor cases without recourse to a Naval Court; but in serious cases, such as desertion of such a wholesale character or at such a critical time as to imperil the ship, or insubordination and disobedience to orders nearly amounting to mutiny, a Court should, if practicable, be summoned.