In accordance with those provisions, the Board of Trade must, before an Order in Council can be issued thereunder, be (") satisfied, and report to Her Majesty that the examinations in the particular Colony are so conducted as to be equally efficient as the corresponding examinations in the United Kingdom, and that the Certificates are granted on such principles as to show the like qualifi cations and competency as those granted under the Merchant Shipping Acts, and are liable to be forfeited for the like reasons and in like manner. In some Colonies the machinery for conducting the examinations is so complete, that all the classes of Certificates recognised in the Imperial Acts and granted by the Board of Trade are likewise validly granted by the Colonial Legislature, but the prescribed conditions are not at present entirely fulfilled in the case of all the Colonies. It is therefore necessary not only to give a List of the Colonies in which Colonial Certificates of Competency have been declared of Imperial validity by Order in Council, but also to distinguish the grades to which the operation of the Order in Council has been limited in the particular Colony to which it relates.

"Certificates of Competency of the following grades, which have been granted in the following Colonies since the date specified below, and under an Order in Council issued in accordance with the provisions of section 8 of the Merchant Shipping (Colonial) Act, 1869, are now recognised by the Board of Trade as of the same validity as if granted in the United Kingdom (Þ), viz. :—

Sec. 8, Merchant Shipping (Colonial) Act, 1869.

(") See Orders in Council, page 394. See also a reference to these

certificates at page 87.

(b) Board of Trade Supplementary Instructions to Consuls, 1st August, 1877.

(c) See page 394 for Order now in force.

(d) Ibid.

(e) Equivalent to First Mate in the United Kingdom.

(See page 394 for Order now in force.

BB

COLONIAL CERTIFICATES OF SERVICE.

Certificates of Service have been granted by Colonial authorities under Colonial Acts or Ordinances, but this class of Certificates is not included in the operation of the Merchant Shipping (Colonial) Act, 1869 ("), or of the various Orders in Council before-mentioned, which relate exclusively to Colonial Certificates of Competency. Colonial Certificates of Service, therefore, confer only a local qualification defined by the Colonial Acts or Ordinances under which they are granted, and not being of Imperial validity they are not recognized in the United Kingdom. The holders are not sub. ject as such to the jurisdiction of the Courts of Inquiry created under the Imperial Merchant Shipping Acts, notwithstanding the clause inserted in all Orders in Council relating to Colonial Certificates of Competency, which provides (b) that every decision with respect to the cancellation or suspension of a certificate pronounced by any tribunal under the Merchant Shipping Acts shall extend equally to all the Colonial Certificates whether specified in the decision or not at the time possessed by the persons in respect of whom the decision is made. The Colonial authorities may or may not claim to exercise jurisdiction over Colonial Certificates of Service, but it has been held by the Wreck Commissioner that the Courts of Inquiry in the United Kingdom cannot deal with them on the ground that the Orders in Council cannot go beyond the provisions of the Merchant Shipping (Colonial) Act, 1869, which relates only to Colonial Certificates of Competency ().

Colonial Certificates of Service.

Not included in the Merchant

Shipping (Colonial) Act, 1869,

or

the Orders in under.

Council there

Are not of Imperial validity or recognized in the Courts of

Inquiry in the United Kingdom.

(") See ante, page 152.

(b) See Appendix, page 400.

(e) The Chilianwallah. Report dated 9th March, 1878.

ORDER IN COUNCIL.

WITH REFERENCE TO USE, ISSUE, DELIVERY, CANCELLA. TION, AND SUSPENSION OF COLONIAL CERTIFICATES.

At the Court at Windsor, the 29th day of June, 1882.

PRESENT:

The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.

WHEREAS by the Merchant Shipping (Colonial) Act, 1869, it is (among other things) enacted, that where the Legislature of any British possession provides for the examination of and grant of Certificates of Competency to persons intending to act as masters, mates or engineers on board British ships, and the Board of Trade reports to Her Majesty that they are satisfied that the examinations are so conducted as to be equally efficient as the examinations for the same purpose in the United Kingdom under the Acts relating to merchant shipping, and that the certificates are granted on such principles as to show the like qualifications and competency as those granted under the said Acts, and are liable to be forfeited for the like reasons, and in the like manner, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by Order in Council,—

1. To declare that the said certificates shall be of the same force as if they had been granted under the said Acts.

2. To declare that all or any of the provisions of the said Acts which relate to Certificates of Competency granted under those Acts shall apply to the certificates referred to in the said Order.

3. To impose such conditions and to make such regulations with respect to the said certificates and to the use, issue, delivery, cancellation, and suspension thereof as to Her Majesty may seem fit, and to impose penalties not exceeding fifty pounds for the breach of such conditions and regulations.

And that upon the publication in the London Gazette of any such Order in Council as last aforesaid, the provisions therein-contained shall, from a date to be mentioned for the purpose in such Order, take effect as if they had been contained in the Act, and that it shall be lawful for Her Majesty in Council to revoke any Order made as aforesaid.

And whereas the Legislatures of the British Possessions of

Canada,

Malta and its Dependencies,

Victoria,

New Zealand,

New South Wales,

South Australia,

Tasmania,

Bengal,

Newfoundland,

Bombay, and Queensland,

have respectively provided for the examination of and grant of Certificates of Competency to persons intending to act as masters, mates, or engineers on board British ships, which certificates are hereinafter denominated Colonial Certificates of Competency, and the Board of Trade have reported to Her Majesty that they are satisfied that the said examinations for the same purpose in the United Kingdom under the Acts relating to Merchant Shipping, and that the certificates are granted on such principles as to show the like qualifications and competency as those granted under the said Acts, and are liable to be forfeited for the like reasons and in the like manner.

And whereas Her Majesty by various Orders in Council, and certain Orders in Council amending the same, has been pleased to declare, that subject to certain conditions and regulations therein contained the Colonial Certificates of Competency therein referred to granted by

(a.) The Minister of Marine and Fisheries in Canada,

(b.) The Head of the Government of Malta and its Dependencies, (c.) The Steam Navigation Board of Victoria appointed by the Government of Victoria,

(d.) The Governor for the time being of New Zealand,

(e.) The Marine Board of New South Wales,

(f.) The Marine Board of South Australia,

(9.) The Governor of Tasmania,

(h.) The Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal,

(i.) The Governor of Newfoundland,

(j.) The Governor of Bombay,

(k.) The Marine Board of Queensland,

shall be of the same force as if they had been granted under the Acts relating to merchant shipping.

And whereas by the condition or regulation numbered five contained in each of the said recited Orders in Council, it is provided that such Colonial Certificates of Competency shall be granted only to persons who for a period of three years immediately preceding their application for such Colonial Certificates, or who for several periods amounting together to three years, the earliest of which shall have commenced within five years prior to such application have been domiciled in or have served in a ship or ships registered in the said Possessions respectively, and that Certificates of Competency granted contrary to this regulation shall be regarded as improperly granted.

And whereas it has been represented to Her Majesty in Council