Merchant Shipping Act, 1906

Deduction from wages and payment to superintendents, &c., of fines.

44.(1) Every fine imposed on a seaman for any act of misconduct for which his agreement imposes a fine shall be deducted as follows (that is to say):—

(a) if the offender is discharged in the United Kingdom, and the offence, and the entry in the log-book required by the Merchant Shipping Acts in respect thereof, are proved to the satisfaction, in the case of a foreign-going ship of the superintendent before whom the offender is discharged, and in the case of a home-trade ship of the superintendent at or nearest the port at which the crew are discharged, the master or owner shall deduct the fine from the wages of the offender;

(b) if the offender enters His Majesty's naval service or is discharged abroad, and the offence and the entry as aforesaid are proved to the satisfaction of the officer in command of the ship he so enters, or of the proper authority by whose sanction he is discharged, as the case may be, the fine shall be deducted as aforesaid and an entry made in the official log-book of the ship and signed by the officer or authority to whose satisfaction the offence is proved.

(2) Every fine so deducted shall be paid—

(a) if the offender is discharged in the United Kingdom, to the superintendent;

(b) if the offender enters His Majesty's naval service, on the return of the ship to its port of destination, if that port is in the United Kingdom, to the superintendent before whom the crew is discharged, or in the case of a home-trade ship to the superintendent at or nearest to the port at which the crew is discharged, and, if the port of destination is not in the United Kingdom, to the proper authority as defined for the purpose of this Part of this Act;

(c) if the offender is discharged at any place out of the United Kingdom, to the proper authority.

(3) A proper authority shall remit any amounts received by them under this section at such times and in such manner, and render such accounts in respect thereof, as the Board of Trade require.

(4) If a master or owner fails without reasonable cause to pay any fine as required by this section, he shall for each offence be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding six times the amount of the fine not so paid.

(5) An act of misconduct for which any fine has been inflicted and paid by, or deducted from the wages of, the seaman, shall not be otherwise punished under the Merchant Shipping Acts.