Merchant Shipping Law Amendment Act, 1853

MERCHANT SHIPPING LAW AMENDMENT ACT 1853

CHAPTER CXXXI.

An Act to amend various Laws relating to Merchant Shipping. [1] [20th August 1853.]

[Preamble.]

[Ss. 1–11 rep. 17 & 18 Vict. c. 120. s. 4. S. 2 gave this Act the short title mentioned in the note below. S. 6 provided that all tolls, rates, fees, and payments received by the Trinity House under 6 & 7 Vict. c. lvii; 13 & 14 Vict. c. 93; 14 & 15 Vict. cc. 79, 96. should be carried to one aggregate fund to he called the “Mercantile Marine Fund.”]

Existing debts and liabilities of Trinity House, &c. to be paid out of the Mercantile Marine Fund, &c.

12. All debts and liabilities which have been duly incurred or undertaken by the Trinity House, the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses, and the Port of Dublin Corporation respectively, before the passing of this Act, and which are such as if this Act had not been passed, ought to have been paid out of the said tolls and rates, shall be paid or provided for out of the said Mercantile Marine Fund; and all expenses of the Trinity House, the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses, and the Port of Dublin Corporation, in respect of any charitable or other pensions, superannuations, or other allowances, which have been lawfully granted or allowed by them respectively before the passing of this Act, and which are such as if this Act had not been passed ought to have been paid out of the said tolls and rates, shall be paid out of the said Mercantile Marine Fund during the respective lives or continuance in office of the persons receiving the same, or other periods for which the same may have been granted or allowed; and if it appear that any debts or liabilities so incurred as aforesaid, or any of the expenses in respect of charitable or other pensions, and superannuation or other allowances, are debts, liabilities, or expenses which, if this Act had not been passed, would have been paid partly out of the said tolls and rates and partly from other sources, such part thereof as the Board of Trade shall under the circumstances of the case think just shall be paid out of the said Mercantile Marine Fund; and the Trinity House, the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses, and the Port of Dublin Corporation respectively shall submit to the Board of Trade statements of all such debts and liabilities, and of all such expenses or parts of expenses in respect of charitable, or other pensions, superannuations, or other allowances, as are to be paid out of the said Mercantile Marine Fund, and also estimates of the sums which may be from time to time required to provide for the same; and no payment in respect of any such debt, liability, or expense shall be made out of the said Mercantile Marine Fund unless provided for by such estimates, and approved by the Board of Trade.

Power to commute pensions and grant superannuation allowances.

4 & 5 Will 4. c. 24.

13. The Trinity House, the Commissioners of Northern Light-houses, and the Port of Dublin Corporation may from time to time, with the sanction of the Board of Trade, commute any charitable or other pensions or other allowances payable out of the said Mercantile Marine Fund, or grant superannuations or compensations to persons whose salaries may be charged on the said fund, and who may be discharged or may retire, so nevertheless that no superannuation allowance or compensation to any person so discharged or retiring shall exceed the proportion of his salary which might be granted under similar circumstances to a person in the Public Civil Ser vice under the Superannuation Act, 1834, or under any other Act for regulating such superannuation allowances or compensations for the time being in force; and such commutations, superannuations, and compensations shall from time to time be included in the estimates to be submitted as aforesaid, and paid out of the said fund.

[Ss. 14–23 rep. 17 & 18 Vict. c. 120. s. 4. S. 16 provided that fees received by the Board of Trade should be applied only in payment for services.]

Dues levied or ships, &c. not to be sold or charged without the consent of the Board of Trade, &c.

Board of Trade accounts.

24. No dues, tolls, rates, or charges, of what nature soever, levied or leviable, or hereafter to be levied or leviable, on any ships, or on any goods carried in any ships, in any port of Great Britain or Ireland for any purpose whatever, shall be sold, mortgaged, or charged in any manner or for any purpose without the consent of the Board of Trade first obtained, such consent to be signified by writing under the hand of one of the secretaries or assistant secretaries to such Board; and any sale, mortgage, or charge of any such dues, tolls, rates, or charges made after the passing of this Act without such consent shall be absolutely void, except in the following cases; that is to say, in the case of any sale, mortgage, or charge of any dues, tolls, rates, or charges levied for the use of any dock or other under-taking intended solely for the benefit of shipping, where the monies raised by the sale, mortgage, or charge are to be applied exclusively for the purposes of the undertaking for the use of which such dues, rates, tolls or charges are levied or leviable; in the case of any mortgage or charge made under the authority of any Act of Parliament for the purpose of raising money to pay the costs of any work constructed or duly contracted for before the passing of this Act; and in the case of any mortgage or charge made or continued under any powers of reborrowing or continuing money on mortgage or bond given by any Act of Parliament for the purposes of any work so constructed or contracted for as aforesaid.

[Ss. 25–27 rep. 17 & 18 Vict. c. 120. s. 4.]

Money belonging to the general fund under 14 & 15 Vict. c. 102. to be paid into the Exchequer; and property to be sold, &c.

28. All monies which under the Seamen's Fund Winding-up Act, 1851, now are or may hereafter become part of or applicable to the purposes of the general fund therein mentioned, shall be paid into the receipt of her Majesty's Exchequer in such manner as the Treasury may direct; and all property, not being money so forming part of or being applicable to the purposes of the said fund as aforesaid, shall be sold, and the produce thereof shall be paid into the receipt of her Majesty's Exchequer in like manner; and all monies so paid into the receipt of her Majesty's Exchequer shall be carried to and made part of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom.

Provision for expenses charged partly on such general fund and partly on the Consolidated Fund.

29. The several payments and expenses which by the said Seamen's Fund Winding-up Act, 1851, are charged partly on the said general fund therein mentioned, and partly on the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, shall, except as regards the payment to the Seamen's Hospital Society herein-after mentioned, be provided for by annual votes of Parliament.[1]

[Ss. 30–68, and Sched. rep. 17 & 18 Vict. c. 120. s. 4.]

[1 Short Title, given by s. 2, “The Merchant Shipping Law Amendment Act, 1853.”]

[1The Act 14 & 15 Vict. c. 102. contained the following enactments, which were repealed by section 25 of this Act:—

27. The Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury shall from time to time pay towards the fund, out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, such sums as may be necessary, in addition to the other sources of the fund, to satisfy the expenditure hereby authorized; and the Board of Trade, with the consent of the said commissioners, may from time to time regulate the proportions in which the deficiency of annual income is to be made good out of the capital of the fund and out of the said Consolidated Fund respectively.

28. Provided that the sum to be contributed from the Consolidated Fund towards defraying the expenditure hereby authorized in any one year shall never be less than one half of the expenditure for such year.

********

51. For the period of seven years from the last day before the passing of this Act on which any quarterly payment has been made to the “Seamen's Hospital Society,” in pursuance of the thirty-second section of the said Act of the fifth year of the reign of King William the Fourth, chapter fifty-two, the Board of Trade may, out of the revenues of the fund, pay to the said society an annual sum, not exceeding in any one year five hundred and fifty pounds, to be applied by the said society according to the directions contained in the Act of the third and fourth years of the reign of King William the Fourth, chapter nine