Office of Public Sector Information
PART III continued
(1) The aggregate amount outstanding in respect of the principal of any sums borrowed under section 662 of this Act shall not at any time exceed £100 million.
(2) The Secretary of State may, by order made by statutory instrument with the approval of the Treasury, increase or further increase that limit, but not by more than £33 million at a time.
(3) An order shall not be made under subsection (2) of this section unless a draft of the order has been laid before and approved by a resolution of the House of Commons.
(1) The Secretary of State with the consent of the Treasury may guarantee, in such manner and on such conditions as he thinks fit, the repayment of the principal of, the payment of interest on, and the discharge of any other financial obligation in connection with, any sums borrowed by a general lighthouse authority under section 662 of this Act.
(2) Immediately after a guarantee is given under this section, the Secretary of State shall lay a statement of the guarantee before each House of Parliament, and where any sum is issued for fulfilling a guarantee so given the Secretary of State shall, as soon as possible after the end of each financial year beginning with that in which the sum is issued and ending with that in which all liability in respect of the principal of the sum and in respect of interest thereon is finally discharged, lay before each House of Parliament a statement relating to that sum.
(3) Any sums required by the Secretary of State for fulfilling any guarantee under this section shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament.
(4) If any sums are issued in fulfilment of any guarantee given under this section there shall be made to the Secretary of State out of the General Lighthouse Fund, at such times and in such manner as the Secretary of State may determine with the consent of the Treasury, payments of such amounts as the Secretary of State may so determine in or towards repayment of the sums so issued, and payments of interest on what is outstanding for the time being in respect of sums so issued at such rate as the Secretary of State may so determine.
(5) The Secretary of State, with the consent of the Treasury, may vary or revoke any determination made by him under subsection (4) of this section.
(6) Any sums received by the Secretary of State under that subsection shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.”
(2) In consequence of subsection (1) above, section 663 of the 1894 Act (power of Public Works Loan Commissioners to advance money on security of mortgage effected under section 662 of that Act as originally enacted) shall cease to have effect.
The following sections shall be inserted after section 2 of the [1898 c. 44.] Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act 1898—
(1) There shall be paid out of the General Lighthouse Fund—
(a) any expenses (whether of a capital nature or not) incurred by the Secretary of State in pursuance of any international agreement relating to the provision of an electronic position-fixing system which is intended as an aid to the navigation of ships ; and
(b) any expenses incurred by the Secretary of State preliminary to his entering into any such agreement.
(2) Any sums received by the Secretary of State in pursuance of any such agreement in respect of—
(a) expenses incurred by him as mentioned in subsection (1)(a) of this section, or
(b) expenses incurred by any of the general lighthouse authorities which, by virtue of any enactment, are payable out of the General Lighthouse Fund,
shall be paid into the Fund.
There shall be paid out of the General Lighthouse Fund such sums as the Secretary of State may determine for the purposes of this section, being sums which appear to him to represent the amount or estimated amount of any expenses incurred or likely to be incurred by him in connection with the administration of the Fund.”
(1) The persons holding an inquiry under section 52 or 54 of the [1970 c. 36.] Merchant Shipping Act 1970 (inquiries into fitness or conduct of officers or other seamen) may—
(a) by summons require any person to attend, at a time and place stated in the summons, to give evidence or to produce any documents in his custody or under his control which relate to any matter in question at the inquiry; and
(b) take evidence on oath (and for that purpose administer oaths) or, instead of administering an oath, require the person examined to make a solemn affirmation.
(2) If on the failure of a person to attend such an inquiry in answer to a summons under this section—
(a) the persons holding the inquiry are satisfied by evidence on oath—
(i) that the person in question is likely to be able to give material evidence or produce any document which relates to any matter in question at the inquiry, and
(ii) that he has been duly served with the summons, and
(iii) that a reasonable sum has been paid or tendered to him for costs and expenses, and
(b) it appears to them that there is no just excuse for the failure,
they may issue a warrant to arrest him and bring him before the inquiry at a time and place specified in the warrant.
(3) If any person attending or brought before such an inquiry refuses without just excuse to be sworn or give evidence, or to produce any document, the persons holding the inquiry may—
(a) commit him to custody until the end of such period not exceeding one month as may be specified in the warrant or until he gives evidence or produces the document (whichever occurs first), or
(b) impose on him a fine not exceeding £1,000,
or both.
(4) A fine imposed under subsection (3)(b) shall be treated for the purposes of its collection, enforcement and remission as having been imposed by the magistrates' court for the area in which the inquiry in question was held, and the persons holding the inquiry shall, as soon as practicable after imposing the fine, give particulars of it to the clerk of that court.
(5) This section does not apply to Scotland.
Where an inquiry under section 52 or 54 of the [1970 c. 36.] Merchant Shipping Act 1970 (inquiries into fitness or conduct of officers or other seamen) is held in Scotland by a sheriff—
(a) he shall (subject to rules made under section 58(1) of that Act (rules of procedure)) dispose of the inquiry as a summary application; and
(b) (subject to section 57 of that Act (re-hearings and appeals)) his decision on the inquiry shall be final.
(1) Section 7 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1970 (payment of seamen’s wages) shall be amended as provided in subsections (2) to (8) below.
(2) The following subsection shall be substituted for subsection (1)—
“(1) Where a seaman employed under a crew agreement relating to a ship leaves the ship on being discharged from it, then, except as provided by or under this Act or any other enactment, the wages due to the seaman under the agreement shall either—
(a) be paid to him in full at the time when he so leaves the ship (in this section and section 8 of this Act referred to as the time of discharge), or
(b) be paid to him in accordance with subsections (3A) and (3B) of this section.”
(3) In subsection (2), after “payable to him under” there shall be inserted “paragraph (a) of”.
(4) In subsection (3), for “the preceding provisions” there shall be substituted “subsection (1)(a) or (2)”.
(5) The following subsections shall be inserted after subsection (3)—
“(3A) Where the crew agreement referred to in subsection (1) of this section provides for the seaman’s basic wages to be payable up-to-date at specified intervals not exceeding one month, and for any additional amounts of wages to be payable within the pay cycle following that to which they relate, any amount of wages due to the seaman under the agreement shall (subject to subsection (3B) of this section) be paid to him not later than the date on which the next payment of his basic wages following the time of discharge would have fallen due if his employment under the agreement had continued.
(3B) If it is not practicable, in the case of any amount due to the seaman by way of wages additional to his basic wages, to pay that amount by the date mentioned in subsection (3A) of this section, that amount shall be paid to him not later than what would have been the last day of the pay cycle immediately following that date if his employment under the crew agreement had continued.
(3C) If any amount which, under subsection (3A) or (3B) of this section, is payable to a seaman is not paid at the time at which it is so payable, it shall carry interest at the rate of 20 per cent. per annum.”
(6) In subsection (4)—
(a) for “Subsection (3) of this section does” there shall be substituted “The provisions of subsection (3) or (3C) of this section shall”; and
(b) for “that subsection” there shall be substituted “those provisions”.
(7) In subsection (6), for “(1) to (3)” there shall be substituted “(1) to (3A)”.
(8) The following subsection shall be added after that subsection—
“(7) For the purposes of this section any amount of wages shall, if not paid to him in cash, be taken to have been paid to a seaman—
(a) on the date when a cheque, or a money or postal order issued by the Post Office, for that amount was despatched by the recorded delivery service to the seaman’s last-known address, or
(b) on the date when any account kept by the seaman with a bank or other institution was credited with that amount.”
(9) In section 8 of the [1970 c. 36.] Merchant Shipping Act 1970 (account of seaman’s wages)—
(a) in subsection (1), for “subsection (4)” there shall be substituted “subsections (3A) and (4)”; and
(b) the following subsection shall be inserted after subsection (3)—
“(3A) Where subsection (3A) or (3B) of section 7 of this Act applies to the payment of any amount of wages due to a seaman under a crew agreement—
(a) the persons who employed the seaman shall deliver to him an account of the wages payable to him under that subsection and of the deductions subject to which the wages are payable; and
(b) any such account shall be so delivered at the time when the wages are paid to him; and
(c) subsections (1) to (3) of this section shall not apply;
and subsection (7) of section 7 shall apply for the purposes of this subsection as it applies for the purposes of that section.”
(1) This section applies to a ship if for the time being—
(a) the ship is—
(i) registered in the United Kingdom, and
(ii) in the service of a government department (“the relevant department”) by reason of a charter by demise to the Crown; and
(b) there is in force under section 80 of the [1906 c. 48.] Merchant Shipping Act 1906 (Government ships) an Order in Council providing for the registration of Government ships in the service of the relevant department.
(2) Where this section applies to any ship, the following statutory provisions, namely—
(a) the provisions of the Order in Council referred to in subsection (1)(b) (excluding those relating to registration under the Order), and
(b) the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Acts (as they apply by virtue of the Merchant Shipping Act 1906 and that Order in Council),
shall (subject to subsections (3) and (4)) have the same effect in relation to that ship as they have in relation to a Government ship in the service of the relevant department (whether referred to as such or as such a ship registered in pursuance of that Order in Council).
(3) Subject to subsection (4), the registration enactments shall have effect in relation to a ship to which this section applies in like manner as if it were not, for the purposes of the Merchant Shipping Acts, a ship belonging to Her Majesty.
(4) Her Majesty may by Order in Council provide that any statutory provision falling within subsection (2) or (3) and specified in the Order—
(a) shall not have effect in accordance with that subsection in relation to a ship to which this section applies, or
(b) shall so have effect in relation to such a ship, but subject to such modifications as are specified in the Order.
(5) In the application of any provision of the Merchant Shipping Acts (other than a provision of the registration enactments) in relation to a ship to which this section applies, any reference to the owner of the ship shall be construed as a reference to the relevant department.
(6) An Order in Council under this section—
(a) may make such transitional, incidental or supplementary provision as appears to Her Majesty to be necessary or expedient; and
(b) shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
(7) In this section—
“government department” includes a Northern Ireland department;
“Government ship” means a Government ship within the meaning of section 80 of the [1906 c. 48.] Merchant Shipping Act 1906;
“the registration enactments” means—
(a) the provisions of Part I of the 1894 Act down to and including section 67 of that Act;
(b) section 5 of the [1983 c. 13.] Merchant Shipping Act 1983; and
(c) Parts I and II of this Act.
Schedule 5 to this Act (which contains miscellaneous amendments of the Merchant Shipping Acts 1894 to 1986) shall have effect.
Merchant Shipping Act 1988