Merchant Shipping Act 1894

Medical Officer, Staff, and Crew.

303Medical practitioners.

(1)Subject to any regulations made by Order in Council under this Part of this Act, a duly authorised medical practitioner shall be carried on board an emigrant ship—

(a)where the number of steerage passengers on board exceeds fifty ; and also

(b)where the number of persons on board (including cabin passengers, officers, and crew) exceeds three hundred.

(2)A medical practitioner shall not be considered to be duly authorised for the purposes of this Act unless—

(a)he is authorised by law to practise as a legally qualified medical practitioner in some part of Her Majesty's dominions, or, in the case of a foreign ship, in the country to which that ship belongs: and

(b)his name has been notified to the emigration officer at the port of clearance, and has not been objected to by him: and

(c)he is provided with proper surgical instruments to the satisfaction of that officer.

(3)When the majority of the steerage passengers in any emigrant ship, or as many as three hundred of them, are foreigners, any medical practitioner whether authorised or not may, if approved by the emigration officer, be carried therein.

(4)Where a medical practitioner is carried on board an emigrant ship he shall be rated on the ship's articles.

(5)If any requirement of this section is not complied with in the case of any emigrant ship, the master of the ship shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

(6)If any person proceeds or attempts to proceed as medical practitioner in any emigrant ship without being duly authorised, or contrary to the requirements of this section, that person and any person aiding and abetting him shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

304Steerage passengers stewards, cooks, and interpreters.

(1)Every emigrant ship, if carrying as many as one hundred steerage passengers, shall carry a steerage steward, who shall be a seafaring man, and rated in the ship's articles as steerage steward, and approved by the emigration officer at the port of clearance : he shall be employed in messing and serving out the provisions to the steerage passengers, and in assisting to maintain cleanliness, order, and good discipline among them, and shall not assist in any way in navigating or working the ship.

(2)Every emigrant ship carrying as many as one hundred steerage passengers shall also carry a steerage cook, and if carrying more than three hundred statute adults two steerage cooks, who shall be seafaring men, and be rated and approved as in the case of steerage stewards, and shall be employed in cooking the food of the steerage passengers.

(3)In every such ship a convenient place for cooking shall be set apart on deck, and a sufficient cooking apparatus, properly covered in and arranged, shall be provided, to the satisfaction of the emigration officer at the port of clearance, together with a proper supply of fuel adequate, in his opinion, for the intended voyage.

(4)Every foreign emigrant ship in which as many as one half of the steerage passengers are British subjects, shall, unless the master and officers or not less than three of them understand and speak intelligibly the English language, carry, if the number of steerage passengers does not exceed two hundred and fifty, one person, and if it exceeds two hundred and fifty, two persons, who understand and speak intelligibly the language spoken by the master and crew and also the English language: those persons shall act as interpreters, and be employed exclusively in attendance on the steerage passengers, and not in working the ship; and any such ship shall not clear outwards or proceed to sea without having such interpreter on board.

(5)If any requirement of this section is not complied with in the case of any emigrant ship, the master of the ship shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

305Crew of emigrant ship.

(1)Every emigrant ship shall be manned with an efficient crew for her intended voyage, to the satisfaction of the emigration officer from whom a certificate for clearance for such ship is demanded : after the crew have been passed by the emigration officer, the strength of the crew shad not be diminished nor any of the men changed without the consent in writing either of that emigration officer or of the superintendent at the port of clearance,

(2)Where the consent of a superintendent has been obtained, it shall, within twenty-four hours thereafter, be lodged with the said emigration officer.

(3)If the emigration officer considers the crew inefficient, the owner or charterer of the ship may appeal in writing to the Board of Trade, and the Board shall, at the expense of the appellant, appoint two other emigration officers or two competent persons to examine into the matter, and the unanimous opinion of the persons so appointed, expressed under their hands, shall be conclusive on the point.

(4)If any requirement of this section is not complied with in the case of any emigrant ship, the master of that ship shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds