§ 44. Mr. HEWINSasked whether the Coastwise Trade Act, 1903, New Zealand, is still in force; whether, in the event of the adoption by the United States Congress of the Panama Canal Bill in the form now before the Senate, that Act empowers the New Zealand Government to impose retaliatory prohibitions and restrictions upon the ships of the United States; whether the term British in the Act covers the shipping of the Dominions as well as the United Kingdom; and whether there are other similar Acts within the British Empire?
Mr. HARCOURTThe provisions of the New Zealand Coastwise Trade Act, 1903, are still in force as part of the New Zealand Customs Law Act, 1908. The Act gives the New Zealand Government certain powers of retaliation, but I am not prepared to express an opinion on their applicability to a hypothetical situation. The term British ships must include, so far as I am aware, ships registered in any part of His Majesty's Dominions. I do not know that similar legislation is in force in any other part of the British Empire.