§ Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee read.
§ Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee.—(Lord Desborough.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ House in Committee accordingly:
§ [The EARL OF DONOUGHMORE in the Chair.]
§ Clauses 1 to 4 agreed to.
§ Clause 5 [By-laws as to the loading and carriage of petroleum in ships]:
§
LORD DESBOROUGH moved to add the following new subsections to Clause 5:—
(4) In the event of a failure to comply with or of a contravention of the requirements
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of any by-law in force under the said Section four as amended by this Section, the owner and master of any ship in or in relation to which the failure or contravention occurs, and, except in the case of a failure or contravention in respect of the mooring of a ship, the owner of any petroleum spirit in respect of which the failure or contravention occurs, shall be guilty of an offence under this Section and shall in respect of each such offence, be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, or, in the case of a continuing offence, not exceeding fifty pounds for every day on which the offence is committed or continued:
§ Provided that it shall be a good defence to proceedings for an offence under this Section to prove—
- (a) if the proceedings are against the owner or master of a ship for an offence in respect of the landing and loading of petroleum spirit, that all reasonable means were taken by the master to prevent the commission of the offence; and
- (b) if the proceedings are against the owner of petroleum spirit for an offence in respect of the landing or loading thereof, or in respect of any failure to observe precautions required to be observed with respect to ships carrying petroleum spirit whilst in harbour, that the offence was not caused or facilitated by any act or neglect on his part or on the part of any person engaged or employed by him.
§ (5) If it appears to a harbour master or to any person acting under the orders of a harbour authority that any ship or any petroleum spirit is in a place in which it ought not, in accordance with any such bylaws as aforesaid to be, he may cause it to be removed so as to be in conformity with the by-laws, and all expenses incurred by the harbour authority in connection with any such removal may be recovered summarily as a civil debt from the owner of the ship or of the petroleum spirit, as the case may be."
§ The noble Lord said: This is a some what long Amendment, but it is practically a drafting, or rather, a re-drafting Amendment, so as to make clear the intention of Section 4 of the Petroleum Act, 1871. It is to make quite clear the liability of the ship owner and the ship as contrasted with that of the owner of the petrol. It is an uncontroversial Amendment and makes the Bill plainer than it was. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 3, line 43, insert the said new subsections (4) and (5).—(Lord Desborough.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 5, as amended, agreed to.
1063§ Clause 6:
§ Penalties for contravention of 34 and 35 Vict. c. 105. ss. 6 and 7.
§ (3) A court before whom any person is convicted in respect of a contravention of the provisions of Section six or seven of the Petroleum Act, 1871, may order that the petroleum spirit in respect of which the offence was committed be forfeited or otherwise dealt with in such manner as they think fit.
§ LORD DESBOROUGH moved, in subsection (3), after "committed," to insert "and any vessel in which it is contained." The noble Lord said: These words ere in the existing Act and were omitted by an oversight. The Amendment is practically drafting. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 4, line 5, after ("committed") insert ("and any vessel in which it is contained").—(Lord Desborough.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 6, as amended, agreed to.
§ Remaining Clauses agreed to.
§ First and Second Schedules agreed to.
§ Third Schedule: