BOARD OF AGRICULTURE

FOREIGN ANIMALS ORDER, 1903

WHILST the present edition was in the hands of the binders the Board of Agriculture issued a new FOREIGN ANIMALS ORDER, to be known as that of 1903. This revoked the Order printed in the Appendix, and with it some nine subsidiary ordinances of a similar kind, some of which have had but a mayfly existence of a very brief span. The new Order is to come into force on August 1st. It will be welcome as removing some of the more ridiculous limitations with which the Board has hedged in the work of the shipmaster and the shipowner. For half a dozen years it has been pointed out that the Cattle Trade between the Argentine and this country has been greatly hampered by the existence of entirely incompatible regulations on the two sides of the Atlantic. Regulations were made by the Argentine Government as to the construction and dimensions of the pens in which the beasts were to be carried, and these were so different to those enforced by our Board of Agriculture that a ship which could get clearance at the other side must of necessity be provided with fittings which broke the rules laid down by authority at this end of the journey. After some unhappy people had been prosecuted by the Board the regulations were in 1898 allowed to become a dead letter in so far that it was agreed that prosecutions should not be instituted by the Board of Agriculture's officials against those who had brought cattle from Argentina and fulfilled the requirements of the place of shipment in this regard. But it is only after another five years have elapsed that an order clearing the position is promulgated by the Department so as to bring law and practice into harmony.

July 13, 1903.

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THE

LEGAL DUTIES OF SHIPMASTERS IN

THE MERCANTILE MARINE.

CHAPTER I.

THE QUALIFICATION FOR THE POSITION OF MASTER. CONTENTS.-The Board of Trade Certificate: how obtained and how lost -The Shipmaster begins at the bottom of the Ladder-Two General Classes of Certificates -The Candidate's previous Experience--The Rights of Apprentices to Instruction-Necessity for Preliminary Assurance as to Power to distinguish Colours-Master bound to teach the Apprentice his Trade-Necessity for Intelligent Study-A High Standard of Competency not to be demanded-Certificated Officers of Foreign Birth-A National Question-Withdrawal of Certificate for Offences or Misconduct-Board of Trade Inquiries-Preliminary Inquiries-Formal Investigation-Naval Courts.

The Qualification for the Position. The Board of Trade Certificate how obtained and how lost. The sailor's first acquaintance with the law is generally made long before he attains the dignity of a command. In fact, as soon as he joins a ship he gets in touch with the authority of the Board of Trade, which makes so elaborate a provision for the due engagement of seamen and apprentices. But it will scarcely fall in with our design to begin with a discussion on the engagement of a crew, and it will be better, in regarding the legal duties of the shipmaster, to speak first of the methods by which a man can obtain the leave of the law to offer himself for a command. There is no royal road to it.

The Shipmaster begins at the bottom of the Ladder. Two General Classes of Certificates.-Every master must begin at the bottom of the ladder. As most people who have any connection with maritime affairs are aware, there are in our Merchant Service two general classes of certificates. These are for Home Trade and for Foreign Trade. There is indeed another class for those who have charge of pleasure yachts. But the obtaining of

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these yacht certificates is not compulsory, and we have no reason here to take note of that which is purely honorary, especially when, as here, it affects a very small section of those with whom we have to deal. The home trade, of course, does not demand in all respects such services from those who wish to obtain its certificates as the foreign. Yet to obtain the lowest rank of certificate in either branch the candidate must show four years' service at sea.

The Candidate's previous Experience. For the higher certificates he must be able to prove that he already has possession of a lower grade certificate (or a first-class pilot certificate), and that he has actually worked in certain positions since he has obtained it. Until recently there were limitations as to the period during which the service he relies on has been made so as to ensure that the officer had recent experience.

And merely going to sea is not enough. The candidate must show something beyond service as a cook or steward, or carpenter, or in the machinery department. It must be service as a navigator. An official encouragement is given to the entry of boys through nautical training-ships by the fact that a good discharge from a course of not less than two years in one of these vessels will count to him for a year of sea service. * Many of our best passenger lines, nowadays, make it a practice to take none but old boys from the Worcester or the Conway into the ranks of their officers. And now that sailing ships are becoming so much rarer in our Mercantile Navy, one Company at least is taking a midshipman class in its mail steamers in order that it may be able to train up officers for itself.

The Rights of Apprentices to Instruction.--Without going into the matters upon which the examinations for certificates are based, we see that by the time the young sailor is in a position to present himself for examination he ought to have a very good practical knowledge of the management of a ship and of the elements of navigation, and to have grasped some idea of the responsibilities of a master in other departments than those in which he is engaged in assisting him.

Necessity for Preliminary Assurance as to Power to Distinguish Colours.-Even before he goes to sea he ought to find out whether he can pass the examination in colour, for if he cannot, the time he spends in preparing for his other examinations and in getting used to a sea life will be worse than wasted, for it can only lead to the bitterest disappointment.

*This is at present limited to the training colleges H.M.S. Worcester and H.M.S. Conway, and does not refer to the ordinary training-ships round the coast.