Merchant Shipping Act 1906

PART III Seamen's Food

25 Statutory scale of provisions

(1) The master of every ship for which an agreement with the crew is required under the Merchant Shipping Acts shall, if the agreement is made after the first day of June nineteen hundred and seven, furnish provisions to every member of the crew (who does not furnish his own provisions), in accordance with the scale set out in the First Schedule to this Act, and for the purposes of section one hundred and ninety-nine of the principal Act (which provides for compensation in the case of short or bad provisions every such member of the crew of the ship shall be deemed to have stipulated by his agreement for provisions in accordance with that scale.

(2) The power of the court to modify or refuse compensation under section one hundred and ninety-nine of the principal Act shall be extended to cases where a member of the crew claiming compensation, although he has not been supplied with the provisions actually required by the scale, has been supplied with provisions containing on the whole the same or a greater amount of wholesome nutriment in their place.

(3) If the master of a ship fails to furnish provisions, in accordance with this section, and the court before which the case is tried consider that the failure was due to the neglect or default of the master, the master shall be liable on summary conviction, in addition to paying compensation under section one hundred and ninety-nine of the principal Act, to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

(4) His Majesty may by Order in Council vary or add to the First Schedule to this Act.

(5) This section shall not apply in the case of lascars or natives of India or others not accustomed to a European dietary, with whom an agreement is entered into providing an adequate scale of provisions suited to their needs and uses.

26 Inspection of provisions and water

(1) An inspecting officer appointed under section two hundred and six of the principal Act may inspect (either on board the ship or before shipment) any provisions or water intended for the use of the crew of any British ship which is going from any port in the United Kingdom and for which an agreement with the crew is required under the Merchant Shipping Acts (other than provisions provided by the crew themselves), and if he finds that the provisions or water are in any respect deficient in quality, the ship shall be detained until the defects are remedied to his satisfaction :

Provided that any inspection of provisions or water under this section shall be made before shipment whenever practicable, and, if the master, owner, or agent of a ship gives notice to the inspecting officer that any provisions or water for the ship are ready for inspection, the inspecting officer shall not have power to inspect any such provisions or water under this section if they are at a convenient place for inspection, except within forty-eight hours after the notice is given, without prejudice to the power of the inspecting officer to inspect any provisions or water not specified in the notice or without unnecessarily delaying the ship to proceed on board the ship in order to satisfy himself that there has been no evasion of the requirements of this section by the substitution of other provisions or water for those which have been inspected on shore or specified in a notice as being the provisions or water for the ship, or otherwise.

(2) Where any provisions or water are found deficient in quality under this section, the master of the ship shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding a hundred pounds, unless the court before which the case is tried think that the finding of the inspecting officer was not justified ; but if the master of the ship shows to the satisfaction of the court that the responsibility for the defects in the provisions or water rests either with the owner of the ship, or any agent of the owner of the ship, or with the person who has supplied the provisions or water, that agent, owner, or person shall be liable to conviction for the offence instead of the master, and the .master shall be exempt.

(3) The master of the ship and any other person having charge of any provisions or water liable to inspection under this section shall give the inspecting officer every reasonable facility for the purpose of his inspection under this section, .and, if he refuses or fails to do so shall be, liable for each offence on -summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

27 Certificated cooks for foreign-going ships

(1) After the thirtieth day of June-nineteen hundred and eight, every British foreign-going ship of a thousand tons and upwards gross tonnage, going to sea from any place in the British Islands or on the continent of Europe between the River Elbe and Brest inclusive, shall be provided with and carry a duly certificated cook who is able to prove one month's service at sea hr some capacity.

(2) A cook shall not be deemed to be duly certificated within the meaning of this section unless he is the holder of a certificate of competency in cooking granted by the Board of Trade or by some school of cookery or other institution approved for the purpose by that Board, or is the holder of certificates of discharge showing at least two years' service as cook previously to the said thirtieth day of June nineteen hundred and eight,

(3) The cook shall be rated in the ship's articles as ship's cook, or in the case of ships of not more than two thousand tons gross tonnage, or ships in which the crew, or the majority of the crew, provide their own provisions, either as ship's cook or as cook and steward.

(4) In the case of an emigrant ship, the ship's cook shall be in addition to the cook required by section three hundred and four of the principal Act.

(5) If the requirements of this section, are not complied with in the case of any ship, the master or owner of the ship shall, if there is no sufficient reason for the failure, to comply with the requirements, for each offence be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds.