57Interpretation
(1)In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby assigned to them respectively, that is to say:—
" accounting period " means the period beginning with the passing of this Act and ending with such day falling not more than fifteen months later as the Council may determine, or any subsequent period of not more than fifteen months, beginning with the end of a previous accounting period, which the Council may determine;
" the Boards " means the British Transport Docks Board, the British Railways Board and the British Waterways Board;
" charges " includes fares, rates, tolls and dues of every description;
" the Consolidated Fund " means the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom;
" control of movement order " has the meaning assigned to it by section 20(1) of this Act;
" the Council " means the National Ports Council;
" district board " has the same meaning as in the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Protection) (Scotland) Act 1951;
" dock " means a dock used by sea-going ships ;
" first local advertisement " means, in relation to the publication of a notice as respects a harbour or group of harbours, the first publication of the notice in a local newspaper circulating in the locality where the harbour or group is situate;
" fish " includes molluscs and crustaceans ;
" fishery harbour " has the same meaning as in section 21 of the Sea Fish Industry Act 1951;
" functions " includes powers and duties;
" Gazette and local advertisement " means, in relation to an application, proposed order, order or scheme relating to a harbour or group of harbours, publication in the Gazette and, in each of two successive weeks, in one or more local newspapers circulating in the locality where the harbour or group is situate;
" the Gazette " means—
(a)in relation to publication of a notice as respects a harbour or group of harbours in England or Wales, the London Gazette; and
(b)in relation to the publication of a notice as respects a harbour or group of harbours in Scotland, the Edinburgh Gazette;
" goods " includes fish, livestock and animals of all descriptions;
" harbour ", except where used with reference to a local lighthouse authority, means any harbour, whether natural or artificial, and any port, haven, estuary, tidal or other river or inland waterway navigated by seagoing ships, and includes a dock, a wharf, and in Scotland a ferry or boatslip being a marine work, and, where used with reference to such an authority, has the meaning assigned to it by section 742 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894;
" harbour authority " means any person in whom are vested under this Act, by another Act or by an order or other instrument (except a provisional order) made under another Act or by a provisional order powers or duties of improving, maintaining or managing a harbour;
" harbour empowerment order " has the meaning assigned to it by section 16(4) of this Act;
" harbour land " means land adjacent to a harbour and occupied wholly or mainly for the purposes of activities there carried on;
" harbour operations " means.—
(a)the marking or fighting of a harbour or any part thereof;
(b)the berthing or dry docking of a ship;
(c)the warehousing, sorting, weighing or handling of goods on harbour land or at a wharf;
(d)the movement of goods or passengers within the limits within which the person engaged in improving, maintaining or managing a harbour has jurisdiction or on harbour land ;
(e)in relation to a harbour (which expression for the purposes of this paragraph does not include a wharf)—
(i)the towing, or moving of a ship which is in or is about to enter or has recently left the harbour;
(ii)the loading or unloading of goods, or embarking or disembarking of passengers, in or from a ship which is in the harbour or the approaches thereto;
(iii)the lighterage or handling of goods in the harbour; and
(f)in relation to a wharf.—
(i)the towing or moving of a ship to or from the wharf;
(ii)the loading or unloading of goods, or the embarking or disembarking of passengers, at the wharf in or from a ship ;
" harbour revision order " has the meaning assigned to it by section 14(1) of this Act;
" harbour reorganisation scheme " has the meaning assigned to it by section 18(1) of this Act;
" improvement committee " has the meaning assigned to it by section 3(1) of the Land Drainage (Scotland) Act 1958 ;
" land " includes land covered by water ;
" large-scale " means, with reference to a map, a scale not less than that of twenty-five inches to the mile;
" lighthouse " has the meaning assigned to it by section 742 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 ;
" local lighthouse authority " means any person having by law or usage authority over local lighthouses, buoys or beacons;
" marine work " means a harbour, ferry or boatslip in Scotland (other than a harbour, ferry or boatslip vested in any of the Boards or specified in Schedule 3 to the Harbours, Piers and Ferries (Scotland) Act 1937)—
(a)which, in the opinion of the Secretary of State and the Minister, is principally used or required for the fishing industry, or
(b)which, being situated in one of the following counties, namely, Argyll, Caithness, Inverness, Orkney, Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland and Zetland, is, in the opinion of the Secretary of State and the Minister, principally used or required for the fishing or agricultural industries or the maintenance of communications between any place in those counties and any other place in Scotland;
" the Minister " means the Minister of Transport;
" owner ", in relation to any land, other than land in Scotland, means a person, other than a mortgagee not in possession, who is for the time being entitled to dispose of the fee simple of the land, whether in possession or in reversion, and includes also a person holding or entitled to the rents and profits of the land under a lease or agreement the unexpired term of which exceeds three years, and in relation to any land in Scotland—
(a)unless the land is held on a long lease, means, if the land is feudal property, the proprietor of the dominium utile or, if the land is not feudal property, the owner of the land ;
(b)if the land is held on a long lease, means the lessee under that lease ; and
(c)includes any other person who under the Lands Clauses Acts would be entitled to sell and convey or assign the land or the interest of lessee under such a long lease, as the case may be, to the promoters of an undertaking ;and
and " long lease " means a lease which has been, or is capable of being, recorded in the General Register of Sasines under the Registration of Leases (Scotland) Act 1857;
" plant or equipment " includes vessels;
" port ", where used with reference to a local lighthouse authority, includes place;
" provisional order " means an order confirmed by an Act, by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries or the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in pursuance of section 2(3)(2) of the Fishery Harbours Act 1915 or by the Secretary of State in pursuance of section 5(5)(ii) of the Harbours, Piers and Ferries (Scotland) Act 1937;
" river purification authority " has the meaning assigned to it by section 17 of the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act 1951 ;
" river works duties " means duties imposed by an Act to do things of the kinds authorised to be done in exercise of river works powers;
" river works powers " means powers conferred by section 34 of the Land Drainage Act 1930 or corresponding provisions of a local Act or under section 67 or by section 69 of the Water Resources Act 1963 or by an improvement order under section 1 of the Land Drainage (Scotland) Act 1958 or by section 13 as read with section 41 of the Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Act 1868 or by the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act 1951 or by any local enactment relating to Scotland which confers powers corresponding to the powers conferred by an improvement order or which contains provisions corresponding to the provisions of the said Acts of 1868 and 1951;
" ship ", where used as a noun, includes every description of vessel used in navigation, seaplanes on the surface of the water and hover vehicles, that is to say. vehicles designed to be supported on a cushion of air;
" ship, passenger and goods dues " means, in relation to a harbour, charges (other than any exigible by virtue of section 29 of this Act) of any of the following kinds, namely.—
(a)charges in respect of any ship for entering, using or leaving the harbour, including charges made on the ship in respect of marking or lighting the harbour;
(b)charges for any passengers embarking or disembarking at the harbour (but not including charges in respect of any services rendered or facilities provided for them); and
(c)charges in respect of goods brought into, taken out of, or carried through the harbour by ship (but not including charges in respect of work performed, services rendered or facilities provided in respect of goods so brought, taken or carried);
" statutory duties " means, in relation to a harbour authority, duties vested in them under this Act, by another Act or by an order or other instrument (except a provisional order) made under another Act or by a provisional order, other than river works duties;
" statutory powers " means, in relation to a harbour authority, powers vested in them under this Act, by another Act or by an order or other instrument (except a provisional order) made under another Act or by a provisional order, other than river works powers;
" statutory provision " means a provision, whether of a general or a special nature, contained in, or in a document made or issued under, this Act or any Act (whether of a general or of a special nature) other than this Act;
" wharf " means any wharf, quay, pier, jetty or other place at which sea-going ships can ship or unship goods or embark or disembark passengers.
(2)References in this Act to a harbour which is being improved, maintained or managed by a harbour authority in the exercise and performance of statutory powers and duties shall be construed as references to a harbour which is being improved, maintained or managed by such an authority in the exercise of statutory powers, in the performance of statutory duties or in the exercise and performance of statutory powers and statutory duties, and cognate references shall be similarly construed.
(3)Any reference in this Act to a buoy or beacon shall be construed as including a reference to any other mark or sign of the sea.
(4)Any reference in this Act (elsewhere than in the foregoing provisions of this section or in section 39) to ship, passenger and goods dues shall be construed as including a reference to charges payable by persons using a ferry which is a marine work.
(5)Any reference in this Act to any other enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended by any other Act.