Fees (Increase) Act 1923

1 Increase of certain fees under Merchant Shipping Acts

(1) The provisions of the [57 & 58 Vict. c. 60.] Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, and of the [61 & 62 Vict. c. 44.] Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act, 1898, specified in the first column of Part I. of the First Schedule to this Act so far as they limit the amount of fees chargeable under those Acts or grant exemptions from any such fees, shall have effect subject to the amendments mentioned in the third column of that Part of the Schedule:

Provided that no fees shall be payable under section three of the Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act, 1898, in respect of vessels not exceeding ten tons gross register employed solely in fishing.

(2) For the Schedules of the said Acts mentioned in Part II. of the First Schedule to this Act there shall be substituted the Schedules by that Part directed to be substituted therefor.

2 Charge of new fees for certain services under the Merchant Shipping Acts

(1) Where—

(a) under section nineteen of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, a Registrar of Shipping endorses and signs on the certificate of registry of a ship a memorandum of the change of the master; or

(b) a certificate of service is granted in pursuance of section ninety-nine of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894; or

(c) an indenture of apprenticeship to the sea service is recorded by a Superintendent or by the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen;

there shall be payable such fees as the Board of Trade may determine not exceeding those specified in Part I. of the Second Schedule to this Act.

(2) There shall be payable upon all engagements and discharges of seamen effected in the presence of a superintendent under section one hundred and fifteen, subsection (2) of section one hundred and sixteen, and section one hundred and twenty-seven of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, such fees as may be fixed by the Board of Trade not exceeding those specified in Part II. of the Second Schedule to this Act, and the superintendent may refuse to proceed with any engagement or discharge unless the fees payable have been first paid by the master or owner of the ship.

(3) On the inspection of a ship—

(a) under section four hundred and thirty-one of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, either during the construction of the ship or otherwise, for the purpose of seeing that the ship is properly provided, in accordance with the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1921, or any rules made thereunder, with life-saving appliances; or

(b) under section one of the [9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 38.] Merchant Shipping (Wireless Telegraphy) Act, 1919, for the purpose of seeing that the ship is properly provided, in accordance with the rules made under that Act, with a wireless telegraph installation and certified operators and watchers;

there shall be paid in respect of the inspection such fees as the Board of Trade may determine, not exceeding those specified in Part III, of the Second Schedule to this Act.

(4) Where under section two hundred and six of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, or section twenty-six of the [6 Edw. 7. c. 48.] Merchant Shipping Act, 1906, any provisions are inspected either before shipment or on board a ship, there shall be payable in respect of such inspection such fees as the Board of Trade may determine not exceeding those specified in Part IV. of the Second Schedule to this Act; but it shall not be obligatory that such an inspection should be made, and accordingly in subsection (1) of the first mentioned section for the words " shall be inspected " there shall be substituted the words " may be inspected, " and for the words " shall certify" there shall be substituted the words " may certify " ; and subsection (3) of the same section shall be repealed:

Provided that, where provisions which have been inspected and sealed by an inspecting officer are found on board any ship within such time as may be prescribed by the Board of Trade as the time for which the seals are to hold good, no fee shall be charged for the verification of the seals.

3 Limitation on fees to be fixed under the Merchant Shipping Acts

The amount of the fees to be charged under the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1921, as amended by this Act shall be so fixed that the amount estimated by the Board of Trade to be produced thereby in any year shall not exceed one-half of the amount certified by the Board of Trade to be the aggregate estimated cost in that year of the administration of the services in respect of which the fees are payable.

4 Fees under 42 & 43 Vict. c. 47. s. 3

Twenty shillings shall be substituted for five shillings as the maximum fee payable under section three of the Petroleum Act, 1879, on the verification of apparatus for testing petroleum.

5 Fees in respect of registration of business names

(1) There shall be payable for any search of the index kept under section twelve of the [6 & 7 Geo. 5. c. 58.] Registration of Business Names Act, 1916, such fee as may be prescribed not exceeding one shilling for each name in respect of which a search is made, and the search fee hereby authorised shall be payable in addition to any fee chargeable under section sixteen of that Act for the inspection of documents.

(2) Section sixteen of the said Act (which prescribes, amongst other things, the maximum fees payable for certificates of registration and certified copies of, or extracts from, registered statements) shall have effect as though for the words " sixpence for each folio of " seventy-two words, or in Scotland for each sheet of " two hundred words, of the entry, copy, or extract," there were substituted the words " one shilling for any other entry, copy, or extract. "

(3) One pound shall be substituted for five shillings as the maximum fee payable under section seventeen of the said Act in respect of the registration of any one statement.

6 Fees under the Weights and Measures Act

The Board of Trade shall be entitled to charge on the comparison and verification of local standards and other standards for the use of local authorities or their officers such fees as they may fix with the approval of the Treasury and after consultation with such associations of local authorities as appear to them to be concerned.

7 Fees for licences to remove bodies after burial

(1) Where a Secretary of State issues a licence under section twenty-five of the [20 & 21 Vict. c. 81.] Burial Act, 1857, for the removal of any body, or the remains of any body, which has been interred in any place of burial, there shall be payable in respect of the licence such fee, not exceeding two pounds, as the Secretary of State, with the consent of the Treasury, may prescribe.

(2) Where in connexion with the removal of any such body or remains, any officer of any local authority, with the consent of the authority and in pursuance of any conditions attached to the licence by the Secretary of State, performs any duties, it shall be lawful for the Secretary of State to pay to the local authority any part of the fee received by him in connexion with such removal.

8 Power to fix fees for matters done by officers of Foreign Office in the United Kingdom

(1) Where the fees to be charged in respect of any matter or thing done by a consular officer have been fixed by Order in Council under section two of the [54 & 55 Vict. c. 36.] Consular Salaries and Fees Act, 1891, His Majesty may by Order in Council direct that fees of like amount shall be charged in respect of any similar matter or thing done by a public officer in Great Britain acting under the authority of a Secretary of State..

(2) All such fees shall be levied, accounted for and applied in accordance with regulations to be made by a Secretary of State, with the approval of the Treasury.

9 Fees for holding inquiries

Where under any Act of Parliament a 'government department is authorised or required to hold an inquiry, and the costs of the inquiry are made payable by any local authority or other person, or in such manner and by such persons as the department or the officer holding the inquiry may direct, then, notwithstanding anything in such Act, such costs may include a fee in respect of the services of any officer of the department engaged in the inquiry not exceeding five guineas a day.

10 Repeals

The enactments mentioned in the Third Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent mentioned in the third column of that Schedule.

11 Short title, construction and extent

(1) This Act may be cited as the Fees (Increase) Act, 1923.

(2) This Act, so far as it amends the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1921, shall be construed as one with those Acts, and those Acts and this Act so far as it amends those Acts may be cited together as the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1923.

(3) This Act, so far as it relates to matters with respect to which the Parliament of Northern Ireland has not power to make laws, shall extend to Northern Ireland.